Review: The 3 mistakes of my life

While describing ' 3 mistakes... ' on his website Bhagat states ' A book that has : BUSINESS, RELIGION , CRICKET
Well you can hardly ask for a better winning combination for a book that is tailor-made for Indians.
In this semi-autobiographical book Bhagat uses his trademark style to present a narration that is as close to realism as its presentation is to melodramatic cinema.
The plot:
Based in the 'not-so-hip' part of Ahmedabad , Bhagat depicts a story of an individual's(Govind Patel) struggle as an entrepreneur while he tries(unsuccessfully,though) to stay away from any distractions-in the form of love and channelizes his friends' (Omi and Ishan) passions to make profit. The book does justice to all the 3 aspects that it says form its main theme . While Govind is a practical businessman with a strong sense of entrepreneurship, Ish is a cricket enthusiast to the core and Omi, a son of a priest is a person who's decisions are influenced to quite an extent by religious aspects. Bhagat has thrown in the Gujarat earthquake and the Godhra riots to bring it closer to the public's heart. As usual he aces in his depiction of the female protagonist(Vidya) who is a typical small-town girl wanting to 'escape from the cage'. The story is about how Govind makes 3 'mistakes' that cost him a lot more than he can afford to lose.
Where Bhagat scores and earns:

• He once again scores 10 on 10 as far as characterization is concerned. You can identify with each of his characters .
  
• Although it is not the central theme of this book as against FPS , he handle the intricacies of love and friendship really well. If there is one author who can bring out the 'sweet nothings' of love in an Indian scenario with all its sensitivity and the nostalgia of being in love, its gotta be Bhagat .
• His description of Gujarat in general and the people there in particular is impeccable.
  
• Although its not as humorous as the earlier novels-at least its no comparison to FPS(or maybe the novelty has worn off) it is still a gripping tale which coupled with his amazing knack of striking a chord with the narration style, is hard to put down.
• He's cashed on the fact that entrepreneurship is the new buzz word. But has he created the passion that the word evokes? I didn't feel it stirring me.
• Bhagat has always written about topics that are close to the Indian heart, the guy understands Indians' sensibilities very well and that perhaps is his biggest forte.
  

Where Bhagat misses and loses:

• Perhaps the biggest flaw is it's climax. Almost as if the editor thought he'd stressed on one overtly flimsy part too much to include the rest of the important stuff. Maybe he could have said something more about Govind the entrepreneur or Ish the cri-crazy enthusiast. But he chose an end that would rather suit a film's climax.
  
• Some parts of the book are needless as they don't add much to the plot. The Bondi beach chapter seemed to be leading us nowhere, for example.
• There are parts in the novel where he goes overboard with the melodrama. He chooses completely wrong moments for it as well. Consider this attempt at 'preaching' a message of persistence.
  A guy is lying on the hospital bed after taking sleeping pills to commit suicide. His mom says "Life will have its setbacks. People will hurt you. But you don't hurt them back. This something that the whole country needs to learn" ...one patriotic mom i say.
  

• Although the plot builds up well, it isn't as gripping as FPS or 1N@CC.

All in all, a good novel to pass your time with(But not good enough to read it a day before your vivas and get flunked the next day,as I unfortunately discovered). Bhagat fans most certainly won't be dissapointed. Whether he gains new one's or not, I'm sceptical about it. But hey it's just me.

Stray Kitten

Here's an email from a friend of mine.
See if you can help.

Hello,

I found a stray kitten yesterday evening in my building. Its a healthy 2-month old. White and light-brown mix. Very adorable and affectionate. We took it to the vet, who declared it fit. It limps slightly at the moment, but that should get fine in a few days.
I'm attaching a few pictures of the kitten.

If you are interested in adopting it, or you know someone who might be, please let me know.

Just send an email to : sjanani87@gmail.com
If not, please forward this mail to those who you think might be interested.
Do pass on the message.

- Janani

Clean-up Mumbai

'Kachara mat pheko varna....'
Jurmana Rs. 200

You see these huge hoardings put up across the city nowadays. Its true we all know that our drains are getting clogged by all the filth that we produce . We also know how important urgent action is in this regard. Well, so we do have a 'purpose' clear in our heads. Great!! But its the 'implementation' of the whole 'drive' that troubles one. I mean, I've never seen a BMC mama fine someone 200 bucks for littering around . Neither have you guys, I bet. But if the rule has been brought in order then there must be measures taken to see to it that people abide by it. The ban on plastics for example is mocked at each time a kirana store gives a thaili to you. And its the authority of the court that is being mocked at. Without the 'enforcing-of-the-law' bit , the campaign is nothing but a fake warning , very similar to moms telling their kids 'Doodh peelo varna ... bhootuncle aa jaayenge'
If the BMC is really concerned about the cleanliness of this city, then certain things like these need to be looked after immediately.
Anyways the monsoons are coming. And so, I'm sure are overflowing drains... The BMC is sure to get a rude awakening;
Cleanup Karo Varna....

THE UnderPerformer RANT

Ever since I was born,I knew I am an underperformer. In fact the only time I felt I was better than anybody else was before I was born .I was 'The Chosen One' to be brought into this world. I desperately wanted to show the middle finger to those other sperms racing with me . Then I didn't have the finger, now I dont have the opportunity(Coz those losers were never born).
When I was born, I was really eager to gain some attention. I feigned a 'cardiac arrest'. But since I wasn't such a good actor then ,half the people thought I was sleeping. The other half didn't even bother, they'd already given up on me being of any use.And when I got a KT in pre-school ,my parents were elated. They said they were expecting a year 'drop'. It was not as if I was bad at everything. I once survived a swimming class for 2 straight days.But I hated swimming. On the third day,I feigned 'cardiac arrest'. Only this time I forgot I was in the water and nobody noticed me. But it worked. Dad came to the hospital and yelled at me, said something really gibberish but I made out it had the words 'no', 'more' , '$#%#' and 'swimming'.
High school was worse. Although my first crush brought in some really happy memories, that didn't last long. She didnt think a new pair of 'waterproof' kolhapuri chappals were cool. I wonder why. They looked really great on her right leg. I couldn't find out about how it would look on the other leg though. Because she never brought it to school. Came with crutches instead. I always wondered why until she used them to whack my butt.
When I went to college, I knew things would improve. The Law of Averages said so. However I had forgotten the YeschRaij law of UnderPerformer that contradicted the Law of Averages
Popularity is:
1)directly propotional to how many affairs you have at the present moment
(affairs with members of opposite sex fetch more points)
2) directly proportional to how dumb you are
(measured in terms of SRK)
3) directly propotional to close you are to your 'mitti'
(whatever that means)

Since I didn't score in any of the above criteria I knew life would be mediocre.
I tried to setup a company . But nobody thought much of using airplanes as explosives on Diwali then. Until a chap name Osama stole my idea . Smart guy, I say.
My luck with girls did change though. A good looking girl asked me out once. And then we dated for the next one year. Then somebody told me that ' asking out ' is not the same as ' get out' and 'dating' is not 'meeting me in the staffroom' and ' Mrs. Kichupulianapillai' was not exactly what one would call 'good-looking'.
Tired of the humiliation, I decided I had had enough. Then I switched on the TV and saw what i was made for ....
====CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST====