Saturday, November 26, 2016

One Indian Girl - Book Review

To begin I should say I am not a die hard fan of Chetan Bhagat but yes I have read almost all of his fictions. I started with his Five point Someone and One night at call centre and loved them. I equally disliked his following books except 2 states. His 2nd last release Half Girlfriend was beyond what I could call terrible. Hence this time I was a bit sceptical whether I should buy his books further or save that money. I got mixed reviews in Amazon with negatives predominating. I just thought of giving it a try and judge myself.

In one sentence this book has no practical storyline, it is as filmy as his other books were. But there is some magic in Mr Bhagat's writing which will hook you to his books. It will make you laugh and take your life a lil less serious. This is a story about a young , independent , smart, good looking and "padhaku" girl named Radhika Mehta who completed her MBA from IIM-A and was placed in Goldman Sachs in New York. All through her student life she was a nerd and did not get a single boyfriend not even a 'boy' friend. All of a sudden in New York a man named Debashish Sen in short Debu met her at a party of common friends and liked her. They started hanging out as Radhika had never found a single so interested in her.And she has an utmost urge to get into bed. Never mind Chetan Bhagat finds it his most interesting topic to get into the minute details and explain. And then they started having a live-in relationship. But as luck would have have it the guy started having problem with the girl earning millions of dollars. A typical guy who at the beginning was a feminist and believed women should be more independent and follow their dreams suddenly changed to a mediocre loser who found it difficult to digest that his girlfriends earns more than him.  I am not surprised as in many cases this is the story. The relationship ended with Debu moving out of it and Radhika forced to take a transfer to Hong Kong. Well she did drop her papers and wanted to move out of the job yet she is so irreplaceable that the company cannot function without her ( I wonder how many of us would die to be like her).

Scene 2 she moves to Hong Kong and then again gets tangled with her boss's boss. The man is above 40 but want to retain his youth. He is married , father of 2 and since he and his wife dont strike a cord together he preferred to get involved with a younger girl half her age and never mind going to bed. I felt like Radhika is obsessed with sex. As if it is something she has never got and never wants to leave and obviously cant live without.Again there was an ego problem as Radhika wanted a family and this man was happy to have her as a mistress. With lil of her remaining self respect Radhika now moved out herself and again got transferred to London even after putting her papers.

Scene 3 Radhika's mom arrives in London and starts to find a guy for her. Many of them were rejected by Radhika. Some rejected her because of her huge salary and finally they stuck to a facebook guy.

Scene 4 Radhika's marriage event happened at JW Marriot Goa where she wanted to have a destination wedding. And there first popped in Mr Debu to get her back. Radhika being indecisive went on to be friendly with her fiance  knowing pretty well that she has other plans in mind. As the event progresses pop up her second lover Mr Neil Gupta leaving Radhika totally confused. At the end she decided to throw those men out of her life and also cancel her wedding as she herself was not sure where she is leading.

As I mentioned earlier the story is highly filmy , far from being practical. Yet it was Mr Bhagat's writing that kept me going through. His language and story telling is too cool. His witty lines and few truths about our society which he tries to point out makes you think. If you are looking forward to relax yourself after a tiring day, this book can be taken. It will make you think, laugh and wonder all at the same time. At least I have found his book somewhat refreshing, funny and light read. Chetan has improved a lot from his last work and this time I appreciate. Better judge the book yourself than getting the essence from others. You may like or not like but definitely you will not keep it down. Mr Bhagat makes sure of that . 

1 comment:

  1. So rightly said "This book has no practical storyline, it is as filmy as his other books were. But there is some magic in Mr Bhagat's writing which will hook you to his books. It will make you laugh and take your life a lil less serious"
    I read One Indian Girl. The way he moved between the various men in her life was good. Questions raised about can women have career and life

    ReplyDelete

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