“The biggest-selling English-language novelist in India’s history” – New York Times. I really hope not! If I had to recall the three mistakes of my life, after number one and two, reading this book could creep into third place. The author wrote three other books, and I don’t intend on reading any of them. Having read two other Indian authors, namely Rana Dasgupta and Arvind Adiga, I can vouch that Chetan doesn’t fall even remotely near to their standards. Rana Dasgupta wrote a very interesting piece of literature entitled Solo, an extremely convoluted story but he mastered the art of capturing ones imagination. Arvind Adiga is on the rise with his famous The White Tiger which was pure genius. His descriptions are virtual simulations of life in the sub-continent. Someone who hasn’t lived there will get a vivid image of the real life in India whilst people from the region can smile knowingly. But enough about the fallacies of the New York Times’ comments.
A bit of background about the author. He is an IIT/IIM-A graduate. To non-Indians that won’t make any sense, but basically he graduated from the toughest engineering university in India where only 2% of the applicants are taken in annually. Then he went on to pursue his MBA from the best business school in India. Essentially, the guy is very smart. But this doesn’t show in the book. I guess it was a disaster in the making considering he is an investment banker. They don’t really have time for relationships which happens to be the theme of the book; how can he comment on friendships, secret affairs and Hindu-Muslim conflicts? A quote from the fellow in question: “I’m a banker; I can’t get numbers out of my head.” Precisely why you probably shouldn’t write a book?
The book commences with a group of friends: Govind, Ishaan and Omi. The first is ambitious, the second a sports fanatic and the third a religious hardliner. Characteristically male-Indian-teenagers fall into at least one of these categories. The plot begins with Govind getting a business idea, tapping into the cricket obsession in Ahmedabad which allows his vela (idle) friends to do something in life. The 3 mistakes which this book revolves around are Govind’s – the protagonist in the novel – displaying the twists and turns not only of running a business but of becoming an adult. Although a very responsible character he makes mistakes, allowing us to reflect on the imperfect nature of humans, realizing that: yes we also do make mistakes. Perhaps the only interesting point about the story was Govind’s character, how it evolves as the world around him changes, molding and morphing. Ishaan and Omi’s characters lack depth and are highly predictable. Frankly after the first 50 pages, the story is crystal clear. Twists such as a secret love affair with the best friend’s sister are thrown in for spice. How cliché. Vidya, Ishaan’s sister has an interesting character, she happens to be the most amorous person (to put it in the most polite way) alive! It adds some comic humor in the book at the expense of becoming sleazy, but that is to be expected. At the same time we see nothing of the relationship of the siblings, perhaps that is what the author is trying to highlight that the brother and sister relationship is defunct, but in a book about relationships this particular one would have added value. Typically, the atypical isn’t added in.
The ending of the book is very rapid, almost too rapid, and you have to slow your mind down to appreciate the flow of events. Although inspired from a true story, to capture the impact of the moment a different approach could have been taken. Having said that, the conclusion of the book is appealing and forces thoughts into your mind. In certain books you want a definitive ending and the lack thereof frustrates the reader, however in this case it provides the required mental stimulation which had been lacking throughout the book.
Perhaps I am being a bit harsh, but with such great quality books out there, one is hard done by if time is wasted reading books like this. Faran Akhtar (noted Indian director/producer) plans to make a movie out of this, which could fare better then the book. Personally I feel books often outshine movies by miles,we can only hope this will be a notable exception. I would only recommend this book to those who want to know how bad books can get; clearly something was missing. Hopefully Chetan will find some inspiration, and write more interesting literature in the future.
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