Life of Pi - Yann Martel

The book which won the man booker prize in 2002.

The book tells the story of an Indian boy, Piscine Moliter Patel, known as Pi patel. His parents owned a zoo at Pondicherry. So, from his childhood, he was pretty much familiar with wild animals.

Pi showed a very keen interest in religious matters. He loved god, and he felt a deep sort of intimacy with god. He learned the religious practices of Hindus, Muslims and Christians. His parents were upset about this and they tried to resolve the problem with the help of the local priests, but not without much success.

Pi never knew that it was a turning point in his life, when his dad decided to relocate the zoo to Canada. They set off to Canada on a Japanese cargo ship, with a not so comfortable cargo, the animals.

The ship sank in the middle of the Pacific ocean, and all except Pi were drowned. Pi found himself in a lifeboat with a hyena, a tiger, an orang utan and a zebra with a broken leg. The hyena killed the zebra and the monkey very soon. The tiger fed on the hyena and Pi was left alone with a tiger, on a lifeboat, in the middle of the ocean.

He made a raft and tied it to the boat to escape from falling prey to the tiger. He caught fish and fed the tiger with it. Pi was always vigilant, because death, in the form of a tiger, was right beside him.

He survived around 200 hundred days, and during the course, he ate raw fish, turtle meat and once, even the droppings of the tiger.

Towards the end of his adventure, he made a botanical discovery. He found a large group of algae, growing in the middle of ocean, and forming a small island. There were trees growing on it. He lived in the island for a few days, but left as soon as he found out that the trees were carnivorous.

At last, he reached the coast of Mexico, and as soon they hit the shore, the tiger ran away. People could hardly believe his story of survival.

An adventure novel, an interesting read. The happenings in the middle of the Pacific is not something that the author can experience. And hence, his imagination is appreciable.