IIT
I’m reading Five Point Someone by IITian Chetan Bhagat for the first time in my life. It was one of those hugely popular books i had given a miss, owing to my lack of faith in Indian authors. But my faith changed sides effortlessly after i read recently a book called Anything For You Ma’am by another IITian Tushar Raheja.
AFYM was fun, easy on my senses and fluid – if not exactly adrenaline inducing. A commendable job for a first timer, though the treatment is too simple and cliched and the jokes sometimes juvenile.
Five Point Someone is many notches above though; perhaps injecting a less potent sympathetomimetic drug into my veins, if not exactly epinephrine.
Both the books have connected me to one thing in common: IIT-D. It’s fascinating how a college’s campus can reach cult status throughout the country. And since i recently got in touch with some friends at IIT-D, so the books seem all the more relevant.
sandeep said,
June 21, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Dude , IIT has become such a brand name , that everyone wants to get their slice , so anything associated with it will sell as Vijay Maleya’s beer cans..:)..recent examples are all in front of you ..
and yes , FPS and AFYM are two of the best campus novels , but i was quite surprised to know that novel freak like you ( i still remember the time , when i used to ask the most silly( according to me ) ques. from HP , and you had correct answers for them also ..) had not read FPS..better late than never…
ankuranky said,
June 24, 2008 at 12:48 pm
As i said, i had little faith in Indian authors…
But now i’m impressed by Bhagat to such an extent that i bought Three Mistakes of My Life as soon as i finished FPS.
Erm….since you mention hostel and my novel-freakishness – i’m reminded of a trivial instance when both of us were not able to recall the real name of the actress who plays Hermione in HP Movies. And then when i finally came up with “Emma Watson”, you did not accept readily and kept murmuring something about Emma being Hitler’s fiance and not Hermione!! Dyou remember this incident?