Well Done Chetan.... Review on Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat

Whooooo... Just finished reading Five Point Someone (FPS) by Chetan Bhagat (CB) and the book refreshed so many memories. I always used to wonder why there are not enough books in the market talking about hostel life, disciplined education,etc. Starting with the review, CB did a good job using a brand like IIT. I am sure many people who want(ed) to or couldn’t get into the institute must have read this book thinking of getting some first-hand experience about IIT from the horse’s mouth. But, CB makes it clear that the book has nothing to do with: How to get into IIT and stuff like that? It’s a best seller for sure (saw it at No. 5 at Crossword this Sunday and his other book is at No.2) as it is priced so low at Rs. 95. If not others, then thousands of IIT Alumni and aspirants and students will surely read it....

CB could have used any other institute other than IIT having relative grading system, tough schedule and discipline. However, he chose to use the brand to the fullest due to his first-hand experience. He has put a flavor of romance and friendship coupled with youth culture. CB has done a fantastic job in this respect. I am sure all readers would have been nuts with the female part i.e. Neha Cherian (including myself) and her teenage encounters.

CB has written both his books using two protagonists: Hari (in this book) and Shyam (in One Night...). Both are losers in their own respect and have two dashing friends influencing their opinions i.e. Ryan (in this book) and Varun a.k.a. Vroomm(in One Night...) I could relate his both books with the movie Dil Chahta Hain. Even, here u can have glimpses of the characters i.e. Aamir-Ryan, Akshay-Alok, Saif-Hari and Preity-Neha. The difference would be their varied approaches towards academics other than love. I read somewhere that in the book launch, CB claimed to be Hari in the book. He has tried to use self-humility throughout the book to establish the connection. The first 14 chapters of the book are really cute. There is something really interesting in this which I hardly found in other books. There is a dedicated chapter for each character (except Hari-the author) devoted to themselves where they show their point of views as to why things are like they are.

I am sure that all readers would have associated themselves with atleast one character of the book. You could be either a prototypical intelligent guy who gets easily attracted & influenced by flamboyant friends, or a maverick, enthusiastic guy always ready to break through the system, trusts his friends to the extreme and willing to experiment, or a guy who is very dedicated and whose entire life revolves around his family.

I felt that CB was blowing the friendship thing and rendezvous with Neha a lot. The book starts with a small ragging incident (the coke bottle one). But, it hardly took off. I guess CB introduced it to create a situation for our three characters to meet. Half-way through the book, I realized that there were only a few pages left much to my dissappoint. While the first half goes through defining characters, their aspirations, and problems with a steady pace, the last half goes haywire describing comic, fictional yet unbelievable instances. For instance, I am eager to meet a student who has the guts to sleep with the daughter of the head of department in the latter’s house. And, I am equally eager to meet someone who has survived even after jumping off 9th floor of a building. CB didn’t want to disappoint the readers with the death of one character so he just explained it by saying that the guy survived the fall since he had a fat bottom and 6 inches of water in a pool... HUH........

Talking about the portrayal of academics in the book, it is shown that the IIT’s are the toughest place to excel when it comes to studies. A guy who has got 91 A.I.R in IIT-exam is struggling to get past his 5 pointers!! And to add to it, these 3 characters regularly put in 3 hours of regular study every day. Wonder, if even after studying so much, you get so low grades. What do the rest do then? I remember during my regional college days, we used to put maximum effort only during the P.L days. And that effort used to reduce every year!!!

Ryan was my favorite character in the book. I am sure everyone around would want to become like Ryan somewhere or the other. If you are one, Congrats! He has rich parents. He stood AIR 91 (for those who are not familiar with the system, he is probably one of the Einstein category of brainy individuals).He is one always ready to stand by his friends on every occassion. He believes and trust his friends more than his family and is even ready to die for them. And, he keeps adding some raunchy humour in the book (although Hari claims credit). He is always ready to think-out-of-the box and thinks of breaking the IIT system. Then, he keeps of trying to change his friends by popping with ideas continously. He enjoys his duels with Alok a.k.a. Fatso. Talking about Alok, here is a guy who is ready to cry at the drop of a hat. He comes from a very impoverished background, has a sister to marry off, a sick father, an equally emotional mother, etc. So, here in this book, if there is flamboyance in the form of Ryan, there is emotions portrayed by Alok. And, Hari stuck to choose between the two contrast characters at many times.

Finally, I would say that the book is a true portrayl of fiction. Yet, CB has shown many instances talking real-life econunters throwing in some facts here and there. This book is good for every student, who has been or is going to be. This book takes through a plethora of events portaying unabashed fun, crazy days at college, usage of vodka/grass/cigarettes, assignments, girl troubles, grade worries, problem with professors, etc. The book shows how these characters toiled night and day to get into the best institute of the world only to find them in deep shit as every day of the four years went by. Being an engineer myself, I can clearly related to the innumerable traumas reflected in the book like assignments, viva-voce, theorems, facts, figures, problems, tutorials, exams, etc. Yet, you do not have to be an engineer or a mechanical engineer-for that matter- to read the book and take lessons from it. This book is a refresher for all those who studied in institutes with all its imperfections, autocratic treatments, politics, wrath faced at hands of professors, meaningless egos, etc. Finally, I donot agree on one respect with CB who says that the best students in class are the 5 or 6 pointers who live a carefree life and enjoy it to the fullest and the 9 pointers crap things for more than 10 hours regularly. I had many friends who would be in the top pointers, yet did not mug at all.

So, Please do read this book. It will not consume much money or time.

Hey I read something great about CB. He made and still holds two records at IIT:

1. Sent a stainless steel glass flying in air for 7 seconds using a diwali cracker

   
   




2. Blew four bubbles simultaneously while chewing bubble gum, each 3 inches in diameter.

   
   

Source: BSP (Board for student publication, IIT Delhi) Book of records, 1995.

P.S. I am sure some readers wouldn’t feel that this review is copied from net and must be put in trash bin. Please do comment if u feel so.