Five Point Someone”, a novel by Chetan Bhagat exchanged hands yet another time at work over 5 months
back. I had heard a lot of “wows, this is great, I did that too” every time a member of my team read thatbook and religiously passed (or promoted? ) it over to the next. It is beyond my understanding why they didn’t pick up a copy of their own from the book store on MG Road that have been flaunting a copy of this book on the front racks for months now.Engineering College built in a noman’s land, our system leaves no stone unturned in churning out and recognizing muggers year after year.

This book attacks the mythical equation: Top of the class===smart under performers===dumb a*s More
importantly this book is about friendships. A friend of mine from College had recently said, “I made a few friends at College and I intend to keep them for life whether you

Four months overdue, on one of our customary visits to Crossword Book store on M.G. Road in Bangalore. I
recommended this book to Sourav not knowing quite what he would expect. He read the back cover and
picked it up. I started reading it that evening. Flipping through the pages, I read out a few lines aloud. Every time I did that he had this reminiscent look on his face with a glimmer of satisfaction that perhaps said “I’ve beeen through this.” The turning point was the line on insti-rood, Floyd and Vodka. He snatched it from my hands and went onto complete reading the book in one sitting, as most under grads would do. Just so I made myself clear, one sitting in this case meant even while having dinner, trips to the rest room and a 4 hr sleep that night eager tofinish the rest next morning.

This 300 odd page book starring Ryan, Alok and Hari is a smashing success. It took me 2 more months to start the book all over again. And definitely not one sitting for me. Every time I asked what someone what was so great about the book or what it was about, came the monotonous reply, “It is about an IIT grad about his 4 years at Indian’s Premier Technology Institute”.

This is partially true. There is much more to thee book that the 4 years at IIT. It is a mockery on the Indian
Eductaion system. Be it a premier Institute of India or a third rate like it or not”. Friends made in college are for life? (Nah! In school I suppose…)

This book is about survival of the smartest. It is about the transformation of obedient boys coming out of home for the first time getting acquainted with dont-give -a-damn guys like Ryan, getting easily influenced and making a comeback in the last year landing a job and turning into fine young men. Life teaches them a lot more than muggers like Venkat go through!