2 States: The Story of My Marriage Review by Vanga Srikanth

Book Description

Love marriages around the world are simple: Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. They get married. In India, there are a few more steps: Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy. Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl. Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family. Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married. Welcome to 2 States, a story about Krish and Ananya. They are from two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married. Of course, their parents don t agree. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince. Will they make it? From the author of blockbusters Five Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Center and The 3 Mistakes of My Life, comes another witty tale about inter-community marriages in modern india.

About the Author

Chetan Bhagat is the author of four blockbuster novels, Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005) The 3 Mistakes of life (2008) & 2 States (2009). All four books have remained bestsellers since their release and have inspired major Bollywood films. The New York Times called Chetan the the biggest selling English language novelist in India s history. Seen more as a youth icon than just an author, this IIT D/ IIMA graduate is making India read like never before. Time Magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Chetan also writes op-ed columns for leading English and Hindi newspapers, focusing on youth and national development based issues. Many of the issues raised by Chetan s columns have been discussed in Parliament and among the top leadership of the country. Chetan is also a popular Motivational Speaker and has given talk s in leading MNC s & institutions. Chetan quit his international investment banking career in 2009, to devote his entire time to writing and make change happen in the country. He lives in Mumbai with his wife Anusha, an ex-classmate from IIMA and his twin boys Shyam and Ishaan. 

 2 States: The Story of My Marriage Review by Vanga Srikanth

Two States is the story of Krish and Ananya who are from two different states of India, "stupidly in love" and want to get married not by eloping but with their parent's consent. Everything looks easy except.

Ananya is from a conservative Tamil family and Krish is from a typical Punjabi family. There are fireworks from the first time that their families meet and it looks like Krish and Ananya's love story is doomed from the start.

Can they convince their families that they are made for each other?

Can a Punjabi and Tamil family forget their differences of culture, values and behavior to come together as one family?

As its said "it is easy to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince", can they make their love story into a love marriage?

Chetan Bhagat is one author you cannot ignore. I am not a big fan of his but I do respect that fact that he revolutionized the literary market and lured back the younger generation in India which had started to drift away from reading books. He gave people simple day to day events with uncomplicated everyday dialogues that anyone could understand. His books follow the Hindi-film style settings with every masala present to entertain you.

According to me, Two Statesis his best work so far and though we cannot term it a literary classic, it is a fitting leisure read that we enjoy while traveling or lazing on a couch. The dialogues are simple and though I sometimes felt them wanting in their construction and their clarity still they achieve their purpose. The musings of Krish are funny like

'She'll never date you, it is a rasgulla down the drain' or
'OK buddy, pretty girl goes her way, rasgulla-less loser goes another.'

and also give an insight into the thought process of boys like

'Why should any guy want to be only friends with a girl? It's like agreeing to be near a chocolate cake and never eat it. It's like sitting in a racing car but not driving it.'

The characterization is noteworthy. The characters are sketched in a comic light like

'... Ankur and Aditya, both IITians who had already proposed to her without considering the embarrassment of being rejected and then sitting next to the rejection for the whole year.' or Kanyashree 'who took notes like a diligent court transcripter' , 'wrote so hard I could feel the seismic vibrations from her pen's nib.' or Ananya who had 'perfect features, with her eye, nose, lips, and ears the right size and in right places. '

I thoroughly enjoyed the contrasts that Chetan Bhagat draws between his dysfunctional Punjabi family and Ananya's strict Tamil family.

All in all a quick and light read. A one time read in my opinion. Definitely not a book you will keep in your classics bookshelf and a misfit for the company of serious readers.

Thanks
Vanga Srikanth