Postmodern Projection of Parables: A Study of Chetan Bhagat’s Works

Dipanjoy Mukherjee Research scholar Dept. of English Vidyasagar University Paschim Medinipur West Bengal India

Abstract

Chetan Bhagat is not only a symbol of new India but also an imperishable name in the arena of postmodern fiction. He has written six fictions and two non-fictions and almost in every work he has captured his deep concern about the youth today i.e. the problems and despairs, hopes and aspirations of the youth. Inspite of dealing with the harsh realities of life his works manage to retain the sense of pure humour. His works have striking similarities with parables in offering moral messages, spiritual guidance and technical suggestions; his works can better be defined as postmodern projection of parables. The victories and defeats of the youth are the staple of Chetan‘s stories and the present paper is based on those issues only.

Keywords: Chetan Bhagat, Fiction, Non Fiction, Postmodern, Parable, Message.

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Introduction: A parable is a simple narrative that illustrates and elaborates a universal truth .A parable often involves a character who encounters a moral dilemma or one who makes a wrong decision and then suffers the unintended consequences. The salient feature of the parable is the presence of a subtext suggesting how a person should behave or what he should believe. Apart from providing guidance and suggestions for proper conduct in one's life, parables frequently use metaphorical language which allows people to discuss difficult or complex ideas in an easier way. Parables manifest an abstract argument by means of employing a concrete narrative which is easy to understand. Chetan Bhagat‘s fictions and non fictions notably justify the above narrated explanation of a parable. Chetan Bhagat (born 22nd of April, 1974) is a distinguished Indian author, a prolific writer, a noted columnist, a well-known screenwriter, and a motivational speaker, recognized for his English-language dramedy novels about young urban middle-class Indians. Chetan Bhagat is a luminary who is luminous in the postmodern Indian fiction which revolves round hopes and despairs, smiles and tears, fears and cheers, happiness and sorrow, ambition and tribulation, love and separation of the youths of new India. A celebrated public intellectual, Bhagat also writes columns about the youth, career development and current affairs for The Times of India (in English) and Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi). Beginning his writing career with Five Point Someone, a book that deals with fears and insecurities in the life of an IIT student, Chetan rose to eminence in a short span of time. Chetan‘s style of writing is simple, lucid and vivid with graphic descriptions and linear narratives. Most of the protagonists in his novels are named after Lord Krishna such as Shyam, Krishna, Hari, Govind and Madhav. Bhagat is considered a youth icon rather than as just an author. With his vigorous and humorous way of depicting stories, he has encouraged the habit of reading in many young Indians. According to him, novels are perfect devices for both inspiration and entertainment and through which he disseminates his views and opinion about society and youth. Discussion: Five Point Someone: What not to do at IIT! is the debut novel by Chetan Bhagat, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The novel is set in the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, in the period 1991 to 1995. It is about the engaging adventures of three mechanical engineering students, Hari Kumar, Ryan Oberoi, and Alok Gupta, who are unable to cope with the grading system of the IITs.The www.ijellh.com 86

