Targeting the Booker winners for sometime, I wanted to read the 2008 Booker Shortlist before the winner was announced. As there was not so much time left, I decided to do the best possible: Read as many of the 6 books as possible, starting with The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Never one to leave a book incomplete, I carried on with The Shadow Lines, while The White Tiger sat idle on my nightstand.Finally starting with it, I found myself in bed after a few pages. No no, the book wasn't sleep-inducing, it was the typhoid bug catching up, sending me packing to Udaipur. Soon all I could do was just sleep and forget all about the stranded tiger! Early one morning I woke up to the TV buzzing loud. Amazed newsreaders marveling at the Indian writer who won the prestigious Man Booker Prize 2008 for The White Tiger!
What!
Was that a bad morning! A late riser, I was soon wide awake thinking of the still lazing tiger in my Bombay flat. Oh the frustration of knowing that I could have read the book unprejudiced, that I could have formed my honest opinion about it before knowing what the Booker jury thought of it and then judge how good (or bad) a judge I am!
I came back to Mumbai to find the tiger exactly where I left it. Three days in town and it is still at the same place. And I think it will continue being there for some more time. If it had been any of the other 5 books, I would not have minded but knowing what I had just missed was such a dampener, I still don't feel like reading it. As my chance is already lost, I will meanwhile find out how the world rates Aravind Adiga's creation. Read it I will, when, I don't know.
While I am on the topic of Booker winners, another thought. Having looked at book stores from Colaba to Powai, it is shocking how these books are simply not available!
"Do you have The Siege of Krishnapur?"
"What?"
"The Siege of Krishnapur, Farrell",
"Umm... Farrell, Krishnapur, who?"
Replace The Siege of Krishnapur by In A Free State, Oscar and Lucinda or the recent Vernon God Little, The Line of Beauty and the answer remains the same. Bookstore owners who know about thousands of books and authors on varied subjects have not even heard of these! They are of the opinion that Bookers don't really sell. Really? Is that true?
Still waiting (for more than a month!) for Landmark to deliver my online order for The Siege of Krishnapur, I will be glad if someone can me tell where I can buy these books in Mumbai. Also, waiting to hear from readers of The White Tiger!
