Social Problems of Indian Society, in the Novels of Aravind Adiga

The Man Booker Prize-winning novel the White Tiger (2008), the short-story collection Between the Assassinations (2009), Last Man in the Tower (2011), and the most recent novel Selection Day (2016) are all works of fiction by Aravind Adiga, who was born on October 23, 1974, in Madras (now Chennai), India. Despite India's steady march to global superpower status, the White Tiger explores the irony of how the subaltern people are still being oppressed and exploited by the privileged class of the society. He has relentlessly shown the disparities between the country's wealthy and poor, as well as the skewed social structure and absurd superstitions that persist to this day. He also writes on social problems like as poverty, terrorism, corruption, political unrest, social exclusion, the Dowry system, caste and class prejudice, etc. He lays forth a criticism of the corrupt religious, social, and political institutions that are contributing to the breakdown of human values and society as a whole, as well as the individual vices of hypocrisy, dishonesty, greed, and inflated self-esteem based on one's socioeconomic level. Adiga implies that we should abolish personal vices, societal sins, religious fanaticism, and corrupt institutions by instituting radical changes to our social, economic, and political structures.

Laxmikant Kapgate (2021) Arvind Adiga explains contemporary India and reveals the society's defining exploitative structure. In this article, I will analyze Arvind Adiga's books "The White Tiger" and "Last Man in Town" in an effort to better comprehend the novels' conflicting depictions of India. Several books written in English by Indian authors have revealed the bleak reality of life in India. Adiga's writings, like Vikas Swarup's "Slum Dog Millionaire," have shown the underlying problems with Indian society. The 2008 Man Booker Prize winner, "The White Tiger," is a flawless work of fiction that tackles the sensitive topics of poverty and racism head-on. His personalities, tales, and conversation put the reader in a position of understanding both the good and the bad in India. Prajapati, Saty. (2021). The literature of a region reflects the values, beliefs, and worldviews of its people, who serve as a microcosm of that region's social, political, and geographical context. The divide between the wealthy and the poor, between the powerful and the powerless, between those who oppress and those who are suppressed is enormous. Some members of the working class and the impoverished who are eager to effect social change rebel openly against repressive norms and conventions. Protests are recognized for their high failure rate but occasional success. Abstract In the midst of the media frenzy around contemporary India and its success stories, the cries of the great majority of India's destitute in both rural and urban areas went unanswered. The new label for India's big narratives is the country's recent scientific, technical, and economic growth. A prosperous India is shown here, but the country's poverty and other social and economic issues that threaten the country's progress are ignored. In 2008, Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize for his first book The White Tiger, in which he posed questions about the stereotypical contemporary India. Arora, Sudhir. (2016). By far, the most divisive Booker winner is Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger. A lot of people dismiss it as "trash" or "raddi" because of the way it savagely butchers the Indian cultural ethos and hurts the national pride of the country. Its interesting account of two Indias has earned it praise as a masterpiece in its own right. It provides a commentary on Indian life, yet this analysis may appear inauthentic and untrue to certain readers. Since The White Tiger is required reading in some schools, the information presented here was written with those pupils in mind. This work is engaging because of its straightforward tone and straightforward language. It will help students and academics alike hone their perceptive skills as they go into previously uncharted territory in Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger and other works. Rogers, Asha. (2011). Through a materialist literary analysis of the most recent novels of Indian writer and 2008 MAN Booker Prize winner Aravind Adiga, this research examines how current postcolonial texts and cultural production are dealt with in the global literary marketplace. Both The White Tiger (2008) and Between the Assassinations (2009) by Adiga serve as a theater for the artistic, cultural, and economic mediations that occur between authors, publishers, and readers of the most recent Indian novel. Therefore, these tactics focus an emphasis on more general acts of mediation occurring within the context of a worldwide and more internationalized textual economy. By providing a reading of these two works, I intend to show how processes of 'seeing' and consuming, acting, and competing are encoded, metaphorized, and satirized in these literary objects, just as these processes are incorporated in their handling and treatment by publishers and book buyers.

On October 23, 1974, Aravind Adiga was born to Dr. K. Madhava Adiga and Usha Adiga, both originally from Mangalore, in Madras (now Chennai). K. Suryanarayana Adiga, the former chairman of Karnataka Bank, was his paternal grandpa, and U. Rama Rao, a prominent Madras physician and Congress leader, was his maternal great-grandfather. Following his family's relocation to Sydney, Aravind enrolled at and graduated from James Ruse Agricultural High School. Later, he attended Simon Schama's English literature class at Columbia College, Columbia University, in New York City, and graduated at the top of his class in 1997. Hermione Lee was one of his professors at Magdalen College, Oxford, which he also attended.

