Thread: Revolution 2020 – Chetan Bhagat’s New Book

Revolution 2020 – Chetan Bhagat’s New Book



Synopsis



Once upon a time, in small-town India, there lived two intelligent boys.
One wanted to use his intelligence to make money.
One wanted to use his intelligence to create a revolution.
The problem was, they both loved the same girl.

Welcome to Revolution 2020. A story about childhood friends Gopal, Raghav and Aarti who struggle to find success and love in Varanasi. However, it isn’t easy to achieve this in an unfair society that rewards the corrupt. As Gopal gives in to the system, and Raghav fights it, who will win?

From the bestselling author of Five Point Someone, one night @ the call center, The Three Mistakes of My Life and 2 States, comes another gripping tale from the heartland of India. Are you ready for the revolution?

Excerpt


Prologue

“And I hope not just you but our whole country will keep that spark alive. For there is something cool about saying – I come from the land of a billion sparks. Thank you,” I said, ending my motivational speech at Tilak Hall, Varanasi.
The claps and whistles were my cue to leave. Security volunteers formed a human barricade and soon I managed a neat exit from the hall.
“Thank you so much, sir,” someone said right behind me.
I turned around to face my host.
“Mr Mishra,” I said, “I was looking for you.”
“Please call me Gopal,” he said. “The car is over there.”
I walked out with the young director of GangaTech College, Gopal Mishra. His black Mercedes whisked us away from the crowded Vidyapath Road.
“Any more temples you want to see?” Gopal asked. “That’s all Varanasi has, anyway. You saw the ghats, right?”
“Yeah, I went to the Vishwanath temple and Dasaswamedh ghat at five in the morning,” I said. “The aarti was out of the world.”
Gopal frowned.
“What?” I said. “You must be used to the aarti by now. I was seeing it for the first time, all those diyas floating at dawn.”
“It is not that,” he said, but did not elaborate.
“You will drop me at Ramada hotel?” I said.
“Your flight is only tomorrow morning,” Gopal said. “Why don’t you come home for dinner?”
“Don’t be formal…” I began.
“You have to come home. We must have a drink together. I have the finest whiskey in the world,” he said.
I smiled as I shook my head. “Thanks, Gopal, but I don’t drink much.”
“Chetan sir, one drink? I can tell people I had a drink with ‘the’ Chetan Bhagat.”
I laughed. “That’s nothing to brag about. Still, say it if you want. You don’t actually have to drink with me.”
“Not like that, sir. I actually want to have a drink with you.”
I saw his intense eyes. He had sent me twenty invites in the last six months, until I agreed to come. I knew he could persist.
“Okay, one drink!” I said, hoping I wouldn’t regret this later.
“Excellent,” Gopal said.
We drove ten kilometers outside the city on the Lucknow Highway to reach GangaTech. The guards saluted as the campus gates opened up. The car came to a halt at a gray bungalow. It had a stone exterior that matched the main college and hostel buildings.

We sat in the living room on the ground floor. It opened out to a badminton court-sized lawn.
“Nice house,” I said as I sat on an extra-soft brown velvet sofa. I noticed the extra-high elevated ceiling.
“Thanks. I made it myself. The contractor built it, but I supervised everything,” Gopal said. He proceeded to the bar counter at the other end of the room. “It’s the bungalow of an engineering college director. You and your friends raided one, right?”
“How do you know?” I said.
“Everyone knows. We’ve read the book. Seen the movie.”
We laughed. He handed me a crystal glass filled with a generous amount of Irish whisky.
“Thank you.” I took my drink.
“Single malt, 12 years old,” he said.
“It’s the director’s bungalow, but you don’t have a daughter,” I said. “You aren’t even married. The youngest director I’ve ever seen.”
He smiled.
“How old are you?” I was curious.
“Twenty-six,” Gopal said, a hint of pride in his voice. “Not just the youngest, but also the most uneducated director you’ve met.”
“Uneducated?”
“I never went to college.”
“What?” I said as I twirled the ice-cubes in my glass and wondered how potent this drink was.
“Well, I did do a joke of a correspondence degree.”
“Wow!” I said. “It isn’t a joke to open such a big college.”
“Sixteen hundred students now, ji, across all batches. Each paying one lakh a year. We already have a sixteen-crore turnover. And you inaugurated the MBA coaching today. That’s another new business.”
I took a sip. The smooth whiskey burnt my throat. “Do you have beer? Or wine?” I coughed.
Gopal’s face fell. Not only had I ignored his impressive business statistics, I had rejected his whiskey.
“Not good?” Gopal asked. “It’s Glenfiddich, four thousand a bottle. I’ll open Blue Label? That’s ten thousand a bottle.”
It is not a price issue, I wanted to tell him but didn’t. “I don’t drink whiskey. Too strong for me,” I said instead.
Gopal laughed. “Live life. Start having fine whiskey. You will develop a taste.”
I attempted another sip and winced. He smiled and poured more water in my drink to dilute it. It ruined the scotch, but saved my sanity.
“Life is to be enjoyed. Look at me, I will make four crores this year. What is the point if I don’t enjoy it?”
In most parts of the world, speaking about your income is taboo. In India, you share the figures like your zodiac sign, especially if you have lots.
He seemed to have put the question more to himself than me. His dark eyes continued to bore into me. His eyes demanded attention. The rest of him – wheatish complexion, modest five-feet-seven-inch height, side-parted hair – was reassuringly nondescript.
“Yeah, of course. One should enjoy,” I said as he cut me.
“Next year I will make five crores.”
I realised he would keep forecasting his salary until I demonstrated suitable awe.
“Five crores!” I said, my voice loud and fake.
Gopal grinned. ‘Baby, eat this, for I have made it,’ is probably the T-shirt slogan he would choose.
“That’s incredible,” I murmured, wondering how I could switch the topic. I noticed stairs winding up. “What’s upstairs?” I said.
“Bedrooms and a terrace. Come, I will show you.”
We climbed up the steps. We walked past a room with a luxurious king-sized bed.
From the terrace I took in the panoramic view.

