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 . 

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 . 

Intellectual me?

For the past few days I am trying hard to be somewhat intellectual, absorbing everything that came my way. As a somewhat book worm I am constantly scanning Amazon site for all the new book releases and then doing the same at Crossword or Starmark. With almost a lot of books in my 'to-be-read' list I am trying to absorb the character and words written as I find it pleasurable than my boring office work. With my office eating up almost 70% of my day's time I somehow try to fit in everything in the remaining 30% but being sleep deprived and having a lot of headache due to it I can hardly succeed. Hence my kindle is my companion in the early morning when I travel to office and the book if interesting enough will take me to an utopia from where I had to reluctantly return as soon as the bus arrives at the office gate.

Recently India is united with only one discussion and that is Modi and Demonetization. Nevertheless I get around 500 whatsapp msgs everyday where people are debating in the group and also my office cubicle is not exempted. I try to participate but due to lack of political knowledge I am more of a listener. However I feel myself to be somewhat intellectual if I do happen to say something in bits and pieces and is approved by others. I ruffle the newspaper or twitter, the next day only to add few more points to the same topic.

Now what defines intellectuality? Someone who is knowledgeable, confident, witty or someone who considers himself " i-know-it-all"? Mostly I get the second type of persons across the world. And people nowadays are confident enough to state that whatever he/she thinks is only correct, others are all fools. Facebook is flooding with wall posts of people proving this. I am amazed at common people who have voice to support or revolt against demonetization but can do very little about it. Love or hate Modi , he has made u stand in front of ATMs and Banks. The rule is a rule and u have to follow. So why all these things then? Yes, yes the famous "freedom of speech". My eyes sometimes roll up and down when I see posts like "God please impart some wisdom to these fools who consider demonetization as a boon." I wonder if God is confused about whom to impart this wisdom. No I am not supporting/ promoting or going against the govt , I am just amazed at the way it was stated.

I have a friend who has opinion about everything -- I mean everything. And if I happen to speak one or 2 things he is the first to point out , hey u r wrong which makes me feel like "Grrrr....who the hell are u to say this?"
I am generally attracted to people who have broader outlook and a lot of knowledge. It increases my knowledge manifold. But alas I mostly get Mr/Ms "Know-it-all" . Hence I my recent endeavour is to become someone whom I really like. That is to gather as much knowledge my little brain can hold and speak with utmost data points to counter debates and impress or somewhat enrage people. But as it takes a lot to succeed , I always end up saying something stupid and confronted by others. Blimey!

I,me, myself

I,me,myself is the thought that crosses my mind when I relax after a day of hard work reflecting back on the lessons I have learnt so far. It is absolutely true that no one knows me better than myself. No one can understand my pain better than me. So when people become judgemental about me I tend to retrace step backwards coiling into my shell thus avoiding to share anything more.

I read many articles and blogs where I found people have written that we ask our mirror, we dress to get noticed because we dont know who we are. No, we want to be appreciated. Thats our inherent desire. We dress good to look good, to feel good and if someone appreciates  bingo! thats exactly we want. If thats not the case why would we spring to our defense if someone says anything negative about the same dress? Do we gladly accept and say yes, it is horrible? No.

Till few months back I was in search of few wise men/women who would tell me how I am. What my character is? Do I make a good human being? A good friend? It was like I needed an approval to be me. But from bits and pieces of opinions that I gathered from people around me , my ego immediately gave a disapproval. Hence I concluded that they have not faced situations as I have or since we are different human beings our stimuli responds differently. Thus there is no such wise man/woman whom I am searching. Even if I get them I wont believe them. It is me who can answer all the questions I have.

To describe me in 1 sentence - " a stupid common woman who keeps on faltering and learning"

Love vs Freedom

It took me  a while to understand the topic for Indispire and realise its meaning . Love and Freedom are 2 completely different words with different meanings and should never be mixed with each other. Incase it should be mixed , it depends on the type of relation we are considering. A parent would be strict in the matter of freedom as it may hamper the child's growth. That doesnt mean the love is less in any way.

