Jun 04, 2008 10:15 AM
5568 Views
It is not everyday you sit in front of your computer on a Saturday morning and get emails like this:
From: Ahd_businessman@gmail.com
Sent: 12/28/2005 11:40 PM
To: info@chetanbhagat.com
Subject: A final note
Dear Chetan,
This email is a combined suicide note and a confession letter. I have let people down and have no reason to live. You don’t know me. I’m an ordinary boy in Ahmedabad who read your books. And somehow I felt could write to you after that. I can’t really tell anyone what I am doing to myself - which is taking a sleeping pill every time I end a sentence, so I thought I will tell you.
I kept my coffee cup down and counted. Five full stops already.
You cannot but help to get hooked, if a book starts like this. The manner in which you are transported to chapter one is just a perfect example of ideal story-telling. The characters are etched quite carefully and the realism that Chetan Bhagat injects in every one of them is to be read to be believed. The conversations between the characters, the situations, the mood-swings – everything is penned perfectly.
I love Chetan’s writing because I feel its so much like mine, like yours, like anybody else’s! After the typically youth oriented Five point some one and One night @ the call centre, this book seems to be different. The writer has matured with experience. Although he is the same vain self, starting with himself in the picture he goes on to narrate a real life story amalgamated with real events. This makes the read worthwhile because it’s like discussing amongst friends.
So what’s the book actually about? If we want to summarize the whole content of the book in a handful of words then business, money, calamities, riots, religious politics, protocol breaking love, obsession and to top it all cricket and friendship.The setting is the city of Ahmedabad that though being urban is yet not as metropolitan as many of its metro counterparts. It retains its small town flavour in pols (colonies), traditional Indian households and small vegetarian eateries.
It revolves around three young people, who became friends, and later business partners. The story is narrated by Govind( I must say Chetan has a knack in selecting the most catchy narrators). Its about his life which is full of people- his mother, his friends, his love and the top most being his dreams of making it big, touching the sky and to reach the stars. Does any thing seem out of place? Isn’t it everyone’s story? It is... What does the writer try to show us - Hypocrisy which is very common in this so called broad minded modern world. Govind is a born businessman with a gift for numbers. His friend Ishan aka Ish is an awesome cricketer with no future, discouraged by the Stereotyped Indian parents who want their son to earn! Omi the son of a priest who does not want the same path but has been brought up in that environment incorporating the deep rooted religious sentiments! Vidya - Ish’s sister, the hottie behind the naive innocent worthy girl fighting for her dreams and wishes under the veil of a worthy reputation! I found Vidya a little too advanced for a small town girl, but then…as Bhagat says – Girls – they are so small in size but are so unpredictable…so I wont go on and on about her here.
The plot follows.. A new business selling sports wares in a shop in the temple complex starts by the three friends. It builds up with good business and extra cricket as well as math coaching. Ali - a child prodigy in cricket pops up to throw Ish out of balance. Teaching Vidya is no easy job because of her blossoming age for Govind. Omi is caught up with religion based politics because of his uncle. Then there are the usual ups and downs and the emotions related to the huge earth quake that hit Gujarat in 2001. A loss is well survived and is pushed to the past. There are visits to Goa as well as Australia to get Ali into the top rung! Behind all this is a love story brewing up between Vidya and Govind. Few questions are subtly brought up here... Isn’t Vidya a grown up girl? Is there something wrong in falling in love with a girl just because she is your friend’s sister while it doesnt matter if it is anybody else? Then comes the religious politics and Godhra riots which the common man never wanted nor accepted but was thrust into. Horrendous killing of innocent people on religious basis with no humanitarian thoughts, by a select few! This is how the plot throws various questions to the readers. It culminates into facing religious politics, natural calamities, unaccepted love and one’s dreams! Well as Chetan loves it, he has a part in the end and its okay because we love his usual witty self interfering here and there. It ends in a happy tone just like most of our bollywood movies - selfishness and lessons learnt, forgiveness, way back into love with a horrified soon to be mother in law and yes a recovered Ali for the last suspense.
Chetan Bhagat’s novels emphasis the true Indian soul. He writes about the confusions, dilemmas, happiness and sorrow of the younger generation of India. That’s why the reader will immediately strike a chord, when he reads the book.
The impeccable style of Bhagat also manages to make you smile at certain times. Like, the comments that Vidya makes that stuns Govind. And the last sms by Vidya is also a riot! Apart from this, there are few instances here and there which do manage to arrest your attention, like the cricket matches, the Godhra riot and the emotions of people attached to it.
India's turbulent past is well portrayed here, of lives that were ruined, of irreplaceable losses, of friends who were separated and the shock that continues till this day. Told through the eyes of one such victim - Govind Patel. It is uncannily India. About India. For India. As critics wait to slam one more book, I'm saying read this one. You shall fall in love with your country all over again.
“The 3 mistakes of my life” is written simply and has the quality that makes one want to read the book cover to cover in one sitting and even if you are not a fan of Chetan, you would still end up buying this as the book is really cheap at Rs.95! I can go on and on as I am very excited, but I would really encourage you guys to go ahead and grab a copy and check the latest marvel of CB yourself.
