The White Tiger - By: Aravind Adiga

Balram Halawi... The white Tiger - an animal that comes only once in a generation.. A servant/slave... A "businessman"... A philosopher .. A murderer and thief !! Tells his story which is a story of modern india (actually two indias)... Did you read Thomas Friedman's 'The world is flat', and think about India as the economic miracle... you will probably enjoy this story..

Balram tells his story, his rise from the darkness and slavery to becoming a successful businessman in the world's call center bangalore. Balram commits crimes to get to the top, but he smartly says: didn't anyone who ever went to the top do it on the corpses of others??! Why should 'some' people be allowed to, while others have to be trapped in the coop!?

The irony is that the crimes tend to be committed against the 'better' people... Is that a universal truth ? Is better/worse something irrelevant here?? Balram didn't hate (and to some extent, love).. he just did what he 'had' to do.. a typical business man indeed !!!!

In this very brave and deep story, Aravind through the eyes and thoughts of Balram, discusses democracy, the system of corruption, the power struggles, the 'Weak'-'Chicken house' mentality, the power of tradition and instincts, ignorance, the closed society, and more concepts that assemble in balram's trip..

"My story is that of a half-baked man.. but careful Mr. President.. Completely baked people, after twelve year of schooling, and three years of college studies, wear nice suits, work in companies and spend the rest of their lives taking orders!"

"My father told me once: 'this is how it is.. I have seen twelve elections.. and somebody else voted for me in each and every one..I heard that people in other cities vote for themselves.. Isn't that an exaggeration?"

"Why do I speak about mother Ganga, the daughter of Vidas, River of light, our protector, the breaker of the chain of birth and rebirth? Everywhere this river flows, becomes darkness!"

"He (Hanuman) is the loyal servant of Rama, and we consider him to be a shining example of serving your lord with infinite loyalty, love and sacrifice... you can understand now how difficult it is to win your freedom here "

"He could have been a cart-puller - a human carriage animal - but my father had a plan .. I was his plan" .. " He told me, 'i spent my whole life living like a donkey, and all i want is that one of my children - at least one - can live like a human being " !

"They remained slaves because they couldn't realize the beauty in this world"
"I admit sir that i am not an original thinker, but an original listener"

"Sir, I wont be saying a new thing if i say that the history of the world is ten thousand years of war between the rich and the poor.. every party wants to trick the other.. this is how it has always been.. the poor won few battles (stealing looks to plants in pots, kicking spoiled dogs, etc..) and surely, the rich won the war ten thousand years ago... this is why in one day, the wise, in compassion with the poor, left some symbols in poems that take the shapes of flowers and beautiful girls and the like, but when they are clearly understood, its secrets are revealed and it allows the poorest people on earth to end the thought war !"

"How blind are you people.. you live in glass buildings.. talk on the phone everynight to americans thousands of miles away, and have no idea of the man driving your car!"

"Maybe I'll open a school... and english school for poor kids in bangalore.. a school where you're not allowed to ruin their brains with stories about ghandi.. just facts of life.. a school of white tigers!"

"breaking the coop needs somebody like me, and it needs masters like mr. ashok, who doesnt deserve - inspite of all his virtues - to be a master.. but to be removed, and replaced by exceptional servants: like me"

" I will not say i made a mistake killing my master that night.. I will say that to realize for a day, hour, even minute, how it feels not to be a servant is worth it ! "

The Decay of the Angel - By: Yukio Mishima

The fourth and last book in the sea of fertility.

In this novel, Mishima takes the story of incarnation to its last step. Honda adopts the boy he believes to be the third re-incarnation of his old friend kiyoaki, toru, who is a dark character who gets pleasure out of the suffering of others. Toru is in many ways the non-emotional anti-kiyoaki... then Honda discovers that he was wrong, and that Toru is NOT the incarnation of Kiyoaki...

Fearing the collapse of his system of expectations, Honda goes to meet kiyoaki's love, Satoko who crushes his beliefs further by not remembering him or Kiyoaki... she even wonders if Kiyoaki ever existed ...

Mishima further explores the themes of incarnation, physical beauty, emotions and buddhist beliefs: thoughts about death's beauty and accepting it (?), emptiness, spirituality and materialism...