Two States By Chetan Bhagat

Two states is an awesome journey from a rasgulla (friendship) to a buffet dinner (marriage). The novel follows the lives of two characters, Ananya & Krish, belonging to different states - Chennai & Delhi respectively. When their path crosses for the first time at IIM Ahmedabad , Ananya is fighting with the canteen fellow over unhygienic food, and Krish instantly falls in love with this gorgeous lady over a bowl of rasgullas. The story has 4 time spans.

            First is about the two protagonists falling in love at the hostel. Life is great for them until their families meet each other. You will be entertained by the incredible humor ingrained in this part.

            Second is a very cute Krish convincing his Tamilian in-laws by crossing a lot of hurdles for the sake of his beloved love?

            The third phase is about the fair complexioned Madrasi Ananya, a corporate lady (no offense intended) wooing Punjabi families with host of confidence & wit (don’t men envy women for this?)

            The last corner is obviously the big event of their life, their ultimate bonding - Marriage. The story is about middle class aspiration with a lots of humor & ultimately an excellent product. I am simply awed by the characterization portrayed with the right proportion of emotion.

            One can visualize the entire story to such an extent that it makes a reader feel that this is happening in their life. There is a lot of empathy you can feel with these very real characters.

The intensity and the beautiful description about the contrast marriages (Punjabi & Tamilian) make his novel even more attractive.

The language is subtle, readable, interesting, and all the more hilarious with some really good similes and metaphors & very much educational. Cross culture marriages are still unacceptable in our society, even though we are living in the world’s greatest culture. As rightly acknowledged in the novel, when we accept a family of a different culture we are adding value to our existing ones. Speaking for myself, I liked Chetan’s book and all the issues of social stigma raised in the book is quite relevant.