book is narrated by Hari, with some small passages by his friends Ryan and Alok, as well as a letter by Hari's girlfriend Neha Cherian. It deals with the lives of the three friends, whose elation on making it to one of the best engineering colleges in India is quickly deflated and diminished by the rigour and monotony of the academic work. Most of the book covers the numerous attempts by the trio to cope with to combat and to eliminate the system as well as Hari's fling with Neha who just happens to be the daughter of Prof. Cherian, the domineering head of the Mechanical Engineering Department of their college. While the tone of the novel is humorous, it takes some dark turns every now and then, especially when it comes to the families of the protagonists. Most of the action, however, takes place inside the campus as the boys, led by the ever creative Ryan, frequently lamenting how the internationally lauded IIT system has stifled their creative passion by compelling them to value grades more than anything else. Uninspiring teaching and uninteresting assignments augment their miserable condition, though the boys do find a sympathizer in Prof. Veera, the new fluid mechanics professor. The book does not deal with engineering neither does it have pointers on how to clear the entrances; but it does delve on the fact that no matter how hard getting into an IIT is, it is even harder to survive if your heart is not in it. His criticism of ragging in the most prestigious institutes of the nation, futile grading systems and fruitless vanity of the IITians is of full authenticity. At the same time, the story of Hari, Ryan, Alok and Neha is told with exceptional clarity and candidness. It is a fascinating book depicting the hopes and aspirations of Hari, Alok and Ryan who are typical as well as strong individuals having different aims and ambitions and at the same time they also represent the broad community of the prestigious institutes of the nation. The freshers of Indian Institute of Technology including the three students Ryan Oberoi, Alok Gupta and Hari Kumar were called by the seniors up on the balcony for ragging at midnight. Baku and other senior students instructed them ―Off with your clothes.‖ Such kind of embarrassing incidents in the name of ragging produces a great psychological effect on the minds of students which may increase the suicidal attempts. Ryan, good looking and a hefty man revolted against the age old tradition of ragging and the senior – fresher discrimination. The novel also touches an important chord- the helplessness of the Professors to handle the brilliant students who can pose challenging questions based on their common sense. Prof.Dubey, Mechanical Engineering Department, mentions: ―The definition of a machine is simple. It is anything that reduces human effort. Anything. So, see the world around you and it is full of machines.‖ (P- 9) www.ijellh.com 87

A student, Ryan asks: “Sir, what about a gym machine, like a bench press or something?..... That doesn‘t reduce human effort. In fact, it increases it.‖ (P- 10) The book endeavours to illuminate on the aspects of postmodernist thought process where the engineering youth tries to thwart the conventional pattern of imparting technical education and traditional way of evaluating the cognitive abilities of a student on the basis of Grade Points Average; that our structure of technical education has become a lifeless system, and needs revitalization and massive reformation is strikingly evident in this novel. Every student is bestowed with unique talent and GPA should not be the only parameter to measure their intelligence. Chetan Bhagat through his novel Five Point Someone has indirectly conveyed a serious moral in a humorous tone that it is a wakeup call for the elite technical institutes to replace the traditional teaching technique of ―I teach, you listen‖ with an innovative and systematic approach that nurtures and develops the latent abilities of the students to collect and assimilate information and to evaluate that information for appropriateness, accuracy, currency and reliability; that inspires their innate creativity by sharpening their soft skills and active abilities; and that teaches students how to learn efficiently and effectively. The emphasis should be laid on learning methods instead of knowledge accumulation and on the postmodern project of incorporating a tactful technique called ‗learning by doing‘. Chetan Bhagat‘s second fictional work One Night @ the Call Center, published in the year 2005, revolves around a group of six call center employees working at the Connexions call center in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. The themes involve the anxieties and insecurities of the rising Indian middle class, including questions about career, inadequacy, marriage, family conflicts in postmodern India, and the relationship of the young Indian middle class to both executives and ordinary clients whom they serve in the United States. The novel has a prologue, in which the author- Chetan Bhagat comes across a beautiful woman on a train-trip. She offers to tell him a story but she will do so only on one condition that he uses it for his next book. It is set at a call center, describing the events of a single night shift…..and she warns him (as well as the readers) to expect at least one unusual occurrence: ―it was the night….it was the night there was a phone call from God.‖ One Night @ the Call Center is a romantic comedy set in an office where bored young Indians try to resolve the mindless inquiries of Midwestern American Technophobes. The story is a comedy of romance and crossed lines. There are three main themes: ex-girlfriend, bad- www.ijellh.com 88

