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BOOK REVIEW OF
“The 3 mistakes of my life”
Book By: Chetan Bhagat
Price: Rs.95/-
Page: 258
Rupa books publishers (2008)
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Titled “the 3 mistakes of my life”, has nothing to do with Mr. Bhagat’s
life in itself, but it’s something fictional but an entertainer in all, it is written
simply and has the quality that makes one to read the book cover to cover in
one sitting. The price of the book is just right for the target audience-young
people and makes it affordable, even piracy-proof! This author writes about
Indians and for the Indians. His characters are young, ambitious and have the
same moral, society and religious dilemma as many Indians today.
The setting is the city of Ahmadabad, yet enough urban, but still retains
a flavor of pols, and traditional Indian households. Cricket fever, small town
politics, riots, and first love all are intermingled in the lives of three teenagers
in early 2000, A few years out of school and with nothing better to do, so they
start their own business, and follow their ups and downs against the current
events.
Govind (Gopi) patel is among the three friends, with his magical affility for
mathematics and logic, and he is the narrator of the story, since his father left
them when he was ten, Gopi and his mother have eked out a meager living for
themselves; Gopi by giving math tution and his mother by running a small
Guajarati snaks business.
Ishan(ish) is the sports man and most fanatic cricket love, his father works at
the telephone exchange, earning a modest but stable income, and forever on
Ishan’s case to do something with his life, since he got thrown out of the army.
Omi is the follower and calming force between Govind and ishan. He has
known both friends since first grade at the Belarampur municipal school. He is
1
the son of the swamibhakti temple priest but has no desire to follow in his
father’s footsteps.
Substitutes:
Ali Nasser is a 12 years old cricket wunderkind at the friends’ old school
whose specialty is hitting sixes.
His fame soon attracts ishaan and gopi’s attention, who end up coaching him
in cricket and math. But being Muslim and son of a political almost cost him his
young life.
Vidya is ishaan’s sister and maths hater. She needs to pass the college
entrance exam to study in Mumbai, her ticket out of ahmedabad. So she takes
tuitions from Govind and quietly predictably, they soon find themselves
studying more than maths. Which is a problem for Gopi because of unspoken
rule to never, ever hit on your best friend’s sister?
Bittoo Mama is omi’s uncle and symbolizes the forceful older generation that
constantly criticizes the youngster for not being more religious or politically
involved.
The three friends open their “Team India Cricket Shop” in an ordinary
20X10 feet space in the temple compound with omi’s family’s help in April
2000. Soon becomes their refuge and success of the shop becomes benchmark
against turbulent events. The shop prospers as ishan coaches young boys in
cricket and Govind teaches maths to ishan’s sister vidya who also captures his
heart. Ishan meets Ali, a child master with the hyper reflex condition that
makes him hit each ball for a six.
Second is the miracle soon followed disaster when India wins a cricket
match against Australia in March 2001, letting the cricket supply business
soars.
Third, when the terrorist attacks on September 11 take place and fuel
religious tension even in faraway India. The situation exploded in February
2002 when miscreants set fire on a train carrying Ayodhya pilgrims near
Godhra station in Gujarat. A Bloodly sectarian riots.
2
Here Enter Omi’s Bitto mama, a communist party man converting the Youngs
in to fighters in the name of Hinduism. Situation comes to a head and
Ahmadabad burns in to riots fires. Omi dies saving Ali and ishan finds out
about vidya and govind, a betrayal he does not to forgive.
These events lead Govind to his death bed and that is when he writes the mail
to Bhagat.
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. Expensive international air tickets, nice food and even good reference
material
. Stereotyped mentality of 99% of parents
Finally:
I did find the book an entertainer, with simple writing style. The story was just
a nicer way of illustrating the most extreme faces of the problems, and in the
end seems a little more than a detailed study of those problems.
Seriously speaking, it did feel like a wonderful plot to a Hindi movie with
chetan bhagat, trying to keep the book as riveting as possible. The way he
managed to put the thoughts sitting in the mind of many of us is something
that brings me to no surprise to have his next book soaring for success.