HE WEAVED HIS MAGIC AGAIN

Chetan Bhagat is back and this time not with a bang but with a ripe, matured love story but not unlike The Five Point Someone (FPS), One Night @ Call Centre (ONCC) or 3 Mistakes of My Life (3MML).

2 States - The Story Of My Marriage

is everything what FPS is not and its everything what FPS is about. If FPS was the best engineering campus-story ever 2 SSMM is more of a matured love story. And the funny thing is the story follows the storyline of Shyam of FPS (though his name here is Krish Malhotra). The similarities just start here; it has all that has become staple diet of Mr. Bhagat. An aggressive woman who always makes the first move, a seemingly loser boy (definitely not hero type), love, fun, complication, betrayal, tears and an almost bollywoodish and big-bang climax with odes to the youth of the country!! 2 States has it all in varying degrees and yet it is different.

The story starts with Krish with a psychiatrist going on a confession. The story of Krish is remarkably similar to Shyam’s…..same bad grades at IIT-D, affair with daughter of Professor, a dominating father at home,an ex-army who beats his wife etc….The story starts at the first week of IIM-A where Krish and Anjali meets. Anjali Swaminathan….smart, talented, beautiful tamil Brahman ( I heard they are called tambram…confirmation, anyone??). The first act follows typical Chetan Bhagat path. But it is different from the second act. Now thay have to make their families accept each other. That’s where the fun begins. An ostentatious Punjabi woman who thinks her only son is the best jewel of the whole world and everybody is out to steal him and a quite, orthodox tamil family who believes in knowledge and absolutely hates show-offs……sparks are bound to fly!!!!

The rest of the story is how Krish tries to find acceptance in Anjali’s family and Anjali in Krish’s family. It seems tough?? Well, compared to what to come….it was nothing. Now that have to make sure the families like each other and faced with instant cultural clash and suspicion it’s an improbable task!!

Unlike his other books, this one moves over the whole country and lots of social observation. It also doesn’t have Chetan Bhagat getting the story from someone and then asking him to complete it. It also follows up to his traditional style. FPS was a (I don’t know what genre it was..College romance??college life??coming of age story??...I don’t know), ONCC was a workplace romance story which was going good until that call from god and then that horrible harebrained scheme to dupe thousands of people to save jobs, 3MML was predictable from first page though the concept was good. 2 SSMM is not any of these genres; it has its own place. For the first time he asks questions about out strange social practices without making anyone look guilty. Romance or not, its definitely his first social novel.

I immensely liked this book. It has that same quality that makes you identify yourself with Shyam in FPS. He feels just like you….its almost like you can feel his emotions or what he is thinking and then you sit straight and realized you would have done the same thing in his place!! That’s why FPS was most loved book across the college campuses. 2 SSMM have the same quality that makes you identify with Krish Malhotra, be it his helplessness in fight between his in laws and his mother or his boredom with job or his pain of heartbreak. Chetan Bhagat has definitely reached another level with this novel. Makes you stop and think again about your life and what do you want in life!!!

My Rating

IF

Five Point Someone - What not to do at IIT-10/10

Then One Night @ the Call Center 6/10

The Three Mistakes of My Life 4/10

2 States - The Story Of My Marriage 8.8/10

Its an Earthquake!

The first earthquake I faced was when I was 4-5 years old. Well, the truth is I heard that I faced the earthquake, but I don’t remember anything.

At that time I used to live at Raigunj, North Dinajpur. I was taking my afternoon nap. My father’s friend Maity uncle was supposed to come to repair our TV. Later I heard that there was an earthquake that afternoon and while everybody was busy screaming and being stunned Maity uncle carried me out of the house into the courtyard. Being a very sound sleeper I naturally don’t remember anything of it. But everybody verified it to be true…so it must be.

The second time I faced an earthquake…….well I was sleeping then too. But this time I had the decency to wake up with the quake (I guess I am getting old, I don’t sleep such soundly anymore).

It was around 2-2.30 at night, I was sleeping after a long and tiring journey. I was also suffering from fever, though no one knew that at home! I was on the bed and my parents were sleeping on the floor, when I felt the bed shake. Now, I’ve felt beds shaken many times before thanks to my upbringing in many different places. There was this place at kalyani where the whole building used to shake when any heavy truck moved by the Highway beside.

So, when I felt the bed shaking beneath me and I woke up, I couldn’t decide it was a just a bad dream or realty. It took me few precious seconds to realize that it was for real. By then the quake has stopped. I thought about getting up and enquiring but then decided to finish the sleep first!! Just before drifting to mind-numbing sleep again, I heard father asking our neighbors if they felt anything.