boss, and God. The story deals with six friends who are selling home appliances to the US from a call center in India. Each one has an issue with love. Call agent Sam works right beside the girl who has just deceived him. He is dating someone he can‘t stand just to get over her. Esha is just short of becoming a model; two inches, to be precise. Vroom wants to change the world. Radhika is trying to manage her mother-in-law and hold down her job. A phone call from God is an innovative element in his work. No novelist has presented God using mobile phone to guide his devotees in the crisis. Herein God advises his friends-cum- devotees how to escape from the iron web of death. The phone call encourages the survivors to settle account with their boss. With the surprising call from God on Shyam‘s phone Bhagat inputs the spiritual interlude in the novel. He tends to make the people steady and strategic in hard times. Actually, this is the call from the within of everyone. This is the call of their ―will to do‖ or ―will to live‖. Shaw defines the life force (vitality) by the will-to-live in his play Back to Methuselah. Shyam acts upon the call of his inner being and becomes the revolutionist. He with the help of his friend Varun blackmails his boss to cancel the layoffs. Eventually, he starts his own website developing company in collaboration with his friend Varun. Thus, he proves his capability and makes himself worthy of his ladylove‘s ambition. Bhagat seems to intensify the same passionate zeal in delineating hopes and aspiration as well as failure and frustration of his generation in a remarkable manner in his third novel The 3 Mistakes of My Life. The novel ironically unfolds some of the bitter truths of human life which is now more influenced by passion rather than emotion and ambition. Chetan Bhagat is more vibrant in this novel because of his magnetic maturity and sharpening sensibility. The 3 mistakes of My Life delineates the passionate ambition of three growing boys- Govind Patel, Ishaan and Omi. The narrator of this sensational story is Govind himself. Govind has an aptitude and penchant for business. Ishaan has passion for cricket while Omi is more concerned with religion because of his parents‘ attachment with city temple. So, business, cricket and religion seem to govern the life of these growing people. Bhagat studies the characters of these three with ironic detachment because he never takes the sides of anyone. His characters are young, ambitious and passionate and have the same moral, social and religious dilemmas as many of the young Indians today. The book is based on real life events. It begins in a dramatic mode with Bhagat receiving an e-mail from Govind who had taken many sleeping pills and was writing to him while waiting to embrace the deadly sleep. Chetan was shaken enough by the incident to track the boy down to an www.ijellh.com 89

Ahmedabad hospital. Fortunately he was still alive to tell the tale. The book is loosely based on the three mistakes Govind made in his life. The earthquake of Gujarat ruining Govind‘s over one lakh investment for a shop in a newly built mall is his first mistake. Govind falls in love with Vidya; when Ish discovers this and declares Govind as a traitor, their friendship collapses and this is his second mistake. A split second delay by Govind in making a specific move which could have saved Ali from a hit is his third mistake The book has depicted sentiment, romance, social message, business, life, relations, religion and of course cricket. It‘s the story about three friends Omi, Govind and Ish who are struggling to decide their goal. The journey of these simple people in life, how their lives get affected by the worst disasters in Gujarat‘s history is depicted in a lucid yet efficient way by Chetan Bhagat. This book is a parable as it teaches one how one‘s dreams crash into pieces by unexpected events but how with the support from people around, one get back on track, focus and rebuild one‘s dreams. Vidya, Ishaan‘s sister, a teenager with her eyes on Govind, represents typically homely Indian girls trying to lose their virginity and so-called boys feeling shy and guilty after having physical intimacy with them as Neha in Five Point Someone and here Vidya in this novel. Ali, a gifted batsman and son of a local Muslim politician, plays a prominent part in the story. It‘s the story of how Govind, Ishaan and Omi come up with a sports store in their area and how they achieve success in it by clubbing it with Math‘s tuitions and cricket coaching classes. The writer has thrown in the angle of Ali a gifted batsman who is in need of coaching and as Ishaan is an avid cricket player whose passion centres round playing, teaching and watching cricket, arrives as Ali‘s savior because he does not want a brilliant talent to be wasted. And to top it all Chetan Bhagat has placed the novel in the era when Ahmadabad suffered with a nightmare of an earthquake and riots. The book traces the lives of these characters and their trials and tribulations. Bhagat has portrayed his characters as decision makers. Other writers of the past have delineated their protagonists who are subjected to the will of their parents or their boss. Unlike other writers, Bhagat advises the youth not to follow every word of their parents and the boss blindly. Revolutionary spirit of Bhagat thus appears in his comment: ―Humanity wouldn‘t have progressed if people listened to their parents all the time‖. (P-103) In 2 States: The Story of My Marriage , published in 2009 Bhagat disapproves the social and linguistic differences in the people belonging to different states and also their discrimination on the basis of their colour, face, dress, language and manners . Loosely based on Bhagat's own life, www.ijellh.com 90

