Five Point Someone

This book is well known, popular book by Chetan Bhagat. No one cant say this is his first book. Enjoy the review of this book – Hari
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Hari, Ryan And Alok, 3 Students- at one of the most reputed engineering colleges of the country- the Indian Institute Of Technology; 3 pals-ready to stake their careers for one another; and, the 3 with some of the lowest GPA`s – Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat delves you into a non stop, fast pacing and a steady glimpse into the lives of these three youngsters.

Hari has accomplished all that an adolescent always was curious of- from romancing with a professor’s daughter to accompanying her to rail tracks where her deceased brother allegedly lost his life (or took his own). Ryan is the macho man of the three, from introducing his pals to smoking grass at a hide out on the terrace to smuggling alcohol bottles and exciting magazines in the hostel room… he’s the best at it. Studious, hardworking, passing out with an intention to earn for his family- that’s what revolves 24x7, in the mind of Alok, who has a complicate family ranging from an ailing father, to a mother who never stops complaining about their financial woes and her daughters marriage.

Bhagat does not convey the behavioral pattern one must follow at an institute, instead, he tells u about the Don’ts, the Shouldn’t, and the Not`s to be adhered to in a place where careers are made.

Why do you enter an institute when it does not cater to your interest? Why do youngsters’ accomplice one another and slowly loose interest in the subjects being taught? Why do these 1st day 1st benchers end up being the last benchers the entire Semester for the subjects they despise? The answers lie in a common pool of not being let free, of being over pressurized and not knowing that they entered in an institute which was too competitive for their minds and that their capability would have flourished like nothing if a field catering to them was chosen.

It’s too late when they realized they made a wrong decision. But yet the fear of failing in their semester leaves them no other choice but to chalk out Operation Pendulum, a smart way to steal question sets from the professors chamber, but one phone call by Alok destroys it all. An unsuccessful suicide attempt by Alok which gives him a first hand experience of what it means to die, to the uncovering of the love affair between Hari and Professor Cherians daughter, in fact discovered by the Professor himself when he finds his daughter open the door for him with just a bed sheet over her body and her boy friend wearing his (professors) own clothes!!!… hell breaks loose over them. The disciplinary committee makes a chill run over their spines like nothing has ever before…. The worst time of their life awaits them.
There is always a time to improve upon you mistakes, even the phoenix is born all over again from ashes which it had reduced to the last time it burst into flames, so can human beings, so can youngsters….

How four years of their lives change them forever, how it connects them to the institution of a repute, how discipline flows into the lives of brats… Bhagat has carved a fantabulous story by making Hari, Ryan and Alok get a new life at an IIT……..

Also By Chetan Bhagat
One Night At A Call Center- A must read for everyone pursuing a goal in their life. Amazingly unconventional and fantabulous. Just another Big Time Hit by the author .

Mega Living

Please enjoy the below experience from one of my friend in online - Hari
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When I was discussing my MegaLiving program with one of my colleagues on Saturday evening, he asked me how I find the time to complete all the activities and exercises every day. At the time, I didn’t give him a very clear answer, but on the plane to Mumbai yesterday I thought about the subject more deeply and did a brief analysis of my time usage patterns.

The results were very interesting; here are a few brief highlights:

a.) I devote on average at least one and a half hours a day towards my MegaLiving program, comprising roughly half an hour for exercise, another half an hour for reviews and measurement through my journal, spreadsheet, and my daily blog entry, and a final half hour for reflection and meditation.

b.) To compensate for much of this time, I get up on average at least one hour earlier per day. It can be difficult to drag myself out of bed sometimes, but I certainly don’t feel any more tired as a result of doing so. In fact, the reverse is the case: I feel a lot more energized than before thanks to more exercise, a better diet, and a clearer sense of purpose and focus.

c.) While I am exercising I am also focusing my mind on tasks that I would have to do in any case, most notably planning for my day during my morning walk.
d.) Because of my increased concentration and focus, I am learning to maximize my usage of time during the day. For example, I don’t stop for so many coffee breaks as I did before (though the cigarettes are still a problem) and whenever I do have a spare moment I make sure I add notes or observations to my journal to make sure that I don’t forget them. This may not sound very much, but these lost and wasted moments can very quickly add up.

