Dont worry am not gonna write a review over here.. coz by now the whole of India must have read the book a 100 times over... just felt like writin somethin.. Yes, finally have read the two states.. It took a long time to reach the two states but finally have managed it.. It all started with my date with the COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO.. I thought of it to be just a fling but it turned out to be a much more longer affair (yup you guessed it rt, am a slow reader..).. It got over at last 'n I was left with an empty feeling 'n a MALICE BOX.. I opened the box to find the LIST OF SEVEN which led me to follow the POE'S SHADOW... I followed it till I reached the land of HALF MAGIC (yes even now I do like readin kiddie stuff..) which transported me to the Himalayas where I treaded the treacherous PATHS OF GLORY until I reached the TWO STATES..
The book was, as expected, good.. but I have always loved, Five point someone, the most.. The first half of this book was kinda Ok with the Dejavu feelin takin over most of the time..The girl meets the boy kinda thing is almost always the same in most of Chetan Bhagat's books.. The sex part of the books are somethin I am not able to digest most of the time.. no no am not moral policing over here.. it's just that they have such easy access to it.. Look at 3 mistakes of my life.. they used to make out at the girl's place with parents hoverin about the house.. live in relationships I can understand but a boy 'n a girl sharin a room in a boys dormitory is way beyond me.. Have never lived in a hostel as such but have always thought that guys are not allowed to share a room in a girls hostel 'n vice versa.. 'n that too in Ahmedabad where anything that is even remotely pleasurable is prohibited.. Maybe times are changing.. 'n am still stuck in the corner bench of the old school of thought..
'n I feel it's high time that Bhagat gave a makeover to his female protaganists coz its gettin a bit difficult to differentiate a certain Neha from Ananya or the others... they all seem the same.. even thought they all belong to conservative middle class families they are fiercely independent, no qualms about premarital sex, booze or whatever..
Talkin about female characters, thanks 'n no thanks to Chetan Bhagat for using the name Smitha in this book.. I have always loved my name 'n used to wonder why is that noone ever named a character in their films or books as Smitha... 'n Chetan Bhagat did use the name maybe coz he thought it to be some kinda typical south Indian name or wot I dont know.. but Smitha is not just a southie name even northies have it.. just a l'l variation in the spellin that's it.. with the Southie SMITHAs havin an 'H' over the northie SMITAs.. Our school was kinda a meeting ground for all the Smithas in the world.. in each class you could find atleast 3-4 Smithas, that we had to refer to each other usin our initials.. back to the main point, I was happy to see my name there but the description which was more befittin a certain Shakeela made me sad... :(
Apart from that I liked the book.. it brought out the differences in the north Indian 'n the south Indian culture in a funny way.. I could relate to the book in the sense that have been in both the states.. 'n I know very well how a Southie is made to feel in Delhi.. The way they used to refer to us as Madrasis used to make my blood boil 'n just to keep up to the good, docile 'n nice image I used to keep quiet but the clenching 'n unclenchin of the teeth was a big giveaway though.. it always seemed to me that the majority of the Northies slept off durin the geography classes esp durin the chapter on South India.. otherwise how can one explain their ignorance about their own country.. grrr.. No offence meant.. but they gotta know that it hurts..
Anyways now for the benefit of all the northies who slept off in their geography classes... Ok the southies can skip this part.. there are 4 states in the south of India.. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka 'n Andhra Pradesh.. 'n the people from these states are called Tamilians, Malayalees, Kanadigas, 'n Andhraites (am not sure about Andhra.. If anyone knows how Telugu ppl are referred to collectively, please do enlighten me.. ) respectively.. 'n regardin the term Madrasi.. you will find it amusing that even all Tamilians are not Madrasis only the people from Chennai can be called that.. so in a way I too am a Madrasi 'n now maybe I can somehow tolerate myself bein called one without havin to ground my teeth to powder...
Now to the lungi or the dhoti part that's so much of an issue with the Northies that once it happened that a guy in Delhi was thrown out of his rented house in Delhi coz he used to wear lungis south Indian ishtyle.. Actually, even have felt, why do they even bother to wear the lungis coz they tie it or fold it so high up that it seems more like a waist band to hold their precious pin striped underwear in place.. :) But dhotis are not exclusive to just the South Indians.. Just like the sari its an Indian traditional wear.. The Punjabis wear it.. the Bengalis wear it.. the Goans wear it... So y is it that when a South Indian wears it, it becomes offensive.. Actually if you look at it even women wear it.. wot do you think is a Sarong or a Wrap around... it's a modern or fashionable version of our very own lungi... So, in that sense, it's an International attire.. pretty comfy 'n pretty airy..
Ok back to the book.. I liked the second half, esp. the marriage part, a lot.. The Kashi yatra scene was really good..'n one more thing, Krish seemed to be the exact copy of Hari from Five point someone.. I just couldnt understand why was the name changed in this book.. or is it like Hari met Ekta Kapoor or Karan JOhar after he graduated from IIt 'n changed his name to Krish.. Maybe!!!! On that note am gonna leave you guys.. Think about it!! in the meantime I gotta go in SEARCH OF THE NOAH'S ARK..