it is the story about a couple coming from two different states in India, who faces hardships in convincing their parents to approve of their marriage. The story begins in the IIM Ahmedabad mess hall, where Krish, a Punjabi boy from Delhi catches sight of a beautiful girl, Ananya, a Tamilian from Chennai. They become friends within a few days and get romantically involved. After their employment they make serious plans for their engagement. At first Krish tries to convince Ananya's parents by helping Ananya's father to do his first PowerPoint Presentation, her brother, Manju, by giving him IIT tuition and later convinces her mom by asking her to sing in a concert organized by Krish's office, i.e. Citi Bank .She is convinced as her biggest dream of singing at a big concert comes true; she sings along with S. P. Balasubrahmaniam and Hariharan. Then they try to convince Krish's mom. But the problem appears when his mother's relatives reject the idea of their engagement. They opine that Krish should not marry a Tamilian but end up agreeing with them when Ananya tries to help one of Krish's cousins to get married and succeeds to do so. Krish has had a strong hatred for his father. He neither shares his feelings nor keeps a harmonious bonding with him. Now as they have convinced both their parents they now try to introduce each other's parents. They go to Goa. But this dream of theirs shatters as Ananya's parents smell something suspicious between Krish's mom and him. Ananya's family ends up deciding that Krish and Ananya will not marry each other. But, at last, Krish's father, who was like an enemy for Krish, helps Krish and Ananya to get married as he convinces Ananya's family successfully. Now Krish realizes his father's love for him. The novel is narrated in a first person point of view in a humorous tone, often taking digs at both Tamil and Punjabi cultures. The novel ends with Ananya giving birth to twin boys. He says that the babies belong to a state called 'India'; Bhagat makes it clear that his children will be identified only as Indians not by the tag of any religion or state. He comments: ―They will be Indian. They will be above all this nonsense. If all young people marry outside their community, it is good for the country. This is the greater purpose.‖(P-103) The novel records the supreme spirit of nationalism. It is based on the social and amorous endeavours of two main characters – Ananya Swaminathan and Krish Malhotra. The novel is unique in its content, which attempts to unite not only two states but also two traditions and cultures. It endeavours to represent the people of the nation only as Indians not as castes, religions, states etc. This is the only thing the novelist ventures to inform the youth of his country. He advises the youth to fix marriage on the criteria: physical symmetry, education, and www.ijellh.com 91

