A billion dreams

By Eisha Sarkar

Posted On Monday, April 27, 2009 on Mumbai Mirror at 06:19:03 PM

Book Title: Slumdog Millionaire (previously published as Q&A)
Author: Vikas Swarup
Publisher: rbooks (The Random House Group)
Price: Rs 268
Pages: 382

If Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire hadn't gone on to win the Oscars, former Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's book, Q&A would not have received the kind of worldwide recognition it has now. But blame the marketing for that because the book's a must-read, even if you've watched the movie. And thankfully, Boyle's script is an adaptation, not a mere copy of the book.

The game show's there (Who Will Win A Billion?), but the questions are different. Unlike the movie, the book's not about, "What does it take to find a lost love?" It's about Ram Mohammed Thomas' life that comes into focus only after he gets 12 questions correct on the quiz show to win the moolah. The producers suspect foul play and Thomas is brutally slung in a prison cell. There's no way slumdweller Thomas could have known who Shakespeare was or the name of Mughal empress Mumtaz Mahal's father, the show's producers say.

A woman presents herself as Thomas' lawyer and takes him home with her. He then starts recounting the events in his life that were key to the answers of all the questions on the show.

Through the book, Swarup drives home an important point - that knowledge can be gathered from sources other than literary, that education isn't just about academics or books and that just a basic curiosity about things around you can make you more knowledgeable than most college graduates.

Much like the film, the book exposes the underbelly of India. But unlike the movie where long camera shots and still images were superimposed to show the dark side of Mumbai, Swarup doesn't delve much on imagery. He simply moves from one description to another - robbery and murder on a train, children crippled to make them beggars, arrogant foreigners oppressing their servants, brothers who pimp their sisters in brothels and rich women who disown their own kids in modern Indian society - in a matter-of-fact manner. Bad things happen here, but does anyone care?

Strangely, the book is as much about ignorance as it is about knowledge. It's about the fine line that divides the rich and poor and how each side is ignorant or even apathetic to the needs and wants of the other.

What really makes the book interesting is the end, when you find out why Thomas actually came on the show. It's different from the film, well, almost. Reading the book is an adventure in itself. It's racy, colourful and with just the right dose of spice that makes it brilliantly entertaining. It's a winner.

Whether Swarup will be able to live up to it in his latest novel, Six Suspects, you'll have to wait to see.