A moral dilemma

WITH Last Man In Tower, Aravind Adiga, Booker Prize winning author of The White Tiger, poses a pleasing and multi-stranded moral dilemma. While the novel can be read as an allegory of 21st century India’s keen genuflection to globalisation, it also succeeds with aplomb in spinning a truly involving tale.

The Vishram Society is an old but venerable twin tower apartment complex, set in the one of Mumbai’s slum suburbs, Vacola. Structurally unsound, bothered by rats and constant water disruptions, it is a place not without its problems, yet measured against its surround it stands as a veritable utopia, where Catholic, Muslim, Hindu and agnostic can coexist without prejudice, and where the value of a good neighbour is highly prized.

But the utopia is about to be torn apart because Dharmen Shah, a gangster/builder who has risen from nothing to become one of Mumbai’s most prominent construction magnates, has targeted the towers as his next major redevelopment project. And he has a powerful weapon at his disposal: money.

His offer at recompense is beyond generous and entering the realms of the fantastic, a 250% mark-up on the market value, and creates headlines across the city.

In the clamber to grasp such unheralded wealth, Tower B falls immediately. But Tower A proves more problematic: one resident, Yogesh Murthy, known to all as Masterji, doesn’t want to move. He is a retired teacher, recently widowed and on difficult terms with his son, and the Vishram Society is all he has left in life. As the few other less-then-eager residents are coaxed into acquiescence, Masterji remains alone in standing firm. He is a man who believes in principles, and who wants nothing, who has no price, which makes him a very dangerous opponent.

Faced with a deadline, it is left to the other residents to coax a change of mind, first with pleas and reasoning, then with ever more extreme tactics of boycott and intimidation. So a line is drawn in the sand, and every action from this point on will be laden with consequence.

Last Man In Tower is recounted in tight, functional prose. Yes, it misses some marks but deserves plaudits for the heavyweight daring of its ambition in dealing with the base side of essentially decent people, and in the clever blurring of the lines between right and wrong, hero and villain. Mr Adiga has assembled a large cast around an intriguing conundrum, and while some of the characters do at times veer towards stereotype then it is always in service of the narrative. The reader will find empathy with both sides of this power struggle, because nothing in this book is simple.