I have seen during college days my room mates used to give up dressing the way they want because their boyfriends didnot approve it. Thats something which even they found weird but followed because their love surpassed logic. Their freedom of dressing, freedom of mixing with other guys were restricted because their so called boyfriends were simply jealous.

Coming to freedom of speech nowadays people are more open to say anything they want. Gone are those days when people used to be tolerant. Now with the increasing rate of divorces we are proving that we are anything but tolerant. I have seen a girl who used stay with me in Chennai, misuses her independence. She was very soft spoken and always kept to herself. But from her life stories I gathered that she was brought up in strictness and once she is away from her home, she used her freedom the way she liked as if in protest to all the misdeeds happened.

It is unquestionable that people will always choose freedom above everything else. We were born free , we live free and die free. We might give into people's wish thinking that there is love but we cant sustain that.If people are not allowed to express freely they are sure to burst out one day. That has got no linking with love. It is stemming from other emotions like self worth, dignity etc. Imposing restrictions on meaningless matters harm a relation much more.If there is love there should be understanding and the other person should understand your restriction well enough to not consider it one. That will pave way for a happy relation.

Are you happy with your life?

It is a tough question when I ask people whether they are happy with what life had offered or is offering now. Many have answered I would like to undo many of my mistakes, avoid all the troubles that I had to face.

Well given a choice wouldnt we all want to lead a life full of only happiness? We would have luxury as our top priority and forget all the pain staking work that we do to earn our living. The negativities wouldnt have existed. But think for a minute. What good would it have done to us? We are because of our decisions- be it good or bad. If it was good we are happy, if it was bad we are humble. How boring would life had been had it not for the obstacles that come our way.

Looking back at life I do feel some unnecessary decisions should have been avoided. Some childish attitude should have been curbed. But as they say with time you become more wise, I realised that they were not to be repeated. The uncertainty of life is what makes it so sweet. You keep on planning for a future you know not. Had it been  your choice of life, I bet no one would have ever liked the word "Challenge". Life would have been dull. So you need negativity to remain firm with positive belief.You need obstacles to test your skills, your patience.

I dont want to alter my life. Whatever gone is gone. Maybe for good. What is upfront I know not. Still I am hopeful to deal with every situation with utmost maturity and yes a cool mind. If success can make a man King overnight, tragedy will make him humble. All our greatest poets, musicians,painters had to go through immense pain to come out unscathed and ever shining as a diamond.

At the end before I breathe my last I would like to say that I lived life on my own terms no matter how good or bad the situation was. I am responsible for what I am today and may Almighty forgive me for something I didnt do right.

A day for peace

I was travelling by bus with my whatsapp on and chatting with my teacher about one of her researches she is currently doing on human behavior. The answer that I got from her was full of positive vibes. She did acknowledge problems yet she never stopped making an effort to turn the situation positive.

Back home I was talking to my mother about the various problems that I was dealing with. She gave me an idea to meditate. Now thats something I never considered. As nowadays we have so much to do who would spend rather waste time meditating? I discussed this with my husband. But he insisted that we should at one point of time focus on the positives we have, calm our mind from the raging storm and let peace reign. Meditation can give you that peace.

I was about to retire for the day and just before that I switched on my Kindle as my daily custom. I was going through a book "change your habits, change your life" where the author states that it is always our choices , our limiting minds that restrict our ways to success. I dont want to delve deep into gyans as I find them boring. What I deciphered from it is if we have to dedicate a day to celebrate something lets celebrate happiness,peace and positivity. Lets forget our tensions for a day and concentrate on what we have, count our blessings and free our mind from fear.

I must say I am amazed at how my mother , mother-in-law or my teacher never stops to impart some positivity at the end of every problems so as to keep our focus intact. They may not deal with the situation the same way but they will never fail to look at the positive side too.

So lets meditate for a few minutes in a day, specially when your mind is racing. Just say "Calm down boss, life is not that difficult. This too shall pass."