be like a lotus flower

"...like a lotus in a dirty pond, be in the world but not of it."

found in Aravind Adiga "Last man in tower"

Balram

"Balram calls himself : "half-baked", like many others in the country - he was not allowed to finish school, with only a smattering of all sorts of knowledge. In fact, he was a smart lad, and that was even recognised by a school inspector, who praised him as a 'white tiger', "the rarest of animals - the creature that only comes along once in a generation"."

I've been reading "The White Tiger" the story of Balram, the entrepreneur, set in today's India. It's a powerful and it sure looks like a realistic vision of the country.
The world greatest democracy, doesn't come out very well in the picture.