Arts/Literary
Balram – The Criminal Entrepreneur
Book Review
Title: The White Tiger
Author: Aravind Adiga
Reviewer: Joy Isi Bewaji
It is a mystery how these things happen. A heedless messenger gets certain documents misplaced from the office of the Premier of China- and it makes its way to some obscure country called Nigeria. Before you know it the press gets a whiff of it and the story of an Indian murderer-cum-entrepreneur gets everyone talking.
The scarce-to-fortune tale is one that has been told in many colours. Here, we have Ogas killed by their maiguards for paltry sums – monies that can not buy them a house!
But your venture is quite impressive – 26 Toyota Qualises? You have done well. Your grand-mother would have been proud if she were alive; but of course you know her head must have been severed by now with a rusted blunt knife to pacify the bereaved family of your ex-boss. Kishan would have loved the chandelier right? But he must have been burnt with a douse of petrol since your “impressive” act. You know the stories better than I do. Here in my country, we do not end a generation for the sins of one villain. We show mercy to the guiltless.
Poverty has a way of turning an unpretentious mind into a brewing pit for monstrosity. I have seen it many times. Here, a couple of hooligans exhume dead bodies and gouge their eyes out; a few bundles of naira notes are exchanged for it. Some others go right ahead and blow the brains out of a victim in his apartment in a bid to obtain a portmanteau full of US dollars. They are armed robbers really; but you – you are an entrepreneur, aren’t you? There’s a deep meaning to your crime – the need to survive the Rooster Coop that ties you down to unbelievable penury. I understand. It’s funny how your act of bravery isn’t carried out regularly by dispirited servants all over India. Maybe they are strained with a conscience. But you, Balram, are a brave one. It takes a great amount of bravery after all, to stab a master severally with the serrated remainder of a Johnny Walker. And to think you remain unflinching; bravery indeed, laced with vindictiveness.
Your years in Laxmarghan must have been hell, or close to it like you described. We’ve got our hell holes here too. If you come to Nigeria, I could take you round the slums. We’ve got places where people live right on top shit water; the stink infects their children,. and one by one they die like flies. The children who manage to survive the contagion live “half-baked” lives, just like your life once was. They do a number of things – sell rat poison on the streets; cower at bus stops, like beaten dogs begging for money; become evil-eyed thugs demanding loose change from commercial vehicles; or get into the eye-gouging, tongue slashing, private part-slicing trade.
It is a shame you didn’t get to go on that scholarship offered casually by the school inspector. You were a smart child after all. He called you a “white tiger”, the rarest of animals that come along once in every generation. You would have ended up well as a lawyer or an engineer, or some fancy Indian professor in a UK university teaching “economics”. But you turned out an entrepreneur – a Johnny Walker-smashing, boss-killing entrepreneur.
You were dragged out of school and put to work at a tea shop to pay for the “groom price” for one of your sisters. The whole groom-price thingy always leaves me perplex; how does a woman pay to marry a man? It’s the other way round here. We suck the men dry and shove their wives to them. They start their first fight the night after when the excitement and the alcohol is gone. He pounces on her and vents his first shock of anger.
I agree Mr. Ashok was a weak ass for a man. He was a big baby with that mobile phone he punched every second (and by the way, who fed you that trash about mobile phones destroying the libido of a man-drying up his sperm? Ha!). But really, what was his offence? You were upset he called you “family” while you drove him around filling his glass of whiskey with one hand and driving through busy roads with another (I must say your roads are really good; you wouldn’t try that here, ghastly postholes line up like pit toilets waiting to consume you); massage his father’s feet’ and get to serve tea to his brother and wife? Is that his crime?