In the beginning of his career, Aravind Adiga worked as an intern for the Financial Times. He wrote on the stock market and investing for the Financial Times and Money. He spoke with President Trump of the United States as a Times journalist. In the online literary publication, The Second Circle, he discussed the 1988 novel Oscar and Lucinda by former Booker Prize winner Peter Carey.

Cultural Studies' meteoric rise may be traced back to the 1960s, when Birmingham University opened its Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. Cultural Studies is not reducible to any one theoretical school since it incorporates so many different points of view. It integrates literary theory, media theory, and film/video studies to examine how representations of ideology, country, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and/or gender manifest in cultural products. When feudal social connections based on mutual loyalty and trust are pitted against capitalism relations based on individual ambition, disregard for conventional concepts of responsibility, and mistrust, the novel gradually begins to shatter the feudal standards. Balram, who is on the receiving end of this feudal world, betrays the ideals of service, loyalty, and obligation that define one's basic humanity, or, as he puts it, "that trustworthiness of servants which is the basis of the entire Indian economy" (The White Tiger 175). He deconstructs the features that may support a new social order. The greatest threat posed by Balram is that he acts as though he upholds the values of loyalty and trust when, in reality, he simply does so to further his own interests: You should have seen me that day – what a performance of wails and kisses and tears! You‘d think I‘d been born into a caste of performing actors! And all the time, while clutching the Stork‘s feet, I was staring at his huge, dirty, uncut toenails, and thinking, what is he doing in Dhanbad? Why isn‘t he back home… (The White Tiger)

2008 and went on to win the Booker Prize. A film adaptation is now available on Netflix. He joins Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, and Kiran Desai as the fourth novelist of Indian descent to take home the award. Another laureate, V. S. Naipaul, has Indian ancestry but was born in Trinidad. (More recently, Geetanjali Shree's book Tomb of Sand was awarded the International Booker Prize). The protagonist, Balram, is a rustic outcast who lives in stark contrast to India's emergence as a contemporary global economy. According to Adiga, "criticism by writers like Flaubert, Balzac, and Dickens of the 19th century helped England and France become better societies," and "his writing aimed at trying to highlight the brutal injustices of society."

The unrecognized members of society are a common theme in Aravind Adiga's works. The typical activities of a man's social life. Adiga does a great job at presenting and portraying the plight of the underdogs. In his stories, he explores in great detail what motivates an otherwise ordinary, law-abiding guy to do heinous acts like murder, rape, and robbery. He delves into the mental processes that lead every guy in that position and prestige down the wrong road. He also delved into the fundamentals of Indian culture and the evidence that supports it. In an effort to share his thoughts, he provided the following. Adiga's books not only show the social life of regular people, but also their struggles to survive and their tales of hope and faith. Even though "I am India's most faithful voter," (Sebastian, 2009) I have never been inside a polling booth. Characters in Arvind Adiga's books are frequently likened to those in Shakespeare's plays. The plot and concerns are grounded in reality, but the people are made up.

Everything in a work of fiction: themes, style, stories, and plots: Only one lab rat exists, except instead of a mouse, it's a tiger named White Tiger. To every aspiring literary critic, research researcher, literature student, or even serious book reviewer or critic, The White Tiger has become an easy target. It's open to a lot of interpretations (mostly since it won an award). Some readers like dissecting the analogies, while others are interested in his dystopian outlook. Unfortunately, Adiga's literary skills are only saved by one book (in the vast majority of cases).

India is home to several linguistic and cultural varieties, as well as numerous social classes, occupations, and religious affiliations. It holds free and fair elections on a regular basis, making it the biggest working democracy. The Aryan civilization, which flourished in what is now India some 4,000 years ago, left an indelible mark on the country's intellectual and cultural traditions. As part of his cultural inheritance, every Indian has a store of myth and historical tales ingrained in his mind, giving him an awareness of the past that he easily follows even in the present. Adding to the country's already rich variety, modern India is a fusion of urban and rural life. India's metropolitan, cosmopolitan centers are at the forefront of the country's rapid economic, political, media, academic, commercial, and scientific advancements. Conversely, the countryside has not changed much at all; it still suffers from widespread ignorance, illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, and low living conditions, and its residents are blinded by the ideology of myths and customs. Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger presents a striking contrast between the two India‘s.