financial position and gender skills. He suggests one should find in one‘s match four things. First, the match should be almost equal in physical properties. They should be sufficiently educated. Their financial position should be considerably profound and they should be adept in their gender jobs i.e. the boy should know how to manage family expenses and a girl should know how to properly keep the house. Chetan Bhagat advises the youths to follow their heart; knowing what they want and sticking to their decision is most important. Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition is a 2011 novel by Bhagat. Its story is concerned with a love triangle, corruption and a journey of self-discovery. The novel has addressed the issue of how private coaching institutions for courses like IIT JEE exploit aspiring engineering students. How parents put their everything on stake for these coaching so that their children can crack engineering and other professional tests and change the fortune of the family. While a few accomplishes their dreams others sink into disaster. The book unearthens the stark reality of this coaching industry which thrives on scams, corruption and all kinds of criminal activities. This book narrates the story of two friends alienated by their ambitions and passions yet attached by their love for the same girl. While Gopal, who has experienced the harsh realities of life due to poverty, aspires to become rich; his friend Raghav is a boy from a well-off yet simple Indian family who desires to revolutionize India by fighting corruption. As they grow older, they get estranged from each other and are busy with their individual lives. But Aarti somehow ties them together being their mutual friend. Both of them are in love with the same girl and this lends the book an aspect of romance. Revolution 2020 stands for the revolutionary spirit of Chetan Bhagat. Raghav disregards the suggestion of his father to get admission in IIT, even though he was eligible for it. He listens to his heart. He serves the downtrodden of his city by communicating their pains through the media to the responsible authorities. He emerges as a successful journalist. He continues to serve the wretched even after his printing press is destroyed. He writes the daily news on the papers and distributes them to the social activists. It was quite a difficult duty but he does not abandon his service. In the end, the exploiters yield to the revolutionary spirit of the journalist. Gopal, the big exploiter of the students as well as Raghav‘s archenemy surrenders to the latter‘s vitality. Gopal sacrifices his love, Aarti to the saviour of the poor and wretched. However after seeing what Raghav has gone through due to the joint revenge taken by the MLA and Gopal himself yet sustaining his determination to bring the revolution, Gopal decides to change something on his www.ijellh.com 92

part and help his friend anonymously. He stops the affair he has with Raghav's girlfriend Aarti despite his unconditional love for her. He also asks Dainik to hire Raghav back. Things slowly improve for Raghav financially as he can now work on his articles, while Gopal is shown to slowly become a better person. Although in the end we see Gopal is alone and prefers to be isolated, he is indeed rich and successful as he wanted to be and Raghav who is now married to Aarti and almost the MLA (since his in-laws mildly involved with politics helped him) sees his dream of bringing about change as well. Revolution 2020 has all the attributes of a parable. Chetan Bhagat uses metaphorical language to suggest that strong determination, sincere persistence, earnest attachment, courageous initiative and ardent commitment are the key ingredients for securing success in life. The defeat of your corrupt enemy or self-centred beasts is sure and certain if you possess the passionate power of sincerity, honesty, truthfulness, devotion and dedication. Raghav‘s passionate determination to extirpate and eradicate the corruption, injustice and inequality is evident from the interview: ‗Who is your team?‘ the reporter asked him. ‗Well, we are a small newspaper called Revolution 2020. There are four of us, including me. We don‘t have much experience but we are passionate about our work.‘ ‗What are you passionate about?‘ ‗Making a difference. Changing India for the better. That is what we live for‘, Raghav said. ‗Is it true that you believe India will have a revolution in the year 2020?‘ ‗Yes, but we all have to work towards it and make sacrifices for it‘. ‗What exactly will the revolution be for?‘ ‗A society where truth, justice and equality are respected more than power. Such societies progress the most‘. ‗Can you explain that?‘ ‗Power-driven societies resemble animal societies. ―Might is right‖ is the rule of the jungle and applies to beasts. And beasts do not progress, humans do‘. (P 243- 244) Chetan Bhagat‘s Half Girlfriend , published in 2014, reveals the sentiments and linguistic struggles of a backward rural Bhojpuri-laced Hindi speaking boy from Bihar as he enrolls himself at the prestigious English-medium St. Stephen‘s College, New Delhi, and falls in love with a high class English speaking rich Delhi girl, Riya Somani. The girl, not really interested in a relationship, agrees to be his ―half girlfriend‖. Chetan Bhagat comments, ―Half-Girlfriend, to www.ijellh.com 93

