Book Review: Two States by Chetan Bhagat

-Akshay Ranganath

Last week, I ordered the book "Two States" from Rediff Books. Amazingly swift, they delivered it to me in two days. And I managed to finish the book in about the same time :-)

This book, although a work of fiction is supposed to be partially true. The book explores the hypocrite behavior of Indians - our banal talk of "National Integration" and a racist attitude towards each other. All such serious matter explored and explained in a very humorous manner - in a love story. That in a nutshell is what this book is about.

From my perspective, it is a typical Chetan Bhaghat novel. It has the humor, the standard depressed soul who plans/is planning to commit suicide, lots of thought on sex and finally, a dig at the Indian culture and society. However, what I like in this book is the cultural aspect, especially, the North-South divide is so well written that it you can almost feel the characters come alive. For most part, you can visualize every one of the character as someone you know in your family.

The book quite very well raises interesting questions on the mindless belief in 'fair girls', 'purity before marriage', dowry, mutual distrust between cultures and the insensitive nature of our communication. For example, considering that all South Indians as dark and being in awe over a fair colored 'madrasi'.

Despite raising all such socially relevant questions, the book stays clear of becoming a book preaching anything and sticks to the narrative of how you manipulate around these prejudices to get what you want - to marry the one whom you truly like, and overcome the barriers imposed by the traditions and culture.

Its a very readable book - at just under 200 pages and costing just Rs 95, it is definitely worth a read.

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