CoOl-age days @ "5.sum1". Review on Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat

Whenever you feel like a vela (one who has nothing to do in this world)…you can give this book a shot. The book was released in 2004…but books don’t have an age…may be that’s why I’m writing a review now (admitting to my velapanti).

It is a MUST READ book (especially if you are a college student…n even more if you are compelling yourself to an engg. degree). Also I would immensely suggest this book to that section of parents who think ENGINEERS lead a happy life. For all teenagers…those of you who loved DCH (Dil Chahta Hai), you will love this book.

Basically the book talks about the much important (that depends on you) college life. The major star cast of the book contains 3 college zeros - a bond good looking multi-personality guy ‘Ryan’, a high-powered-thick-glassed fat padhaku ‘Alok’ and a loser-overweight-lover ‘Hari’…(all of them IITians…yet…unhappy with themselves…in their language ‘screwed up’). Other than these, the book contains a lot of professors and hostellers. Somehow! Chetan Bhagat also managed some female participation in his book; there is one girl in the novel (that too! a daughter of a prof).

The book contains everything…every possible scene that you will find in a college… (introduction to ragging sequences, chapters about IITians-brained innovations in the field of ‘How to leak question papers’, pages of dosti-yaari drama, parents-children relationship, ideas that help one in studying less n partying more, flavours of ice-cream, 5-6 lines of romance…and the end result of all the above mentioned activities…BAD GRADES). There is also a small series of chapters namely “The Longest Day Of My Life”…which contains the zest of the book and are fun to read. Throughout the book, you will see great ideas getting drown in the sea of disappointment and as a consequence you will see how their (Ryan, Alok and Hari) lives gets stalled. But! in the end…all souls are happy…with emotional touches thrown in by the author.

The book is not just about fun but also enlightens some of the cruel realities which persist in our education system…to mention some…promoting mugging while new ideas get crushed, impressing teachers, teachers unwillingness to see talent and only seeking impressions (girls outcast boys here by skies…if you are doing engg, u’ll appreciate this fact more faithfully), more value of a student’s marksheet than the student himselfand many more.

It takes just one read to develop writing skills like him (Chetan Bhagat…man u r terrrrrific). This was the first novel I touched and more importantly completed...and after my experience, I would say :

A GREAT WORK TO READ

A couple of lines from the book :-

“There is a reason why they say men should not cry, they just look so, like, ugly.”

“I think smoke is beautiful; weightless and shapeless”