“This was a wasteland, all of it. My grandfather’s old agricultural land,” Gopal said.
“Ten acres?” I made a guess.
“Fifteen. We had fifteen acres more,” Gopal said, “but we sold it to fund the construction.”
He pointed to a small array of lights towards the eastern wall of the floodlit campus. “Right there, see. There is a mall coming up.”
“Every Indian city is building malls now,” I said.
“India shining, Chetan-ji,” he said and clinked his glass with mine.
Gopal drank more than four times my pace. I hadn’t finished my first when he poured his fifth. “You big-city types. Drinking for style,” he teased when I refused a refill.
“I don’t drink much. Really,” I said. I checked the time; 10:00 p.m.
“When do you eat dinner?” he asked.
“Up to you,” I said, though I wished he’d decide to eat right away.
“What is the big hurry? Two men, one educated, one uneducated. Having a good time,” Gopal said and raised his glass in the air.
I nodded out of courtesy. My stomach rumbled for food. We came downstairs to sit down in the living room again.
“Did you really go to the professor’s daughter’s house?” Gopal said.
I smiled. “Love makes us do stupid things.”
Gopal laughed out loud. He chugged his drink bottoms-up, then grabbed the half-empty bottle to make his sixth tipple.
“Love? Forget stupid things. Love loves you,” Gopal said.
“That’s harsh,” I said. “Is that why there is no Mrs Director yet?”
Gopal’s hand trembled as he continued to pour his drink. I wondered if I should stop him from drinking more.
“Mrs Director!” Gopal smirked. He gripped the whiskey bottle tight.
“Easy, Gopal, you are drinking too fast. It’s dangerous.”
Gopal plonked the bottle on the coffee table. “Why dangerous? Who is going to loveing cry for me? If I live, I want to enjoy. If I die, who cares?”
“Your parents?”
Gopal shook his head.
“Friends?”
“Successful people don’t have friends,” Gopal demurred. “It’s true, no?”
His lavish house felt cold and isolated. I took the whiskey bottle and placed it back in the bar.
“Pessimist, eh?” I said. “Surprising, given you are doing so well.”
“What well, Chetan-ji?” Gopal said, now completely drunk and, presumably, completely honest.
He pointed to the huge TV, stereo system and the silk carpet under our feet in quick succession. “What does all this mean? I’ve lived with nothing…”
Our conversation had become serious. I patted his back to cheer him up. “So you read about my girlfriend in the book. How about you? You ever had one?”
Gopal didn’t respond, but looked distraught. He placed his glass on the coffee table.
Touchy topic, I figured too late.
He retched.
“Are you okay?” I said.
He ran to the restroom. I heard him throw up. I browsed the display shelves to pass time. I saw framed news stories about GangaTech, trophies, pictures of Gopal with guests who had visited the college. I wondered if my picture would also be there soon.
When he hadn’t returned in twenty minutes I called for the maid. She took me to the bathroom. I knocked at the door. No answer. I banged my fists on the door. Nothing.
“Looks like we have to break the door,” the maid said.
I wondered how I, who had come as a chief guest for a college orientation programme, became involved with forcing open random toilets in Varanasi.

Q & A


What is ‘Revolution 2020’ about?
Revolution 2020 is about Gopal, Raghav and Aarti, who struggle to find love and success in Varanasi.

The tagline says ‘Love. Corruption. Ambition.’ What is going on?
The tagline refers to the key themes of the book. Revolution 2020 is foremost a love story, in fact a love triangle, as both Gopal and Raghav love the same girl. Corruption, particularly in the education sector, is the backdrop of the story. All three characters have strong ambitions, and how they go about achieving them also forms a big part of the story.