The concept of globalization is pervasive in every aspect of modern life. This international phenomenon leaves few locations untouched. Researchers from different fields have taken an interest in this occurrence. Because of its mixed character, the concept of globalization is difficult to grasp. It is impossible to place globalization squarely within any one body of knowledge or era. It's not simple to grasp everything at once because of the breadth and interconnectedness of its implications. According to Paul James, "it is the extension of social relations across world space, defining that world-space in terms of the historically variable ways that it has been practiced and socially understood through changing world-time" (James). In a word, globalization is the process through which people all over the world connect, integrate, and share information and ideas about all aspects of life. The breadth of globalization has been growing steadily as a result of developments in technology, communication, and science. This worldwide phenomenon has an impact on several fields, including economics, sociology, anthropology, politics, psychology, science, the arts, language, and literature.

Adiga discusses poverty, a lack of access to healthcare and education in rural India, widespread corruption among government officials, and the underprivileged for political and economic gain. Through Balram's eyes, we see India like we've never seen it before, with cockroaches and call centers, prostitutes and devotees, and water buffalo locked in so many types of cages that escape is impossible, as Narasiman and Chawdhry put it. In his writings, Aravind Adiga vividly captures the anguish of the downtrodden. They've equipped them with vocal apparatuses. The disheartened are unbowed, and the essayists have given them a weapon with which to fight back against the injustices they've suffered in society and the economy. The wealth gap between the rich and the poor has widened more dramatically in the twenty-first century, the period of the financial explosion's outcry. Amid the chaos of the financial explosion, evidence of their involvement in wrongdoing can be seen in the rise of armed uprisings throughout various parts of India. In order to get access to the modern world, they often try to crack Rooster Coop. The protagonist in Balram Halwai's Man Booker Prize–winning presentation book The White Tiger (2008), who goes by the pen name Munna, describes his life in a letter sent to the Chinese Premier, Mr. Jiabao. Balram Halwai, our hero, and his employer Mr. Ashok provide the narrative's fulcrum. Balram Halwai isn't satisfied with impoverished states in India winning; he's deeply distressed by the luxurious lifestyles the urban elite maintain at the expense of India's downtrodden. He concludes that it would be difficult to conceal his distress for long, so he unseals it in a letter to the Chinese leader just before he arrives in Bangalore.

Segregation, subordination, and male-centric control all contribute to horrifying abuses against women, which may sometimes result in the loss of life or dignity for victims. Violations of women's rights continue unabated notwithstanding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and particular agreements intended to protect their rights. There is a dismal variety of forms that women's subjection may take, including domestic violence, sexual assault, child marriage, female circumcision, and so on. Women make up about half of India's population, but they are often denied basic protections throughout their lives. Murdering young girls, sexually abusing them, and engaging in drug dealing or prostitution are all forms of evil that weaken the status of women as autonomous components when they go unchecked, and most people would rather not have a daughter. Aravind Adiga also discusses dowry as a panacea for women and their families who incur debt by borrowing money and never escape it. In The White Tiger, Adiga uses his protagonist to speak out against the oppressive dowry system in India. The bride's family goes through a lot since they have to organize a major family must take out an advance on their rent from their landlord. They gave themselves over as a settlement to the landlord. Therefore, Balram should drop out of college and get a job at a tea store. Similarly, Between the Assassinations has a settlement victim who chooses to remain single because of the sharing system. In "Day Five: Valencia (To the Crossroad) in Between the Assassinations," Jayamma's story reveals the blight of colonization. Out of a total of nine daughters, Jayamma is the eighth. Her life so far as the promoter's chef has been excellent. According to Aravind Adiga's depiction, many low-income women have no choice but to go through life as spinsters. Due to their lack of financial resources, low-income families often find it difficult to arrange marriages between their daughters and suitable young men. In fact, even having a girl might cause the parents such much worry that they resort to infanticide. Many women nowadays are forced into prostitution by their families, their partners, or the harsh economic and social environments into which they are born. They are also targeted by "mail-order bride" services that claim to help single women find partners and careers in far-flung countries. Whatever the situation, many of these women are forcibly confined in brothels, where they face sexual and physical violence. Adiga said that prostitution was a growing problem in his work The White Tiger. Most women in large cities are driven to choose this career due to poverty or other hardships. Balram's portrayal of the event is sad, and it's clear that he empathizes with the plight of prostitutes.