Is that not the life of a servant? To clean after the greasy, cheesy mess of his boss? His brother, the Mongoose was right after all, you were not to be trusted. Oh, Ashok was indeed cowardly, because seconds before his death he sensed somewhere in his guts that you were about to do some despicable; kill him and steal his money. He was your prey, a convenient one. And now the past is gone with its stench of poverty. You, Balram, are the new face of entrepreneurship in your town. Family ties in India is persuasive; it’s the same here you know; parents play a big role in what a grown man’s career and family should look like; children are indebted to their parents for life! It is a good thing when the man has some money to build his parents and siblings a big house in the village, with borehole and a standby generator; but for a poor man who is maddened . by the requests of his family to the extent that he thinks of selling one of his children off, it is a bad thing.
Nigerians, too, are quite familiar with fraudulent politics. I am talking about dizzying amounts, millions of naira, exchanging hands everyday from one politician to the other; one camp to another. We are siblings on that account
Now that you have found your wealth. and the need to hobnob with Wen Jiabao, Premier of China, has your beak (you know what I mean) grown an inch longer? What has changed except that you sit below your much-loved chandelier and reward policemen for their treachery to the larger society.
Indeed, like you say, “1’m tomorrow”. You are the “tomorrow” of gluttonous adolescence seeking ungainly riches that swells the conscience to the depths of despair.
I wonder why you pick the Premier of China for this confession. He will be baffled, I’m sure, and may learn a thing or two from you looking over his shoulder to see what his butler is up to!
I sense you are looking for answers, even amidst your less than unrepentant utterances. The answers you will see tomorrow.
I do hope you are aware that your killer resides with you; not your conscience, that has been smeared beyond redemption. Your killer is Dharam, your brother. You know he’ll grow bigger, get out of school and scheme your death. Be ready. I hope he uses something less hurting, like a gun, straight in the head – for your own good.
I’m sure Mr. Ashok is waiting for you, (heaven? Come on, he was on a mission to corrupt some politicians, remember?).
He’ll welcome you at the gates of hell and ask, “What was that ever for?”
Bewaji, the author of Eko Dialogues, lives in Lagos
Joy Isi Bewaji
It is the idea of God that family should exit. Children form part of the family. God loves family so much that Jesus was born into the family of Joseph.
Everyone’s family is good and important. Children should not look down on their family whether they are rich or poor.
Children should respect and honour their family and foster love among their siblings. They should work together and make peace in the family. They should always stand in the gap. It is good for family members to carry all along since everyone may not be doing well.
The Christianity that children learn is practised in family. Faith-based organisations do a great job in moulding children’s character. Those are the behaviours that children exhibit towards siblings in family.
Every child born in a family is there for a purpose. A baby born into a family is supplying something. It may be joy, wealth and so on. Everyone is important in a family.
Adolescents who have graduated from school but may not be contributing financially can do one or two things at home. You can engage in preparing meals at home while parents are away for a job or business. Contributing in house chores will go a long way to relieve parents of stress after a day’s job.
What do you contribute to your family, especially during holidays both in nuclear and extended family?
The family you were born is constant but friends are temporary. You can decide not to continue in friendship but you cannot cut off your family. No matter how bad you think your family is and you decide to leave home, you must surely return. Your friends can harbour you for a while.
The child’s first identity comes from the family. What the child learns first comes from the family.
Family is the centre of love and care. People have started playing down on marriage because of neglect on basics of family. Marriage starts today and and the next few months, it is threatened. Respect for family plays a crucial role in marriage.
No child grows without parental control and influence. If a child refuses to grow without taking instructions from parents, he may grow up being wild. There are consequences when children do not obey their parents. There are those who want to be rebellious against their parents. They should know that their length of days are tied to their parents.
Your bioligical parents know you more than every other person. There is the wisdom and knowledge your parents have that you do not so it is proper to listen to them before choosing carriers both in academics and job. A young man or woman can choose who to get married to, but a greater role in the choice of who to marry and the marriage proper comes from the parents.
They know what is best for you. No matter how modern trends will influence you and prove it wrong, parent is the key. No one can love you more than your parents because they are your blood.
A lot of parents have been traumatised due to the fact that children they nurtured and trained turned their back on them at older age. Children should not abandon their parents for any reason.