me, is a unique Indian phenomenon, where boys and girls are not clear about their relationship status with each other. A boy may think he is more than friends with the girl, but the girl is still not his girlfriend. Hence, I thought we needed a term like ‗Half girlfriend‘. Because, in India, that is what most men get.‖ The story begins with Madhav Jha, a boy from Dumraon, Bihar, as he comes to meet the author Chetan Bhagat and leaves behind a few journals from his half- girlfriend whom he believes has died. Chetan Bhagat calls him up the next morning, in order to listen to his story. In the very beginning, he states his troubles entering St. Stephens as being from a village, his English was quite bad. According to Madhav ―It wasn‘t English. It was 90 per cent Bihari Hindi mixed with 10 per cent really bad English. For instance, this is what I had actually said: 'Cumty room...batlaieyega zara? Hamara interview hai na wahan... Mera khel ka kota hai. Kis taraf hai?‘ If I start speaking the way I did in those days, you‘ll get a headache. So I‘m going to say everything in English. Just imagine my words in Bhojpuri-laced Hindi, with the worst possible English thrown in.‖ (P -8) Being a good basketball player, Madhav Jha manages to get admission through his sports quota. The rich and beautiful Riya Somani, a girl from Delhi, is also selected through the sports quota. Madhav and Riya become close friends due to their association with basketball. A year later, Riya marries her childhood friend Rohan and settles in London where Rohan has a big business. Finding Delhi unbearable on grounds of losing Riya, Madhav decides to settle in his hometown and help his mother, Rani Sahiba with her school. Seeing the condition of the school – no proper classes or toilets – Madhav decides to meet local MLA Ojha for financial help, but the MLA is of no help. An opportunity comes when Ojha informs him of Bill Gates' visit to some schools in Bihar. Madhav tries his best to convince Gates to fund his schools' development, but in order to do so he has to deliver a speech, preferably in English. In the course of his struggle, he comes across Riya, who is a divorcee. Riya assists him prepare the speech. They are successful in their objective of fundraising, but, after the speech, Riya leaves a letter for him which discloses that she has lung cancer. With three months left to live, Riya leaves for New York to become a singer, a dream she wanted to pursue. After three years, it is revealed from Riya's journals that she is alive. Madhav goes in search of her in New York. After three months he finds her in a bar, working as a singer. They get married soon after. The book ends as the author visits the rural

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school in Dumraon three and a half years later; he discovers it is being run successfully by Madhav and Riya, who now have a son, Shyam. Half Girlfriend is an interesting novel which can not only motivate the youths to achieve success but also to encourage them to be confident and rational during the pressing problems of time. For Chetan Bhagat, temporary failure in life has also a meaning because it hides the secrets of success. Madhav‘s advice to his son, ―Don‘t quit. It will happen one day‖ (P-260) bears the suggestion that failures are the pillars of success. The author insinuates that one should not disrespect and dishonour the person whom one loves, worships, adores and respects. Bhagat‘s advice to the residents of hostels is pertinent: ―If you live in a hostel, never throw away food‖. (P-91) He has warned the youth to be sensitive, alert, wise and discerning in their words and deeds; the accomplished action and the said speech cannot be undone and unsaid. Madhav is repentant and remorseful for his uncouth, uncourteous words and harsh, unjust treatment with Riya. His wish has an aura of sincerity: ―I wished I had a time machine to undo my actions…….I only wanted it to un-say that sentence. I had said it in a combined state of horniness, bravado and stupidity. Well, it is also the state in which men are most of the time‖ (P- 79) According to Bhagat, money is not the be-all and end-all of life. Life involves things greater than money. Respect is one among them. One can earn respect if one lives with dignity and lives for others. Conclusion: Apart from the six novels Chetan Bhagat has two non fictional works to his credit. What Young India Wants published in 2012 analyses in clear, simple prose and with great insight some of the complex issues facing postmodern India, as well as offers solutions to make our country better. In his latest non fictional work, Making India Awesome, published in 2015 he analyses using simple language and concepts, and provides inspired solutions to the country's most intractable problems—poverty, unemployment, corruption, violence against women, communal violence, religious fundamentalism, illiteracy and more. Bhagat has introduced some unique trends in the Indian English literature. He has focussed the interest of the youth. He has attempted to guide their invigorating enthusiasms and energies into proper direction. His works display the aspiration and ambition of the youth. They are epicureans in nature. Therefore, they take life for www.ijellh.com 95

