Revolution 2020 : Review

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For first time I took three days to read his book (Thanks to my Office and my phone). The story starts slowly (read boring) but then it ends like "Shawshank Redemption". One who has seen the movie knows why the movie still tops Imdb list.

Chetan might have lashed out at Narayan Murthy for saying that coaching classes have led to the deterioration of the quality of IIT and IIM-produced students, but his book remarkably suggests exactly the same. So either Chetan doesn’t believe what he promotes, or he forgot what he wrote in the first place. Or may be he just wanted media attention or acted like Gopal in the story.

If you’re a fan of excellent writing like Arundhuti Roy or Arvind Adiga, then you’ll emerge doubtlessly depressed after 296 pages. But this is India where our mother tongue is not English, we still prefer to read easy going books where we don’t need dictionary and that’s one reason Chetan Bhagat is the country’s best-selling writer.

Revolution 2020, Love, Corruption, Ambition and lots more this book has to offer you.

The details of Ghats of Ganges makes the atmosphere live. At four am a ride on a loan boat thrills and it could have been romantic if "the one you love had loved you back".

If you are looking for some cross-culture or college-time humour like 'Two State' and 'Five Point some one' offered then it’s a serious setback for you. This is not a fairy tell like 3 Idiots or 2 states where everything ends well. In real life pieces hardly fall in place. A lot of effort goes in vain. But this book has something else to offer you, may be some deep soul searching and sleepless nights.

This story is character centric rather than based on a plot. It revolves around Gopi (Gopal) who is portrayed as person with mixed characters. Don’t we all have the same? A clean side and a darker one?

Revolution 2020, is “primarily a love story, in fact a love triangle, as both Gopal and Raghav love the same girl (Aarti). Chetan must have written this story again and again to make the characters balanced. In this love story there is no Villain in partilcular (Now a days we don't call Politicians criminal anymore unless they kill at least ten people).

The novel begins with Bhagat visiting GangaTech college in Varanasi to deliver a speech. There, he meets Gopal, the 26-year-old protagonist. He recounts to Bhagat his life story. Predictably, its is a love story, or rather a love triangle involving Gopal, and childhood friends Raghav and Aarti.

Raghav: A JEE ranker who joins BHU-IT instead of IIT so that he can be in Varanasi and continue his journalisms. He wanted to fight against corrupt and make India clean.

Gopal: Half orphan, living on Dad's mean pension, fighting legal case for a plot of land, the world didn’t left much option for him.

Aarti : Beautiful, gorgeous girl hails from city’s more well known family who grew up with Gopal and consider him her best friend and falls in love with Raghav knowing the fact Gopal was already in immense love for her.

Gopal, in his implacable quest to show Aarti that he’s a better man than Raghav, becomes embroiled in a shady nexus of MLAs and educators.

This story makes you to think. Why Gopal did that? Why Aarti did that? I'm not going to tell you Zeist of the story. I want you to find out that yourself.

At the end Author says let the reader decide if Gopal is a good human being or not.

After close to 300 pages reading you will ask yourself what about Aarti? Her part is never described from her point, her character lies in the grey zone, but doesn’t most girls in today’s working world face similar situation?

Gopal, her best friend from class five and when at 17 he expressed his feeling to her couple of times, and every time she changed the topic (Girl’s are obviously the best topic changer). On other hand Gopal always lived with a lots of expectations and one day he comes to know she said yes to their school time friend Raghav. He couldn’t accept this turmoil and failed miserably in next exams and screws his career.

Aarti and Raghav were doing fine initially but Raghav being much busy in his revolution 2020 couldn’t spend much time with her and here Gopal enters again now with money and power. Gopal whose only wish was to get Aarti, did everything he could to have Aarti. Aarti ends up sleeping with Gopal despite she was in active relationship with Raghav. One day she decides to end all ties with Raghav as Gopal persists.  A new love story develops between Aarti and Gopal while Raghav completely unknown of this fact busy fighting against corruption.

At the end the story will raise many questions especially if you are a girl. Personally I know at least five of my friends who have gone more or less through similar situations so I think this topic is worth writing.

If physical presence or spending time on phone and messaging someone daily 50 times everything? Some people (read Raghav here) wants to do something special for the nation, for the society and they shouldn’t be cheated liked this what  I felt. Other’s thinking may differ here.

As Boys, we don’t study all year, we forget friends and just study when exam comes, does that mean we forget the people we love? Guy’ss priorities change in life but their feelings hardly change, how girls take that its up to them.  

I have written this review for my friends specially the feminine. If any of you understand what Chtean Bhagat wanted to portray with Aarti in R2020, it can save many relations.

Anyhow Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

Happy Reading ‘Revolution 2020’


Pritam