What made you write this book, after your last book “2 States: The Story of my marriage”?
2 States was a fun story inspired from my own life. I wanted to take a lighter look at inter-cultural marriages. I had fun doing it, and people had fun reading it, as it became my highest selling book.

Revolution 2020 comes from my travels across India in the past two years. As a motivational speaker, I have visited more than 50 cities in the heartland of India. The youth in these smaller cities, their dreams and aspirations inspired me to do a story on them.

I also saw disturbing levels of corruption in the education sector, which can have profound effects on the quality of education we are giving to our new generation, and wanted to bring that to people’s attention.

Sounds heavy. Is it?
Not at all. It is a Chetan Bhagat book. I think by now my readers know, that no matter how serious the issue is, I make my stories light and entertaining. The issues with the education system and the levels of corruption in the country are obviously grave concerns, but as a storyteller I have to balance it with the need to make a gripping, entertaining story.

So, along with the messages, there’s romance and a lot of drama this time.

Drama eh?
Well, for the first time, I have dealt with a love-triangle, as in the previous four books, the boy and girl are pretty secure about their love for each other. This time, it is not the case. I don’t want to reveal more. The drama is in the book.

Why Varanasi?
I wanted to pick a city from the Indian heartland, especially a place with a lot of character.

Something about Varanasi connected with me, every time I went there. I felt compelled to write about it. After all, Varanasi is a place where people go to cleanse their sins. Has anyone ever thought about the people who live there, and deal with all the sins people have left behind?

What is the message?
There are several messages in Revolution 2020, and I want the reader to get them upon reading the book, rather than me spelling it out. However, I want to emphasize that when even the education system becomes corrupt, it can have far reaching negative consequences on society. I hope Revolution 2020 provokes some thought in that direction.

Are you nervous before the release given the extraordinary expectations?
To a certain extent, yes. Revolution 2020 comes after 2 States and 3 Idiots. Of course the expectations are sky high. However, I have early feedback from some test readers and they loved Revolution 2020. Many said it is the best book so far. Hence, I am not too worried now.

Also, I must add that I have reached a point in my writing that it is not about beating another book or achieving a certain amount of sales. I am lucky that I have a loyal reader base, and they trust me to do whatever story I want. Revolution 2020 means a lot to me. If the story touches people like I intended to, I have done well. I am confident Revolution 2020 will.

It has been two years since you quit your job. How has life changed after becoming a full time writer?
It has changed a lot. I no longer go to office, so that has given me a lot of freedom. At the same time, it also requires a lot of self-discipline to make sure I have a productive day. I do a variety of things, and I am always trying to balance my time.

I also want to ensure I have enough time for family. I am a house husband now and I wait for the kids to come back from school. It is a joy to see your kids grow up and I am one of the few lucky men who get to witness it.

How is the Bollywood journey been so far? Two of the books have been adapted into films. What is happening with the other two?
My Bollywood journey has been quite good, and fairly smooth especially when I see people struggle for years to get a break. All the books have attracted interest from filmmakers. Two have released, with one of them being a monster success. Two others are in planning stages.

There have been a few bumps along the road as well, and perhaps because I am not well versed with the ways of Bollywood. Still, the car is very much on the road, and I hope my stories contribute more to Indian cinema in times to come.

You have also become a motivational speaker in the past two years, and also an active columnist. How different are these roles as compared to being a fiction writer?
Columns and motivation talks are technically non-fiction.

In columns I talk about current issues, and reach a wide audience because both the Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar have a massive readership. Many doubted my ability to do columns as they saw me as a novelist.

However, many people do not know that in my banking job, I have advised the Thailand and Philippines government on their financial policy and credit ratings. That experience helped me learn how to evaluate economies and national policies, that I sometimes use in my column writing.

How did the motivational talks come about?
The motivational talks, I admit, happened by accident. I gave a speech titled ‘Sparks’ at Symbiosis College, and the text of it became viral. Soon, I started getting invitations and hence the new avatar came about. I still consider myself different from other motivation speakers. I keep my talks light, personal and honest. I do not consciously try and motivate people, but many have said they feel inspired when they hear me talk live. I am thankful for the gift God has given me, for there are few things in life as wonderful as touching people in a positive manner.

What is your next project?
I can’t think about the next project, having just completed a book. I think I will take a break, and not write for a while. Perhaps I will consolidate all the various activities I do, and cut out some stuff as I need more spare time in my life to think. I am sure I will be writing soon again.

Any message for your readers? Advice?
Not much. I want to thank them for their love and support all these years. As advice, all I would say is that the world might underestimate you, but do not underestimate yourself. With hard work, a strong will, a humble attitude and a willingness to learn new things – one can achieve a lot in life. If you can develop these qualities, you will be ok in life.

Teaser

nice thread nick! i read dis book few days ago. achi he. it was gud but not chetan bhagat's best. i hv read betr books by him. da story was going slow mny times during da plot