London, May 24 -- The imposing chandeliered Guildhall full of literati, academicians and well-known faces from the publishing world broke into a polite applause as the five judges announced their unanimous decision awarding the 29th Booker prize to 37-year-old Arundhati Roy from New Delhi for her first novel The God of Small Things. The award to her did not cause any flutter in the hall as she was a hot favourite to win. Bookmakers Ladbrokes refused to take any more bets soon after noon on the 9/4 rated writer while booksellers were unanimously saying that Ms. Roy would easily win. Her closest rivals to start with were Nick Jackson (The Underground Man) and Jim Crace (Quarantine). But in the final discussions she beat the fancied Belfast-bo...