So, paradoxically, I’m convinced that I have experienced a net gain in the time available to me rather than the net loss that might be expected. As an added bonus, I also believe that I am using my time a lot effectively than I used to through sharper focus and an enhanced awareness of how valuable my time is to me.

3 mistakes of my life

Our first boook review
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'The 3 Mistakes of My Life' is actually 'Five Point Someone' part deux. The only difference is, the three 'five pointers' are not in an IIT but strugglers in the real sense of the word - running a small business of their own in Ahmedabad.
And of course '3 mistakes' is better designed, better marketed and ready to be snapped up by the now numerous 'Chetan Bhagat' followers.

Fans will not be disappointed. This book has all the ingredients CB is loved and lapped up for. Characters and storyline one can relate to. The small joys and the big frustrations of growing up (which are pretty much common across India).

So I won't discuss the plot - read the book if you like CB style storytelling, keep away, if you don't. What I will discuss is the small stuff which I think Chetan always gets right...

- The ambience of Gujarat and Ahmedabad in particular.
Sample lines like: Gujarat is the only state in India where people tend to respect you more if you are in businesss than if you are in service (v true!) and 'Gujarat is a dry state.. people here get drunk on food'.

- The dynamics of running a business with your friends.
The fact that each individual has his own motivations for going into business.

* Govind is driven by the desire to prove something to himself and to others. He dreams of becoming a big businessman someday,

* Ishaan or 'Ish' is driven by passion. The shop is an excuse to stay close to the thing he loves most in the world: cricket.

* Omi is in it because of TINA (There Is No Alternative). But he gets his uncle to give them a shop on rent cheaply.

So in their own way all three contribute to the success of the business!

- The India style love story.
As with his other books, '3 Mistakes' captures a reality where young people are less likely to make out in bars and discos than on the building terrace. And more likely to enter 'true-close-friendship' while studying maths problems together than at a coffee shop - especially in small town India.

- The feisty small town girl.
Medical entrance exam is just an excuse to escape to an anonymous place. Where your brother won't be standing by to thrash every guy who gives you a second glance.

- The angle of religion which is handled well for the most part.
Govind's impression of the Hindu fundamentalist leader captures what many of us feel when listening to arguments about the need to rise up against thousands of years of injustice: "I was both attracted to him and repelled by him. He had charisma and lunacy at the same time".

- The author appearing into the book as himself.
This is a clever touch which Chetan used in One Night @ the Call Centre as well. Makes him all the more 'one of us'. Weaving in real events like the Gujarat earthquake is the new Big Idea.

What could have been better:
The climax. It felt contrived - as if the author were thinking, "Hey this would surely look good in a movie." Ditto feeling re: the chapter in Australia.

The entire plot around a boy called Ali. I know it was important but it became a little too predictable...

The '3 mistakes' were not really mistakes... After all life is not an exam with right and wrong answers! Some of it is choice and some of it destiny. Of course it is an attractive title...

A couple of other glitches:
If the story was set in 2001-2, surely cellphones were not so very common then? Vidya and Govind smsing incessantly would have been difficult!

And the Gujju term for Ahmedabad residents is not Ambavadis but Amdavadis.

- Rashmi Bansal

Writer Sujatha - A path breaker in all senses, he had a great influence in the Tamil literary (both modern and traditional) scene for over four decades. An engineer by profession, he possessed the rare combination of being proficient in Tamil (literary, contemporary, modern) as well as in Technology. Widely read and knowledgeable, he presented all his knowledge in simple Tamil and inspired a whole generation.

He came as a breath of fresh air during a time when Tamil writing was dominated by social/family dramas or historical novels. His unique style of writing with the uncanny adoption and identification with the masses - their way of talking, behavior, mindset and the slang included in his writings made him immensely popular cutting across demographic segments.

This blog is tribute to my genius, favourite writer Sujatha - the man who known for his effective writing & emerging knowledge. The man who lives still in our hearts & books. In this blog, I have shared few of my experience and my friends experience about books.

Warm welcome your thoughts, feedbacks to improve this blog.

Always fan of books,
Hari