26 June 2016 The White Tiger got me through plane changes and long flights yesterday. But it confirmed all my prejudices and fears about India. It is a very bitter book. What a contrast to Gandhi, who had been discussing his commitment to truth and absolute honesty. Well, Aravind Adiga was also honest, but the character he presents is not—primarily for reasons of survival. I was interested that he dedicated the book to Ramin Bahrani, whose movie “99 Homes” I just watched. Bahrani describes people in the U.S. so desperate they will do anything. [Bahrani] also wrote “At Any Price.”] Adiga’s discussion of caste is quite different from the conversation I had with Sandhya in Friday Harbor. She was betrothed @ 8, engaged @ 16, and married @ 20. But last year she left her husband of 35 years (India-born, but living in the U.S.) and struck out on her own. Her grandfather was a M.P. who lived in New Delhi, caste name = Naidu. Anyway, she said caste was unimportant except in politics and marriage. That it was no big deal any longer, except maybe in rural areas. She was impressed that we are going to Connaught Square, which she said was very posh and which was closed to Indians during British rule. So it will be interesting to compare her perspective from Adiga’s. Of course, there is a double standard for women, and that was not really addressed in Adiga’s book. I’ve read other novels on that subject. One last thing on Gandhi: his devotion to practice and to living out the Bhagavad] Gita is similar to another book I’m reading: devotions by Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century Christian monk. They seem to coincide in remarkable ways. Comments are closed.
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Author Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute. Archives
December 2021
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