pleasure. Bhagat takes life for enjoyment not for repression. That is why Ryan suggests his friends a plan how to keep away from the cynicism of the teachers and enjoy the prime days of the life at the institute. He names the plan C2D i.e. ―cooperate to dominate‖(P-107). Bhagat advises the people ―to stop looking at pleasure and enjoyment as sin. Human life is limited and if we don‘t enjoy our time here, what is the point of it‖. Bhagat‘s advice to the nation regarding the preservation of the power of youth is admirable. According to him, the creative potential of the youth coupled with their zeal, enthusiasm, energy, vitality and versatility can work wonders for the betterment of the nation. The youth of any nation are its constructive energy; they are the powerhouse and storehouse of infinite energy. Bhagat also puts emphasis on the empowerment of women. His woman characters believe in an absolute freedom, pure liberty and self-identity. Riya‘s reply to Madhav‘s mother, ―I want to be independent‖ (P-162) when she wants to know the reason of her working, testifies to that. Last but not the least, Chetan Bhagat articulates through his parables, penetrating and discerning analyses of what troubles Indian politics, society and the economy and advises what needs to be done to set it right. In his nonfiction What Young India Wants he has remarked: ―….what I think is of the greatest importance is that all of us should have solutions and opinions on the issues that affect us all…..We want a nation that is rich, respected and has a good place in the world. We want a society with good values.‖ (P-180-181)

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Works Cited: Bhagat, Chetan. 2004. Five Points Someone. New Delhi: Rupa & co. ……………… ..2005. One Night@ the Call Center. New Delhi: Rupa & co. ………………..2008. The 3 Mistakes of My Life. New Delhi: Rupa & co. ……………….. 2009. 2 States. New Delhi: Rupa & co. ……………….. 2011. Revolution 2020. New Delhi: Rupa & co. ……………….. 2012. What Young India Wants. New Delhi: Rupa & co. ……………….. 2014. Half Girlfriend. New Delhi: Rupa & co. ………………… 2015. Making India Awesome. New Delhi: Rupa & co. …………………The Real Dirty Picture. A Column: The Times of India, February12, 2012. http://www.chetanbhagat.com/columns/the-real-dirty-picture/ Das Biswas, Mun Mun. ―Depiction of Youth Culture in Chetan Bhagat‘s Five Point Someone‖ The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol.4.2 (2013): (1- 8).www.the- criterion.com/V4/n2/Mun.pdf Jadhav, Arvind. ―Representing Metropolitan Youth Culture: An assessment of Chetan Bhagat‘s Five Point Someone and One Night @ the Call Center‖ The Criterion: An International Journal in English Vol.3.2 (2012): (1- 5). http://www.thecriterion.com/V3/n2/Arvind.pdf Parameswaran,Biju.Half-Girlfriend:Bookreview.2014. http://english.manoramaonline.com/lifestyle/books/predictable-kaleidoscope-of-young- india.html http://www.chetanbhagat.com/books/half-girlfriend/qa/ https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120608105002AA6zHQA https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Point_Someone http://www.anvikshikijournal.com/viewpaper.aspx?pcode=90405a92-31a2-4d8f-953b- 1dcbb090c070 http://anchanchetan.blogspot.in/2014/11/2-states-story-of-my-marriage-full.html http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/2_States:_The_Story_of_My_Marriage http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/Revolution_2020 http://best-book-reviews.com/2015/01/08/revolution-2020-love-corruption-ambition-a-novel-by- chetan-bhagat/ http://chetanbhagatb.blogspot.in/ www.ijellh.com 97