Next morning news told us the details, that a heavy intensity earthquake has struck at Indonesia and what we felt was just a jolt! I later wondered, if a jolt was powerful enough to shake a three-story building like a cheap wooden table then what the real deal would have done!! I really don’t want to know that!

Slumdog Millioaire book review

By now most of you must have watched this movie and read atleast few of the realms of newsprint and articles written about it,so its too late to write the review of the movie.So, i tried the book instead and found it......well....lets save that for the last.There's no point is reducing the limited interest you have till now!!

First start with the obvious questions.What is the differences between the Oscar winning critical acclaim and the best selling novel Q & A (yes,thats the name of the novel,not slumdog millionaire).

To start with,the main character is named Ram Mohammad Thomas(RMT),an orphan.He was named so to prevent a religious riot for him.He spent his earlier few years at a orphanage where he spent his relatively good times.

The books too starts from the dinky police cell and with the beatings.But here a lawyer (female and pretty obviously...so much for stereotypes) comes to rescue him.Then this lawyer watches the recorded and yet un-broadcasted show ,one questions at a time and unravels the mystery of Ram's life.Here Ram has won the total money one the first day itself and the producers were unable to pay any money, so the tried to prove that Ram cheated.

The story doesnt go through the linear pattern of the movie.As the questions come Ram's story jumps with it.So, in the first question he flashes back to his adolescent years where as the 2nd question takes him back to his birth and earliest memories.

If you thought SDM was fantastic then you will be stunned by this.Here the stories are more fantastic...a closet gay superstar,gay priest of a church,voodoo magic,a foreign spy,spy camera,train dacoity,murder,burglery,contract killer,ex-superstar's suicide,juvenile jail,army deserter,incest attempt...phew!!!

Salim is his friend here,one whom he doesn't meet until he gets to Agra.The story of the movie follows the novel in a different way.

The anchor of the show is a spineless man.He does whatever the producer asks him to do.Be it telling the wrong answer or reverting the final question when Ram answers it correctly. 

Also there are more women the story and the love interest is Nita, a prostitute.RMT falls in love with her and wants to win the money to free her.

The writing is surprizingly very fluent.It never staggers.Even the most incredible plot twists work like a magic.Though I knew the ending I felt my pulse quickening towards the end.The final plot twist is definitely the spoiler of the story.No wonder it was left out of the movie.

In short it is definitely an enjoyable potboiler.

The best dialogue from the book.After RMT watches a realistic movie with he says,"What is the 

point of watching a film if you can see the real thing in your neighbor's house just across 

the street?"Classic!!!

That defines the whole of SDM!!!

50 day's itch!

[It is my blog, here I make the rules. Feel free to comment. If I don’t like it I will go snip-snip……]

 

Its been 50 days now! 300 people died, its just a number now. Too much water passed by marine drive since then, nothing happened to those plotted the biggest and drastic attack on Indian soil.

"Some philosophize in poetry. Some vituperate in words. Some candle in silence, some parade in demonstration. Some brood eventualities, some vocalize in visual. Some conference on strategy, some indulge in exploit. Some weep at loss, some weep at sympathy. Some courage in reconstruction, some repair in caution.

And some… sitting far, or within us, twitter and chuckle on the completion of a dastardly action…!!!"     -Amitabh Bachchan

 

Too much has already been said about it, every angel probed and dissected and wrung dry to feed the public knowledge. Every celebrity, politician, self-styled expert worth his or salt commented and gave opinion whether anyone wanted it or not.

Internationally it created a ripple as many foreigners died (it’s a fact, nobody cares when Indians die, not even Indian Govt.).Pakistan as usual denied everything and started to issue war threat, which the world particularly USA can not afford now.

So, that leaves us the simple and straight question: where do we get from here?

It’s been umpteenth time that such an attack occurred, nothing has been done about. As usual we adapted with it. People die, politicians thunder, security is briefed for a few days…after that….everything back to square one.

Just how long will this go on? A federal police force was formed after so many years of discussion and gain it has been derailed. Pakistan Govt. has simply refused to pay heed. Security is again limping back to normal i.e. casual state. All are waiting for the next attack after that things will happen in the same order.

What are our options, you might ask. Well, you don’t have to look far. Look at Israel or if you can without snickering look at USA. After 9/11 USA didn’t sat back and licked its wounds and indulged in diplomacy. It launched a counter-attack. The result is clear; USA has suffered no terrorist attack on its soil in last 7 years.

Tough times call for tough measures. Just ask yourself what would you prefer: 5 dead suspected terrorists or 100 dead innocent citizens? The choice is yours.

The world rule is quite unambiguous, blast or get blasted.

Our neighbor is a soon-to-be-failed state with nuclear power, when it fails whoever comes to power won’t wait to blast us! It’s a choice we have to make now for our safe future.