Five point someone -- A five star rated book in my book-shelf. Simply a beautiful book I should say. Start to end: simple language, simple story, no complicated philosophy except the complication brought in by the characters, a fresh way of saying story, and the fun never sags. Although, the thing I didn't like about the book was that it was like our bollywood and kollywood movies! A wholesome entertainer without any focus on a certain issue. However, this is the book that is responsible for this tango to happen. The other thing is that this book completely transported me to my yesteryears in college. I think its worth reading if you want to have that experience. A book about college life, presented to me by my former classmate and eternal friend. Thanks a million to my pangali to have given me the time-machine that takes me back to the best part of my life. Hats off to Mr. Chetan Bhagat!
Acknowledgements:
Anusha Bhagat - a wife who was once a classmate, and was the first reader of the draft. Apart from being shocked by some of the incidents in the book, she kept her calm as she had to face the tough job of improving the product and not upsetting her husband.
Absolutely hilarious! The usage of "Apart from ..." gives the whole acknowledgement to his wife the element of hilarity.
My mom Rekha Bhagat and brother Ketan, two people with an irrational, unbreakable belief in me that bordered on craziness at times.
Love and affection! They can make people irrational; atleast that's my opinion!
This is a work of fiction, but fiction needs real information.
Oh man! can he stop enthralling with his skills with the words? This is what a fresh approach brings even to a line written thousands of times: "Inspired by true events"
Prologue:
"If Alok makes it through this, I will write a book about our crappy days. I really will", I swore. It is kind of absurd promise you make to yourself when you are seriously messed up in the head and you haven't slept for fifty hours straight ...
I am just wondering how much mess was there inside his head to make such a decision! Good that he made such a promise to himself, otherwise for it we wouldn't have seen an incredible book!
I think half the trees in the world are felled to make the IIT entrance exam guides.
That's really an environmentally-conscious comment. I think this is the reason India has less than 33% forest cover! Don't you think so?
Pg 3:
"I am Hari Kumar sir, Mechanical Engineering student, All India Rank 453"...
Reminds me of my first year in college, when the entrance exam rank was the talk among students. Also, reminds me of a namesake who used to guess the rank of any given fellow student, and the irony was, it always was right!
Pg 3-4:
... Alok and me drew figures on the floor with deeply embarassed toes ...
ROTFL! Hilarious!
Pg 4:
Ryan's body was flawless, man, he was a hunk; muscles that cut at the right places and a body frame that for once resembled the human body shown in biology books.
Wow! What strikes me here is the analogy! For one it is easy to visualize for anybody, and the other thing is, this phrase, I think, brings out the author's flair for subtle humour.
Pg 7 - Ryan's heroics were enough to make us all bond faster than Fevicol
Pg 14 - You are a real mugger eh?
Pg 6:
There is a reason why they say men should not cry, they just look so, like, ugly.
Strongly agree!
They say you should not get into a relationship with people you sleep with on the first date.
Interesting hypothesis!
Well, though we hadn't slept together, we had seen each other naked at primary meet, so perhaps we should have refrained from striking up a friendship. But our troika was kind of inevitable.
I think, this the hypothesis he wants to prove or disprove during the course of the book.
... gray hair incandescent from three tablespoons of coconut oil ...
He proves he is an Engineer at the very foundation.
... wore an un-tucked light blue shirt and had positioned three pens in his front pocket, along with chalks, like an array of bullets.
They are really bullets as one of them will pierce through the students' answer paper!
Pg 8:
He took out a chalk from his pocket with a flourish celluloid terrorists reserved for hand-grenades ...
absolutely hilarious! Impeccable sense of humour.
... and underlined the word 'machine' approximately six times
An Engineer can never hide his nature even if he becomes a fiction writer.
... Manufacturing Processes often shortened to ManPro for easier pronounciation.
Reminds me of Digital Image Processing - DIP; Remote Sensing - RS; Geographic Informaion Systems - GIS. And the funny thing these short forms are passed on from one batch to the other batch like the family heritage!
In the name of writing a few phrases, I think, I am rewriting the entire book. Mr. Bhagat, will you please allow me to turn the pages faster than this?
Pg 9:
He shook his oiled skull, the one that contained all the information in the planet, including the definition of machines.
Height of Sarcasm!
Pg 12:
Each subject had two minor tests, one major and three surprise quizzes, seven tests for six courses meant forty two tests per semester, mathematically speaking.
Even Stephen Hawking had less math in his book A brief history of time. I don't know how many people stopped reading after this. Just too much math Mr. Engineer!
Pg 13:
Alok's family ...
The family description reminds me of the umpteen number of Indian movies, however, here the hero doesn't have such a family, which is usually the case in the films.
Ryan saw my face and pressed his teeth together to be simultaneously tch-tch sympathetic to Alok and stop laughing at me ... The bastard, scoring over me for no fault of mine.
Brilliant writing! The whole scene brought out in words.
There are times in life you wish dinosaurs weren't extinc and could be whistled to come and gulp you down.
The author's other flair: seeing difficult situations in life in a lighter vein.
Ryan had a scooter, ... it was illegal for three people t ride together ... cops rarely demanded more than twenty bucks ... chances of getting caught ... one in ten ... it was still cheap on a probability weighted basis.
A true engineer brings theory on paper to life! Am I over doing a overkill here?
Pg 17:
"Surprise quiz. Strong rumours of one in ApMech" Happy Surd explained ... student in Nilgiri hostel had visited the professor's ... The professor had sinisterly advised to "keep revising your notes", waggling left eyebrow at the same time.
Only nerds can find meaning for every movement and action of a Professor!
... rumours, especially ugly ones have a way of coming true.
You just made a quote Mr. Bhagat!
