There are two facets to every great system :

–        the glory of being great, the applause, the success, the sheer exultation of having arrived.

It’s cost you blood, sweat and tears but you know this is what you worked for and now is your time. The grind has got you where it really counts.  You are determined to make the best of it. Great !

–        the gore.
What’s that in your closet?
The dreams that you crushed to get here ….
Did you go to your best friend’s birthday party ?
Did you play football in the mud ?
Did you talk to that pretty girl who occupied at

least a corner of your mind and much of  your heart in the senior class ?
Do you have welts on your heart from an unrelenting parent’s cruel words?
Did you paint that portrait that you so wanted to ?

While the whole world has feted IIT as a center of excellence,  “Five point someone” is a book  that tells about the weakness of the system. Yet, this is a hopeful book Coming from an ex-iitan himself, it is a genuinely enjoyable look at what goes on inside – the loopholes, the competition, the hostel life and most of all the grades that divide students into nine pointers and five point ‘someones’.

Hopeful “five point someones” ? Let’s meet them

I’m Ryan – I have the brains – and the looks to go with them. My head is full of creative ideas. I’ll do anything for my friends Alok and Hari. Yet I have bruises inside that I’ll never tell you about – no, not even if you’re my best friend. All you’ll see is an irreverent exterior…

I’m Hari – I don’t know what it that I want to do, but I do know that I have fun when I’m with Ryan. He’s such a cool, chilled out guy – I never understood why he doesn’t write to his parents though.

I’m Alok – I have so many responsibilities at home – sick parents, unmarried sister…I need to get better grades at any cost. But I know that Neha likes me in spite of being a five point someone. So what if she’s Prof. Cherian’s daughter ?

Five point someone is written in an easy, friendly way. It’s full of typical college incidents. It’s about the camaraderie that springs up between the three friends, the stories from the peripheral characters (like Cherian’s son) are very easily interwoven into the mainstream.

All in all Bhagat comes across as a nice guy who has gone out of his way to think about the ‘five point someones’ – their feelings, their dreams, their aspirations and their future.   It’s an instant hit with many because it talks about the normal, average Joe in an above average situation.

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