Revolution 2020
I must say that whenever a Chetan Bhagat book is released nowadays, it already has sky-high expectations riding on it. It is a bit unfair because the stories that he narrates range in different genres but still as we are all human , we still do like compare them.
Anyways my initial expectations with the story were pretty different. With the book being released at a time when the anti-corruption sentiment in the country is at an all time high, I was expecting some real revolution to happen. And at one point of time in the story, it comes close to creating just that but the things just dont go ahead further.And that is actually a good thing because, I think it is one of the best stories that Chetan Bhagat has come up with.
The story follows the theme of love and how it has the ability to corrupt someone.It also shows that if someone is ambitious enough, he can achieve whatever he wants. But one should be careful of what one desires for, for he may not like what he has become after achieving.
The story follows the life of Gopal, a resident of Varanasi who falls in love with Arati, his childhood friend. Gopal is a man who is not from a well to do family and to make matters worse, his only other friend Raghav, an IIT-JEE ranker, also loves Arati and she seems to reciprocate her feelings towards Raghav as well. So what are the options left in front of Gopal?
A. Suck it up and look for another girl.
B. Be her friend and get stabbed a million times in the heart whenever she speaks about her boyfriend to him.
Gopal chooses option B and his life turns miserable but a chance encounter at a career festival in the city opens up a window of opportunity for Gopal that would, not only help him earn money and get rich quickly but also help him get a shot at getting into a relationship with Aarati but the downside being that he will make enemies with Raghav. What does Gopal do? Well, if you want to know you have to read the book.
As the setting for the whole story was in Varanasi, a very spiritual and sacred place for billions of Hindus around the world, it was very interesting and quite ironic that the story was exploring the theme such as corruption in a city as holy as Varanasi.
When I bought the book and actually even before I bought it, I heard many negative reviews about it but a few positive ones as well. So I would suggest you all to just read the book with a really fresh mind and not go about by what others are saying. In my honest opinion, it was a great read. The characters were interesting, the story was amazing, the narration could have been a bit better but all in all it was very entertaining and my heart went out for Gopal in the end.It would have been very difficult for me to do what he had done in the climax, but it was the right thing to do and as they say "The right path is always the toughest path".
