8/22/2019 Book Revolution 2020
1/2
REVOLUTION 2020 by Chetan Bhagat (Amazon Kindle, 2011)
I have read and enjoyed much celebrated, and venerated, Indian
fiction over the last 20years. Salman Rushdie, Aravind Adiga, Kiran
Desai and Arundhati Roy have all won
Booker Prizes. The contrasts they draw between the mundane and
the downright mysticalin Indian society never fail to impress.
Impressively long and detailed books by Vikram Seth and Rohinton
Mistry are givensimilar reverence in literary circles to Tolstoy
and Dostoevsky.
The multiple Oscar winning movie was based on the book Q & A
by another Indian, VikasSwarup.
I was somewhat surprised to discover only recently that the
highest selling Indian author of
all is Chetan Bhagat, of whom I knew almost nothing. He has
written five novels, all inEnglish, but most of his readers are
from the subcontinent or the diaspora, which isobviously a large
audience. Two have been made into Bollywood blockbusters.
Bhagats most recent novel is called Revolution 2020. Love.
Corruption, Ambition. It is onlyavailable in this country in e book
form presently. I also read one of his previous books,One Night @
The Call Center, which was a dark but interesting take on the
Indian callcentre phenomenon from the other side.
Revolution 2020is about two boys (Gopal and Raghav) and a girl
(Aarti), who grow uptogether in Indian city of Varanasi on the
Ganges, a perennial favourite with overseastourists that is
regarded as holy by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains alike. The book
showshow unimpressed most locals are with all that mystique, rather
like Surfers Paradise forGold Coast residents I suppose.
Both boys are smart but one is much more successful in formal
school exit examinationsso important in India. Unfairness inherent
in a corrupt society is exposed and, naturally,both boys are
attracted to the girl so there is a love triangle. One of the lads
goes on tomake a lot of money and the other to become a
revolutionary. It is reminiscent of a USyouth rebellion movie,
which makes it all seem very familiar despite the exotic
location.
Bhagat writes very well. The Indian words that pop up are easily
comprehensible fromcontext. The narrative flows along at a good
pace. The problems of growing up are thesame the world over. The
ending could be stronger, but I will definitely seek out more
ofthis authors work.
