Aravind Adiga is a famous Indian writer who won the Man Booker Prize in 2008 for his first novel “The White Tiger”.
Wiki/Biography
Aravind Adiga was born on Wednesday, October 23, 1974, in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India (46 years old; as of 2021). His zodiac sign is Scorpio. Aravind received his initial schooling from Kanara High School in Mangalore. In 1990, he started his high school education at St. Aloysius College in Mangaluru. In the same year, he moved to Australia and began his studies at the James Ruth Agricultural High School in Australia. In 1997, he earned a degree in English Literature from Columbia College, Columbia University in New York City. Later, he went on to study for a master’s degree. at Magdalen College, Oxford.
appearance
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Black
family
Parents and siblings
His father’s name is Dr. K. Madhava Adiga and his mother’s name is Usha Adiga. His grandfather’s name is K. Suryanarayana Adiga, who was the chairman of Karnataka Bank. His maternal great-grandfather’s name is U. Rama Rao, a popular medical officer and Congress politician from Madras, Chennai. He has a brother named Anand Adiga.
Profession
After completing his studies at Oxford University, Aravind Adiga began working as a financial journalist for the Financial Times, covering the stock market and investment rules. During his time at the Financial Times, Aravind also interviewed Trump and his articles were published in Money magazine. Later, he worked as the South Asia correspondent for Time magazine for three years. Soon after, he quit his job at Time magazine and began working as a freelance writer. In 2008, he wrote his first novel, The White Tiger, and won the Man Booker Prize for this novel, becoming the fourth Indian writer to win this honor after Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai. Indian-born writer VS Naipaul, who was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, is also on the list of winners of this Booker Prize. Shortly after winning the Man Booker Prize, Aravind Adiga published a series of short stories, Between the Assassinations, in 2009. In 2011, The Last Man in the Tower and 2016’s Selection Day are two novels published by Aravind. His novel The White Tiger was adapted into a feature film on January 6, 2021. The film was released on Netflix in Las Vegas and is titled The White Tiger. Adarsh Gourav (his first time as a lead actor), Priyanka Chopra and Rajkummar Rao are the lead actors in this film.
Movie “The White Tiger” poster
Amnesty International, his novel published in 2020, is based on the situation of Indian immigrants abroad. The book is a strong contender for the 2021 Miles Franklin Award. In 2020, the New York Times evaluated Adiga’s novel “Amnesty” as follows:
Adiga’s literature is a literature of darkness and failure, of alienation and isolation, of imprisonment and escape.”
Facts/Trivia
- In 1990, Aravind Adiga bagged first rank in the SSLC (Senior Secondary School Certificate) examination at the state level in Mangalore.
- In 1988, Aravind Adiga reviewed online a book called Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey. This review was published in The Second Circle, an online literary review.
- Adiga’s novel “The White Tiger” sold more than 200,000 copies in 2009 after winning the Booker Prize. In April 2009, it was announced that the novel would be adapted into a film.
In 2009, Aravind Adiga’s second novel, Between the Stabs, was a contender for the John Llewellyn-Reese Memorial Award.
- Aravind Adiga donated part of the prize money he received after winning the Man Booker Prize in 2008 to St. Aloysius College, where he first studied.
- In an interview with the media, Aravind Adiga revealed that three African American writers (in order) after World War II had a great influence on his literature, namely Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin and Richard ·Wright. Aravind further stated that he considers himself an Indian writer. He explained,
It’s probably more meaningful to talk about the book’s influences than it is to talk about my influences. The White Tiger was influenced by three black American writers who came out of the post-World War II era (in that order): Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Richard Wright. Oddly, I haven’t read any of them in years—I read Ellison’s Invisible Man in 1995 or 1996 and never again—but now that the book is finished, I understand that it was deeply influenced by them. As a writer, I don’t feel constrained to any one identity; I’m happy to draw influence from any source.”
- Aravind Adiga said in an interview that he was worried that the white tiger would eat him too. He revealed,
I emerged from complete obscurity, and at first, it was hard for me to accept the fact that I was a published author. Once you write a book like “The White Tiger,” it’s hard to escape its shadow. I’m afraid that “The White Tiger” will eat me too. “
- According to Adiga, during his journalism career, he got the opportunity to interact with new people, which made him a kind writer in collecting materials for his book. He said in an interview with The Guardian,
Journalism is a way to support myself and to force myself to meet and talk to people I know I wouldn’t otherwise meet. I’m gathering material to become the kind of writer I want to be. I don’t know how long it will take – it could be forever. I thought I would have to continue working somewhere as a freelancer or a full-time journalist, but having grown up in India, I knew I could live without money. ”
- Aravind was asked in an interview that his writing in “The White Tiger” was somewhat similar to the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”, which was set in modern India and had a realistic tone without a clear ending . In his opinion,
I can tell you this much: if I were born poor (as most Indians are) and I was a servant, I wouldn’t have much hope of winning a TV show to win my freedom. “
- Aravind Adiga dedicated his novel The White Tiger to his college friend Ramin Bahrani. Ramin is an American director and screenwriter who directed the film The White Tiger. Adiga and Bahrani have been friends since their college days in the 1990s. Bahrani has also thanked and praised Aravind in most of his films including Cart Pusher, Shop, Goodbye Solo and 99 Homes.
- Aravind Adiga says his first novel, The White Tiger, aims to be fun and engaging and not about any social or political revelations. While talking to the media, he explained,
The White Tiger is a novel, not a social or political treatise; it is a novel. I hope readers will remember that. It should be entertaining, engaging, and provocative.”
- As an Australian immigrant, Aravind Adiga explained Australia’s reliance on cheap Asian labor. He said in an interview that when he landed in Australia, he became a minority of South Asian descent. He described the Australian lifestyle,
Australia is renowned for its lifestyle. But its increasing reliance on cheap Asian labour has alarmed many. [Australians]“When I came here, I became a minority, I became South Asian, which doesn’t exist in India, and the stories that interested me as a person of color changed.”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education