The "State" of affairs in popular media...

I had taken a conscious decision, after "3 mistakes of my life", to not make a mistake of my own, and stay off Chetan Bhagat. As revealing as 5-Point someone was, and the veritable starting point of a flood of IIT/IIM centered books, it was only going downhill form there. Even God couldn't save "One night @..." and "3 Mistakes" was surely one one them... Yet, when stuck in the TamilNadu express (whose pantry, incidentally, has deteriorated) with 15 people playing ' Mafia', you don't have the privilege of being fussy over popular literature. So it came to be, my second innings with India's not-so-modestly-self-styled "Most loved Author".

"2-States, a story of my marriage" is a not-so shy account of the author's marriage. The author is an average Joe @ IIM-A, and a chance meeting with a beautiful girl leads to an unsteady friendship always on the brink of romance, which is where it leads. One-and-a-half years and numerous sleepovers later, the couple decide to break the news to their Loud, Greedy Punjabi and Prudish, Conservative TamBrahm parents. Thats the Groom and Bride sides respecitvely... Obviously, they don't exact;l hit it off, and the rest of the story foucses on the Guy wooing the girl's family (quite literally) and vice versa. Throw in a mystic Guruji, a callous psychiatrist and a ton of Tamil/Punjabi stereotypes, and you've got a hit.

The book was entertaining, and I admit that besides the circumstances, it held my attention of two hours straight. However, the setting is disturbing. The author, as is his usual style, presents it as a fictional take on real life events. Which, i presume, is to soothe the ruffled feathers of certain family members.

However, I find it disturbing that rudeness and downright mockery of a caste or a practice is the way to India's heart. Include here the 'humor' depicted in numerous Tamil and Hindi movies, and the provokative attacks of various politicians playing vote-bank ballot master. 2-States is a case in study. The only truly gut-wrenching parts of the novel were the accounts of the Dad-Mum violence, and the protagonist pining away towards the end. The rest, to me, felt like calculated exaggeration (which is what the author admits to in his prolugue) fashioned to appeal to a majority of people unaccustomed to neither Punjabi nor TamBrahms. Lofty ideas of 'National Integration' served only to deepen my skepticism... I seriously doubt if Afterglow manifests itself as Patriotism, and please don't get me started on the idiocy of the epilogue.

Maybe I'm biased, but I felt that Tamilians in general were dealt a very bad hand. The author's progeniture no doubt blinds him to certain quirks of his own state. While you have unscrupulous auto drivers, the chaos in North-Indian trains finds no mention. While you have the Tamil obsession with education and conservatism, it is forgotten that '5-Pt Someone' was not an extraordinary piece of literature, but merely an insight into India's biggest obsession, IIT. Repeated references to Dark, Ugly madrasis were overkill - having established the jaundice in Northern Eyes, the author could have let it rest. Throw in "Dr.Iyer" who laughs at her patient and prescribes pills disintrestedly, and the non-veg eating, beer drinking Ananya, born into the 'purest of pure upper castes'.

The only sins of his punjabi family were gossip and dowry. Both, again, were alluded to when dealing with TamBrahms.

Mr. Bhaghat, realize that your idealism is misplaced. If indeed your aim was to reduce the regionalisms in India today, you have failed terribly. I can assure you that a majority of the people will enjoy this book only because it reinforces their stereotypes of stuck up, Tamil, Brahmins (yes, Tamil as an adjective) and overbearing, fat Punjabis.

On a side note, I've realised really how close Chennai is to me. Ten days away from home and this book. Need i say more?