It was our wedding anniversary last week & my wife had a gift for me -a copy of Chetan
Bhagat's latest novel "2 States". It was a surprise. Not the gift, but the fact that not only
did she tolerate me (and my occasional eccentricities) all these years, but also felt like
getting a gift for me. :-)
This is Chetan's 4th book and the other 3 books are already part of my collection. Apart
from liking the way he writes, I like the way he prices his books. All his books are priced
at Rs.95 (2$) which is not only affordable to most people who form his readership, but by keeping the figure just below 3-digits, it kind of makes you think that it is not too much
money, as opposed to if the price was say Rs.100. You know, like how Bata prices their
footwear - Rs.199 instead of Rs200.
My wife tells me that she read somewhere that the pricing is his wife's idea - as if to rub
in the "behind every successful man, there is a woman" theory. :-) I don't really doubt
that because Chetan's wife is also an IIM product (IIM-A at that) and you don't just get
into an IIM without more-than-average grey matter.
I absolutely loved his first book "5 point someone" which is about his IIT experiences &
which is being made into a Hindi movie "3 Idiots". His second one, "1 night @ the call
centre" was good, but not as much as the first one. The 3rd book was "The 3 mistakes of
my life", which was about the Gujarat riots and in my opinion ranking last in his books.
The latest one "2 States" is actually a piece of fiction which is based on his life. Actually
based on his marriage - a Punjabi guy marrying a Tamil Iyengar girl. Can you imagine a
more explosive combination ? While we can talk all day about unity in diversity and all
that, in reality we are all different people and think of the other one as aliens.
Northies have their own beliefs about Southies, and vice versa. Even among Southies,
people belonging to each of the 4 Southern states have their own 'opinion' about those
from other states. Heck even in a state, people from various regions have their own
prejudices about those from other regions.
An apt example is the South/North divide in Kerala. The Northies (those from Kannur, Kozhikode, etc) have a saying "Thekkane-yum Moorkkane-yum kandaal, thekkane
aadyam kollanam", which translates into "If you come across a South-Keralite and a
Cobra, kill the Southie first". Meaning that a Southie is more harmful than a poisonous
Cobra. Hey, I am from South Kerala, though not sure if I am dangerous than a Cobra.
There is nothing really fancy about how Chetan writes. Actually the writing is simple &
that I guess is what endears him to readers. You feel he is telling a story and you are
listening. And in this book, he has effortlessly covered the general Delhi-Punjabi psyche,
their interests (eating, showing off & splurging) and has also adeptly captured the typical TamBram way of life (valuing education above everything else, equally at home with
technology & horoscopes, the coy-girl-at-home-but-wild-outside syndrome etc).
And if you leave apart his IIT and IIM exposure, most guys would be able to identify with
him on many counts. I for one could relate to so many incidents in just the first half of the
book (I could not finish it) that it felt like he has written my story.
There is the part about how he tries to win over the conservative TamBram parents of
his girlfriend, but does not seem to be succeeding. And finally he gets a chance to bond
with his future FIL, when the latter has to make a very important presentation at office
and seeks his help with PowerPoint. Over a period of few days, they get close enough
for FIL to offer him a drink from the Chivas Regal that a potential suitor (US educated TamBram guy working for Cisco - LOL) for his daughter had presented him.
And FIL proceeds to pour 4 tablespoons of whisky into a glass for himself & asks Chetan
how many spoons he needs. Ofcourse, the Punjabi he is, Chetan pours his drink from the
bottle sans spoon, which amazes FIL who says, "My wife does not let me drink more than
4 spoons a day". And as they work overnight on the presentation, they end up finishing
3/4th of the bottle.
My normal style of reading books is at-one-go - I don't need food or sleep or anything if
I have a good book in hand. But with work, time for my son/wife and other chores, this
style does not work anymore. So, I tried to read this book in bits - while having a smoke
in the yard, in the loo etc. But I still could manage to complete only 1/2 the book over the
last weekend.
I had to return to Chennai & could have used the time on the train to finish it. But I saw
that my wife was also following the book when she got some spare time & thinking that
she would want it, I left it at Kerala. I can't wait to get back home this Saturday to read
the rest of this absolutely un-putdownable book.
If you like books (light fiction) and have not read Chetan Bhagat yet, I would highly
recommend "2 States"and after that I am sure you will find yourself buying his other
books.
P.S. : Inspite of being a fan of Chetan's writing and reading his books, I did not know (till
I read about it on a website yesterday) that there was a common thing about the titles
of all his books - they all have a number in them - 5, 1, 3 & 2.
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