2 States

I have read some Shakespeare too, but this guy, Chetan Bhagat, cracks me up like nobody else. His is a very unique style, pulling out some of the wittiest sentences I have ever read. You are reading a line, and then somehow he associates or likens it to your inner humorous instincts.

‘Five Point Someone’ was the first novel where Chetan took the grand canvass of IIT dream-study-life into a single wrap, and put it perfectly on the readers’ nerves. No wonders, every youth who read it felt vicarious about the whole story. My college buddies were loitering-enlightened selves after reading the stories of the three like-minded guys. It was such a refreshing novel for all of us in those mundane university study days.

‘2 states’ is again full of those moments when you feel life is so beautiful, despite so many harrying moments for the protagonists. Life moves on to IIM now. Krissh meets Ananya in that typical will-be-rejected mood in the college’s cafeteria. Studies bring them together more, and then love…and then sex … takes over. The courtship relationship continues for the full two years of study, and then the corporate life starts. Marriage proposal ensues, and then the drama of acquiescing the two families, from North and South India, starts and climaxes in the most cinematic way. Isn’t this the fantasy of all the youth in India right now?

I never studied in IIT or IIM, (though my professors insisted IIITM was IIT+IIM :) or had a girlfriend as cool, confident and cute as his. But it seemed he was revisiting the life around me. Consider these:-
• Krrish writes about the tragedy of the students having names starting with letter ‘A’. He was talking about his girlfriend ‘Ananya’, but instantly my mind wandered to my fellow mates who pulled up such big and meek faces when they were asked first to show their projects, reports or assignments
• Krrish wasn’t able to concentrate while studying with Ananya. The reason: every guy’s fantasy – “He wanted to kiss her”. Hey, isn’t that so real?
• Krrish and Ananya loved their parents and relatives very much, but couldn’t reconcile with their views on region, religion, caste, feminism etc all the time. Both knew the people around them were really good at heart but also products of their time. So, the couple didn’t have any qualms over drinking beer, pre-marital sex etc, but they also believed in national integrity, work ethics, morals of life. This is an exact replica of ‘Work Hard, Party Harder’ theme of everyone around me.
• And what about the brilliant description of corporate life? The financial experts and the ever esoteric jargons of them. And the fatuity of all the stuff. The people in Software, Banking, Insurance etc know how shallow the grandiose show is.

While describing these, he also dropped in some of the most risible lines, drawing boisterous guffaws from me. I wanted to quote some here but they are too many, and actually they will be more enjoyable when read with context. So, what are you waiting for? Go beg, borrow or buy the copy, and have a perfect post-siesta time of the weekend.

The Last Symbol - Where ???

While writing this, I re-read my own piece written about two years back. I didn’t mention it here to highlight how much I like (d) Dan Brown’s novels, but to set the kind of expectation I had from his latest novel ‘The Last Symbol’. Neither am I going to do a review of the book, as that is the job of the scholarly nit-pickers.

But I must tell you, reading an eagerly waited novel, as watching a highly anticipated movie, is a tough job. More often, the exercise fails as has happened with me umpteenth times. The Last Symbol wasn’t such a damp squib, but it wasn’t a lighter of awe either. After the onslaught of so many historic thrillers in the aftermath of Da Vinci Code, you have to gauge in these terms: What different does this novel give to me? Does it tell different things or tell things differently? I couldn’t excite myself totally on either front.

Unlike other novels of his, it was a slow starter. Robert Langdon was grilled so badly by the CIA head that he hardly looked a hero. How often have we seen him running away from the authorities, as in Paris? The story did pick up though with the unraveling of the villain, Malakh’s story. How his translation happened was a different chapter from the all mystic stuff of the Masons going around in the novel. I also enjoyed the depiction of Washington DC in full glory, as I have visited DC very recently, and the images of White House, Capitol Hill, the Smithsonian Museums are still vivid in my mind. The story had a grand culmination on page 447 (sorry for the spoiler and don’t turn to that page if you haven’t read the novel fully). Somewhere I had read that, the secret that was voted the greatest in a movie was in ‘Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi’ when Darth Vader says to Luke ….. Hope you can fill in the rest. I had the same kind of great-secret-unfolding excitement while reading that page. Actually I am giving a clue (or symbol) here what that secret could be. Think!

Even after that 50 odd pages were there in the novel. I was riveted expecting some brilliant ending. But it slithered to a very odd and general ending. On hindsight, the ending looked a well-chosen and probably the only available one, but it lacked the drama it should have. All in all, a good read (7 out of 10 by me) and a must read. But be within the boundaries of your expectations. Dan Brown can’t dish out Da Vinci Code every now and then. Times are different now, and so are our likings.