Crime and Punishment, Via India

It’s hard to get satire when you aren’t familiar the culture being lampooned.  There were times in this book where I got it, I knew the hyperbolic statements weren’t the real truth of India.  But then there were other times I wasn’t so sure; I know India isn’t Bollywood and yoga and religious ceremonies Westerners can steal to make themed 5ks.  But I also don’t know enough to determine if rich people running over poor people and then getting their servants to confess to it is an actual thing that happens.

Balram lives in the Darkness of India.  There is little industry and everyone, save a few, are poor.  But unlike his family and neighbors, Balram refuses to accept that caste he was born into and aspires to be something more than a rickshaw driver’s son and work in a tea shop.  Balram manages to get a rudimentary mechanic’s education and becomes a driver for one of the rich families in town.  Eventually, he murders his master because in this new, casteless India, those that have “big bellies”, have a hunger for power and money, will always beat out those with “small bellies”, the poor and hungry.  Balram flees with a lot of cash and sets himself up as an entrepreneur that also writes letters to the leader of China in his spare time.  Corruption and greed wins out again!

One thing that bothered me a bit about the book is the almost absence of women.  I mean, India is one of the most populous countries, so I imagine they have women around there somewhere.  There’s Balram’s grandmother, who does nothing but nag men to death.  There’s his master’s wife, who is too Americanized.  And then there are prostitutes from the West.  That’s about it as far as women go.  I don’t know if Adiga was making a statement about women are invisible in India or if he himself suffers from gender blindness.