Now Reading: Chetan Bhagat's 2 States

Chetan Bhagat has stepped into a fair bit of controversy over the last month or so with the whole twitter #chetanblocks thing and then the '3 Idiots' credits issue. Talking about his books however, I did find his first book, 'Five Point Someone' pretty interesting, primarily because it was a good description of engineering life. I cant say the same thing about the next couple which were strictly ok, though I did make it a point to read them. I managed to snag a copy of his latest book, 2 states, from a classmate 2 days back. The 'Now Reading' in the title is kind of inaccurate since its a short 270 pager that I finished in a couple of hours.

The book is based on the real life story of Chetan's own marriage to his South Indian IIM-A classmate. I did find the story interesting actually, with descriptions of life in South India for a North Indian and typical descriptions of Punjabi families in Delhi who only and only care about money and showing off. Added to it is Chetan's take about a career at CitiBank for someone who's in it solely for the money before he can retire and become a writer.

While the story is interesting, the fact remains that its a typical Chetan Bhagat book. Typical? A friend on twitter summed it up pretty well: "well thats with most of his books...he starts off as a loser...gets a chic in the end...is it on similar lines by ne chance??"

And thats pretty much what happens here as well. While I actually like the story, Chetan's writing style is another matter. The story could definitely have been better written, and it doesnt seem to have the impact it could have had. Of course, thats my unqualified opinion. Till next time...

Meanwhile, in ISB, the interview season starts mid-Jan, and PPTs and applications/resumes are in progress :D