“In Delhi, I travelled a lot by bus and autorickshaw, and spoke to as many drivers and conductors as I could — they are the sources for many of the things Balram says in the book,” Adiga said. “He is a composite of many people whom I’ve encountered in many travels.”

And travelled he has. Born in Chennai and brought up in Mangalore, Adiga left with his family for Sydney when he was 16. Then came a Bachelors degree at Columbia University and a Masters at Oxford, before he went back to New York as a business journalist. How did a doctor’s son, who dreamt all along of becoming a writer, end up pacing Wall Street? “I did not want to continue in academics. The only job that could use a person with no skills but those provided by an English Masters was journalism,” he laughed. “I became a business journalist mostly out of necessity —- no other jobs were available at the time —- but it proved to a rewarding experience, by exposing me to economics, the stock market and other such financial and economic aspects of living.”

Adiga came to New Delhi in 2003 as Time’s correspondent, a job he quit in late 2005. That was the year Chinese premier Wen visited Bangalore, and Adiga began his novel. “There is a real historical hook to the opening,” Adiga said. “I wanted things in the book to correspond to reality, but filtered through Balram’s views. India and China are supposed to take over the world this century —- or so we keep hearing in the press —- so I thought it would be nice to present a narrative that acknowledges that apparent takeover of the world and treats it ironically.”

... contd.