As you grow up, situations may arise in marriage when you decide it is over with your spouse, but no matter the level of provocation with your parents, they will not despise you. Parents will also play a role in that regard. Problem arises in every family but how it is handled matters a lot.
Some children honour their mentors more than their parents. Although there are parents who shy away from their responsibilities. It is important that parents take full responsibility of their children. You cannot bring a child to the planet earth and refuse to perform roles as a parent. But parents may not quantify what they spent from childhood to adolescence. That is a blessing children cannot get from another person.
There are people who have attributed their failure in life to the fact that their parents, especially mothers are witchcraft. It is wrong to feel that your mother is instrumental to your failure in life. The only way to success is hardwork.
Let money not determine the level of love for your parents. Wherever a child goes, family is constant.
Eunice Choko-Kayode
Naturally, when a child is born, it is the role of the father and mother to decide a suitable name for the child. The husband and wife normally discuss and suggest the English or vernacular name of the baby.
But sometimes, when a baby comes into a family, grandparents hearts are usually filled with joy to the extent that they want to answer present, by giving their own names not minding the fact that the biological parents have given theirs.
This happens mostly when the marriage is an inter-tribal one. It also happens even in intra-tribal marriage. Grandparents want equal representation as far as naming a child is concerned. They also have special names as a result of circumstances surrounding the birth of the child.
This is still happening till date.
A lot of people have viewed this in different ways but there is nothing wrong about it. The most important thing is that the child bears as many names as he or she can. But one thing is certain, the child must bear one name in school.
Should circumstance determine a child’s name?
Women who are more emotional are always eager to name their children considering the circumstances surrounding the child’s conception and arrival.
The issue of grandparents naming a child comes up mostly when it is the first of the family.
In naming children by some parents in the olden days, they named their children according to the days in the week in which they were born, like Sunday, Monday, Friday and so on.
You may be shocked to hear that whether a child is given 10 names by parents or grandparents, when he or she grows up, will decide to change. There are several cases where some persons decided to change especially when they feel that the names given by their parents and grandparents do not give them joy. If they are not doing well in life, they may claim that their misfortune is caused by the name their parents.
Competition among children in schools be it primary, (kindergarten) and secondary come in different forms. It can be Mathematics , debate, quiz, spelling bee,competition, from organisations like Cowbell, multi-national companies, faith-based organisations among others.
They are organised mostly for selected intelligent ones, the best among their peers to represent a class, school or group. Prizes are normally set aside for the best as well as consolation prizes for runners-up at the end of each session.
The question is, are children willing to accept defeat when they fail? As parents, guardians, can you encourage your children or wards to accept defeat instead of shouting and comparing them with others who may be performing better either in schools or outside.
Some parents may be blaming their children for not doing well in competitions. They will like to tell their children if others who may perform better have ten heads. Those group of parents blame their children for every failure.
For your children to do better in competition, the parents too must have emotional intelligence. When you continue to blame your children for failure, how intelligent are you?
Some parents always want their children to be in the 1st position and unhappy whenever they secure 2nd position. There were instances where children smashed their trophies because they never got the position they wanted to get and their parents supported them.
Children should be able to accept it whether they win or not. They should be encouraged for every performance. Discourage the issue of “shame, shame, shame, shame”.
A parent says she always tells her children to win even if they will fail. Always give them the mentality that they can win. Children should be given the impression that they can win prizes and laurels in every competition.
Parents should not isolate their children from others in the neighbourhood. Allow them to play with others. Don’t threaten your children that you may not pay their schools fees if they fail. Comparing them with others may encourage or discourage them.
Coming first or getting award as a first class student from the university sometimes does not mean that the person is the best. And if the child does not merit any award in the lower classes, does not mean that he can not merit first class also.
It should be noted that coming first in academic competition may not really mean that the competitor will be the best at work place or business.
Accepting defeat is a way to move higher. Even if a child who competed with others did not come first, there are consolation prizes for runners-up. When you advise the child to accept defeat, you are encouraging her to win in next competition.
Remember all children cannot be on the same knowledge level Their learning abilities defer.
Eunice Choko-Kayode