Revolution 2020 shadowed by Five point someone

About the Book

Book Name: 'Revolution 2020 Author: Chetan Bhagat Pages: 296 Publisher: Rupa Publications

Synopsis
The story revolves around the lives of three friends two boys Gopal & Raghav and one girl Aarti from Varanasi whove different aspirations. The boys have different aspirations One wants to use his intelligence to make money while the other wants to use his intelligence to create a revolution, the girl is simple down to earth district magistrates daughter and is love interest for both the boys . The three friends face the corrupt system and society that rewards the corrupt. Gopal becomes the part of the system by doing all the unfair things and making money; while Raghav fights against the system. The book unfolds a story that describes the issues prevailing for today's youth and their struggle to cope up with the system.

Prologue
The prologue rises interest of the reader with Chetan Bhagat as the narrator and well written dialogue with heart broken and drunk Gopal making the revelation. It contracts the ending were the protagonist Gopal is motivated after his love interest Aarti decides to choose Raghav as her sole mate.

But it does ensure that reader explores the book further

Start of a relationship
Gopal, the son of a retired teacher, ridden with debt was destined to fall head first and hard in love with the daughter of the District Magistrate from the inopportune day he decided to steal a slab of the chocolate cake she had brought for lunch. The friendship that started in the fifth standard through the hapless incident gradually took its own meandering course over the Ganga over innumerable boat rides and unspoken ballads of love, one sided of course.

Aarti
Aarti is the well grounded daughter of the DM who is personally honest but not averse to looking the other way at corrupt dealings; the kind of officer that local politicians love to patronise. She is shown to have great bonding with protagonist Gopal but he is not her choice of a boyfriend that is not very appeling

The Fortunate One

Raghav completes the trio as the exceptionally intelligent local boy that many have pinned their hopes on to bring glory to the dusty town by cracking the JEE. Having grown up with Gopal, Raghav is aware how badly his impoverished friend wants to get into one of India's hallowed engineering institutions that will offer him a shot at better things in life but lacks the money to help him prepare or the merit and tenacity needed to crack the tough entrance exam.

Plot setup
As the plot takes the three to depths of desperation, love, ambition and crushing disappointment, Bhagat tries to reflect the state of India's private education that is not just the lifeblood but sometimes the only hope for millions of students from small towns turning their bright eyes at an assured and uplifting future. The ambitions and attributes given to each character from the basis for the story as Gopal and Raghav represent two extremes of Indian youth while Aarti represents youth that come from family of means

 Bhagat's reflection on the coaching system that forms the first check-in point at the Pearly Gate of technical higher learning is not just tongue-in-cheek but a dark sensor of the reality for students who leave their homes to try repeatedly for a course that is brutally structured to eliminate the weakest. His description of a job fair where brothers who have fallen apart compete to market their own private colleges is a laugh out loud moment from the book. But the good stuff ends there.

Review Points
'Revolution 2020' may be an attempt to highlight the inherent corruption rooted in India's education system. It brings out the anomaly of non-profit organisations and commercialization of education, but the writing largely lacks the style that Bhagat has come to be known for. As a story, 'Revolution 2020' offers nothing unusual or novel in rivalry between two friends vying for the affection of one girl.

 Bhagat's idea and description of a people's revolution is incomplete and the reader is left wondering till the end what exactly the nature of it will be if at all it happens. Given that this central theme is the surmise of the book, the idea of 'Revolution 2020' deserved more time and better indulgence instead of being relegated to few chapters in the end. The fiery activism of Raghav who wants to bring about a change in society through journalism, despite having graduated as an engineer, is a diversion from Gopal's story, which is stronger and more rooted in real life.

 'Revolution 2020' disappoints simply because Bhagat is the author of '5 Point Someone' that had sharp humour to lace a cracking story. A lot is expected from an author who is said to have not just nudged millions of youngsters from their iPods into reading but also given a face to the average Indian student buried under parental expectations. As a book, 'Revolution 2020' is average and lacks the street smart style Bhagat is known for. The language has degenerated into clipped monologue.

 The murky world of politics and manipulative journalism is tackled with an outsider's viewpoint and lacks serious research and depth.

It is dramatic, idealistic without the backing of reason and sadly self indulgent. If it nails one thing, it is the systemic corruption in the education system but pity that the pointless love story gets in the way of what could have been a great read.

Recommendation
I would like to recommend this book as one time read. It can be appreciated for handling of the current issue of youth revolution in a structured way the story location is varanasi small town in our country so it makes the story intresting.