Sunday, October 25, 2009

One Chetan Bhagat, Four books, and Few thoughts

It all started when I was a youth.

Not that I consider myself out of that bracket already.. but just that I am no longer at the perky end of it.. you know the teeny end.. where you think that you have begun to figure things out while you have only begun to get more confused...

So, I remember, this itch for reading contemporary authors, I had developed in college.. I read the likes of Amitava Ghosh, Hari Kunzru, Kushwant Singh, even tried Arundhati Roy and Sulman Rushdie (unsuccessful attempts though). Therefore, when chota Chetan (young writer.. or youth writer - as he calls himself) came by.. I was overwhelmed to read him.

I was also incidentally dreaming for an IIM degree at the time .. and hence the story tellers IIT-IIM pedigree attracted me to the book all the more. More so, the first book 5point someone..was a great entertainer from end to end.. although later on.. his books started turning into more of movies than stories..

Nonetheless, I most definately enjoy reading his books for the sheer "youth" value in them. Although I am less dreamy eyed than I was before, it feels good to read and remember, how I would have believed and empathised with the plot, had I been a little less hardened in my shell.

While he continuously keeps his promise to include lots of young people, one steamy love scene, cute looking girlfriends, happy endings across all his books, there is something more that is common between these books..

5point someone-1night at the call center-3mistakes of my life-2states ...

Do you notice the continuous use of numbers in titles? Is it because of his IIT connections? Or is it some kind of Ekta Kapoor superstition? Or is there some kind of pattern in those ....5-1-3-2??

I wonder what would his next book be? Will it have the number 4 in it?

ANyhow, all I can do is wonder... and, at best, wait for the next one to arrive.. afterall, I am no Dan Brown.. and I hope there is no secret society he is part of. ;)

6 comments:

Debarshi said...

No wonder the IITs and IIMs continue to be the aspirations for lakhs of Indians but this guy knows precisely where to stuck the right cord ...

The books written by chetan are different both in presentation and content often galvanized by pretty girls and their affairs ...

But what I really like about this guy is the way he has paced his innings (written books) particularly for our generation.

Remember the days you were preparing or at least thinking about IITs and then came the book 5 point some one
and then when you were about to get into a BPO job , came the book one night at call centre
And as I write it today , our generation probably stands at the edge of leaving the club of bachelors and enter into the "made for each other " club and thats precisely when the book has come

I havent read though but wish all the readers a happy time pass.

I predict the next thing which Chetan is gonna talk about would be stuffs related to having kids , raising them , their education and schools etc ...

I predict the number 2 for his next title "Hum do hamare do" as the theme ...

Sriram Agrawal said...

Nice write up... m yet ot red his latest release...

though I must say the Pseudo comment above mine is more of a blog...

Abd btw did debarshi just tried comparing our own chota chetan with JK Rowling???

The Head Over Heels said...

Google is faster than me...

http://www.fakingnews.com/2009/10/chetan-bhagat-accepts-that-he-believes-in-numerology/

I wish I had read it before.. my observation is actually true!!!

MaNi said...

I was the the 1st one to notice the use of numbers in the titles..

U blogger.. U read my mind... U gonna get sued soon...

Unknown said...

nice observation sana.. with 1, 2, 3 and 5 already covered, the next one to fill in the gap should be 4..

And as Debarshi rightly said the next in the sequence should be about marriage, having kids, raising them...

but rather than "hum do haramre do".. I predict the title to be "4 of us"!!

thereby filling in the gap!!

AJ said...

nice thought :)... so back to bloggin .. am also tryin to be back at it after gettin broadband at home..