In his writings, Aravind Adiga brings forth some crucial concerns about marginalized people who are repressed and fearful in a dominating society. Discord is prevalent and leads to resentment amongst communities online. Minorities in India have always suffered and been enslaved, even after the country gained its independence. Through a series of unresolved tales, Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga revealed the raw materials of a restless and violent India between the years of 1984 and 1991. Adiga emphasizes the Muslims' isolation and lack of acceptance into mainstream culture via the character of Ziauddin, a Muslim youth of twelve and the sixth of eleven children born to a family that works on a ranch. Zia cultivates a sense of alienation from society as he works at a period when he should be reaping the joy of guilt-free youth. He is now completely on his own and must learn to fight for his life like an adult. Adiga, author of the Man Booker Prize–winning first book The White Tiger, has also brought attention to religious discord via the character of Ram Prasad, who, in all honesty, does belong with Muslims, a minority group that is often discriminated against because of their faith. Ram Prasad, the Landlord Stork's driver, hid his true

minority. Similarly, Aravind Adiga brings up caste and class prejudice in his writing, most notably in The White Tiger and Between the Assassinations. Adiga uses memorable characters to bring up societal themes, such as Balram from The White Tiger or Xerox, Shankara, and Jayamma from Between the Assassinations. He has shown that one's mental and physical surroundings are permanently marked by the caste system into which one is born. These ideas are ingrained in our mind to the point that they cannot be altered. Although one may be born into a lower socioeconomic status, this does not guarantee that he will be treated as an equal by those in higher social strata. Whatever the circumstance may be, he strives relentlessly for advancement. George, the pesticide-spraying mosquito guy, courts a wealthy lady in an effort to win her heart. He will always be considered as a poor person, and Mrs. Gomes knows this.

Most of the poor in our nation will remain such not just because of the dismal economy but also because of the impending days of the Rich men. The author, using Balram's point of view, describes the many social and other issues facing the nation. The author, who was born in India and raised in Australia, has unique insight into the society and culture at both ends of the spectrum, and he uses this perspective to articulate the issues he believes should be eliminated altogether. Using Balram's point of view, the author of The White Tiger vividly depicts modern India. The book focuses on the disparity between the parts of India that have benefited from globalization and the expansion of the Indian economy and the other parts of India that have not. To the contrary of what many would have you believe, none of the social problems that have been happening in the nation have been removed; they have only been substituted. Rape of women, terrorism, political terrorism, corruption, and gambling have supplanted formerly dominant societal concerns such as child marriage, dowry, sati, excessive work, and the denial of women's education. The author has stated all these political difficulties by utilizing all of his books, and each story represents a distinct subject, and each novel sheds light on all the problems with equal relevance. The primary goal of Aravind Adiga's works is to get people to take action against the problems they see in the world. The author of The White Tiger successfully highlights the primary forms of prejudice in society, most notably that between a servant and master. Through Balram's eyes, he also explains why the poor will never become rich: the wealthy continually find new methods to cheat the system. The author also explains, through Balram, murder. According to the author, the country's company owners aren't cut out for the world of business, but they've made it far anyhow thanks to their cunning and ability to rise above their bosses. Without their workers' dedication, the business owners would suffer as well.

1. Aravind Adiga's Last Man in Tower: Survival Strategies in a Morally Ambivalent India," by Rositta Joseph Valiyamattam.‖ World Literature Today, 28 Aug. 2017,www. worldliteraturetoday. org/2017/september/aravind-adigas-last-man-tower-survivalstrategies-morally-ambivalent-india-rositta 2. Between the Assassinations Summary. ‖ Super Summary, www. super summary. com/between-the-assassinations/summary/. 3. Chandrahas. (2008), available at http://middlestage.blogspot.in/2008/11/onaravindadigas-between.html 4. DiMartino, Nick. (2008). ―Interview with Aravind Adiga.‖ October 6, (http://universitybookstore.blogspot.com/2008/10/nick-interviewsaravind-adiga.html) 5. India TV News Desk. ―5 Social Evils in India That Still Prevail. ‖ India TV English News, India TV, 27 Jan. 2016, www.indiatvnews. com/news/india/latest-news-social-evils-india-that-still-prevail35147.html. 6. Mill, John Stuart. (1967), ―On Liberty‖: The Liberal Tradition. ed. Allan Bullock and Maurice Shock. Oxford: OUP, pp.108-115. 7. Nikam, Sudhir and Madhavi Nikam, (2011), ―Aravind Adiga‗s Between the Assassinations: Chronicles of Aspiration and Disillusionment ―, Vol III, 5-6 Jan-Dec. 8. Saxena, Shobhan. (2008), ―Fact not Fiction‖, Sunday Times of India, October 19, p.9. Sebastian Sdb, A.J.(2009), ―Is Adiga's Between the Assassinations a Coop for The White Tiger?‖ Seva Bharati Journal of English Studies, Vol.V, Feb. p.13.

Phd Student, Kalinga University, Raipur CG