Selection Day by Aravind Adiga

Name: Selection day
Author: Aravind Adiga
Publisher: HarperCollins

“Revenge is the capitalism of the poor: conserve the original wound, defer immediate gratification, fatten the first insult with new insults, invest and reinvest spite, and ke waiting for the perfect moment to strike back.”

Selection Day is the coming-of-age sports fiction by Booker prize winner Aravind Adiga. This novel is entirely centered around the passion of a sport, which is obviously the cricket. Being set in Mumbai, the novel explores the journey of two brothers Manju and Radha in the backdrop of cricket. It is a mix of a hierarchy of injustices, rags to riches dreams, sibling’s pressure, mutual jealousy and lastly the parental pressure. These are some points makes this book very special to every Indian reader. Because each and every one of us can relate these things in their life.

The story is about Mohan Kumar, a father who believes that his sons, Radha and Manju will one day become very successful cricketers and change their financial status. For this, Mohan relocates his family from Karnataka to Mumbai. He starts learning every aspect of cricket and starts to teach his sons cricket, based on his theories. Eventually, they caught the attention of a journalist who gets them a sponsorship. The true dilemma starts here. This new found ground leads them to disobey extremely domineering father, jealousies, competitions and what not. The web of purest emotions that are weaved in a way that makes us so deeply involved throughout the end of the novel. This plot tells us how heroes are made in India and how they are dropped at a single mistake. This is obviously something that we came across in our daily lives. We have seen too many stars being made and broken down from time to time, sometimes may be due to a single mistake. The book is beautifully written by Adiga which makes each and everyone to fall in love with. The complexity of emotions are narrated in an extraordinary style makes this book a must pick in your life.
Rating: 4/5

“O, I do read Indian novels sometimes. But you know, Ms Rupinder, what we Indians want in literature, at least the kind written in English, is not literature at all, but flattery. We want to see ourselves depicted as soulful, sensitive, profound, valorous, wounded, tolerant and funny beings. All that Jhumpa Lahiri stuff. But the truth is, we are absolutely nothing of that kind. What are we, then, Ms Rupinder? We are animals of the jungle, who will eat our neighbour’s children in five minutes, and our own in ten. Keep this in mind before you do any business in this country.”