Chetan Bhagat's latest offering confirms his status as a mass story teller

Chetan Bhagat's writing represents a curious combination of unique things. He is definitley someboy with a high IQ (IIT-IIM, Goldman Sachs background), has a rather simple style of writing (no complex plots, characters that represents the comman man, takes a light & humorous stab at some of our indian idiosyncrasies and while the end is quite predictable, there are sufficient twists and turns in getting there), there is always reference to some sexual escapades of the protagonists and the books are priced quite attractively His intellectual reputation further promises a nice opening at the book stores for his books. His latest book "2-States:- the story of my marriage" (costs Rs 95) is almost an autobiography of his unique marriage (his wife Anusha (or Ananya as portrayed in the book) is a classmate from the prestigious IIM and is a Tam-Bram while Bhagat is a punjabi. For those of you who dont understand what these terms mean, read the book :)) The challenges faced by this intellectual duo as they decide to get married with the blessings of their parents is bought out in a rather uniquely humourous way through this fast paced novel (I bought the book and finished reading the entire story in 2 hours flat). The clumsy Hari of 5 point someone becomes the dorky Krish Malhotra here (including the references to strained relations with his father, a tough college professor, disciplinary issues at IIT and of course, a college sweetheart). At some level, Bhagat must be ruing the fact that he did not cast Hari as a punjabi. If he had, this would have been a logical sequel. Bhagat uses the opportunity to throw some potshots at some of the ridiculous customs, both sides of the Vindhyas without either getting preachy or banal.

The concept is hardly novel and there have been some interesting movies in the recent past (Abhiyum Naanum is one that comes to mind first) around a similar concept and this book also presents an ample opportunity for a nice and humorous family movie. (1 of Bhagat's books has already been made into a movie and one more is in the offing). The book is particularly pleasing sheerly because it does not aspire to be a masterpiece. It is completley unpretentious, humorous and would resonate with the the common man who has a simple view of life, does not take it too seriously and would not mind reading a light book to trigger his imagination. So for those of you who like such books, Bhagat's latest offering is a nice and simple story for you to enjoy a peaceful evening of book reading. And to those parents who frown down on cross-community marriages, here is some intelligent and humorous food for thought.