Young Indian writer Aravind Adiga, whose debut novel The White Tiger portrays a satirical picture of class struggle in India, on Wednesday won the prestigious Man Booker Prize 2008 for his maiden literary work.
Born in Chennai in 1974, the 33-year-old journalist was the youngest among the six shortlisted for the English-speaking world's most important literary award.
Adiga who is currently based in Mumbai grew up in Mangalore and Australia and studied English literature at Columbia University, and Magdalen College, Oxford.
The author began his journalistic career as a Financial journalist, with pieces published in Financial Times, Money and The Wall Street Journal.
He also worked as a correspondent in India for the TIME magazine for three years before going freelance.
Adiga's novel The White Tiger features a protagonist who will use any means necessary to fulfill his dream of escaping impoverished village life for success in the big city.
His novel tracks the ambitions and divided loyalties of the son of a rickshaw puller from an Indian village.
The Booker winning maiden work takes the form of a series of letters to Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, from Balram Halwai, a Bangalore-based businessman, who intends to communicate to the Communist leader the rags-to-riches story of his own life as a microcosm of the "new India".
{{/usCountry}}The Booker winning maiden work takes the form of a series of letters to Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, from Balram Halwai, a Bangalore-based businessman, who intends to communicate to the Communist leader the rags-to-riches story of his own life as a microcosm of the "new India".
{{/usCountry}}The book presents a class struggle in India with Halwai juxtaposing the rural, downtrodden sections of the Indian society as against the rich elite. Author's existential and crude prose animates the battle between India's wealthy and the poor.