Book Review : Five Point Someone

"Five Point Someone",a novel by Chetan Bhagat exchanged hands yet another time at work over 5 months back. I had heard a lot of "wows, this is great, I did that too" every time a member of my team read that book and religiously passed (or promoted? ) it over to the next. It is beyond my understanding why they didn't pick up a copy of their own from the bookstore on MG Road that have been flaunting a copy of this book on the front racks for months now.

Four months overdue, on one of our customary visits to Crossword Bookstoreon M.G. Road in Bangalore. I recommended this book to Vivek not knowing quite what he would expect. He read the back cover and picked it up. I started reading it that evening. Flipping through the pages, I read out a few lines aloud. Every time I did that he had this reminiscent look on his face with a glimmer of satisfaction that perhaps said "I've been through this." The turning point was the line on insti-rood, Floyd and Vodka. He snatched it from my hands and went onto complete reading the book in one sitting, as most under grads would do. Just so I made myself clear, one sitting in this case meant even while having dinner, trips to the looo and a 4 hr sleep that night eager to finish the rest next morning.

This 300 odd page book starring Ryan, Alok and Hari is a smashing success. It took me 2 more months to start the book all over again. And definitely not one sitting for me. Every time I asked what someone what was so great about the book or what it was about, came the monotonous reply, "It is about an IIT grad about his 4 years at Indian's Premier Technology Institute".

This is partially true. There is much more to thee book that the 4 years at IIT. It is a mockery on the Indian Education system. Be it a premier Institute of India or a third rate Engg. College built ina no-man's land, our system leaves no stone unturned in churning out and recognizing muggers year after year.

This book attacks the mythical equation :

top of the class === smart
under performers === dumb a*s

More importantly this book is about friendships. A friend of mine from College had recently said, "I made a few friends at College and I intend to keep them for life whether you like it or not". Friends made in college are for life!

This book is about survival of the smartest. It is about the transformation of obedient boys coming out of home for the first time getting acquainted with don't-give -a-damn guys like Ryan, getting easily influenced and making a comeback in the last year landing a job and turning into fine young men. Life teaches them a lot more than muggers like Venkat go through!

Written in simple English, Bhagat is a master story-teller. Of course I don't buy the fact that Hari had the guts to sleep with the prof's daughter in broad daylight. Fiction it is. He went a lil overboard but I guess its ok just as we can live with the item numbers in mainstream Cinema for commercial success.

Believe it or not, if you were a top performer, there are times when you are going to hate this book. There are times, when you would think, "OMG, I was so much like Venkat. Shut myself in a room for hours together mugging the 8 hr notes ready to vomit in the tests."It would make you think "There existed a LIFE outside while I was in the company of books." (Just for the record, No , I don't regret what I did back then).

Ryan's character is difficult to identify with but one that everybody fantasises to be. Memories of the adrenaline rush the night before the sem exams, a flurry of activity around the hostel rooms in search of the right photocopies, quarrels over lab practicals and cooking of obsy readings came back...

Surprisingly, normal IIT girls didn't figure in this book. Probably because they were Mech guys or do such guys find better company in insti roof, vodka and Floyd than ..

Overall, the book was entertaining. Guys can draw an instant connection. If you want to the revisit the 4 years of your under grad again, then this is a must-read.
It is actually fun to borrow this book and read. You can then buy a copy of your own. Priced at Rs.99, it is a steal. This book is very difficult for Western readers to relate to but if you want to understand how Indian Education System works, then do read this. On a closing note, don't ask me again how the book is. If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand.

Categories: Categories: booksbooks, five point someone, chetan, bhagat