tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post1374219563031345200..comments2024-03-18T19:46:10.130+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: Festival notes 5: chatting with ChetanJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-35847493385773372592011-04-05T15:53:16.670+05:302011-04-05T15:53:16.670+05:30I don't care for whatever critical comments po...I don't care for whatever critical comments posted my many people here.. Let me ask you all and all those people who are always on a look up for pulling the legs of someone who is getting elated into the greater heights in something.. One thing i would like to say is, We the humanbeings, should possess some unconditional love towards something in our lives. That will makes us feel alive and a better human. The people like ME, who adore Chetan Bhagat, belong to that category of the people who loves something unconditionally, enjoying it to the fullest and relating it to their lives, and develop much more dreams and aspirations to achieve something substantial in our life... CHETAN BHAGAT had taught us all how important one's dreams for achieving happiness and success in one's life." That is what we love the most about him... But when i see all you guys decieding yourselves how a person should work, i get reminded of this famous quote, " A critic is the person who knows the cost of everything, but the value of nothing."<br />Have any of you ever experienced how it would be, when you don’t have anything good to do in life, anything interesting and useful for life, no certain ambition, no goal, no dreams, no aspirations,,, and suddenly one day a person thankfully turns up in your life and shows you all those, gives you the real meaning of life and dreams, and aspirations, if he tells you “The real happiness of life lies in keeping up your spark alive forever.” How do u treat him? Won’t that person be the most beloved one of your life.<br />Have your ever seen such things, do u know that there are peole who have got all these Sparks and values and aspirations from this precious person named CHETAN BAHAGT...? If you haven’t known it yet, then first know it and then talk about him what you want o talk.Krishna Kanthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16412653364642515333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-74701511602181750322011-02-19T13:27:38.610+05:302011-02-19T13:27:38.610+05:30I have read Chetan's Five Point Some one and O...I have read Chetan's Five Point Some one and One Night at a call center. I liked breezing through FPS in my college days borrowing it from a friend in hostel. I had to read it quickly as it was quite in demand in the hostel in those days. I think initially the book was popular amongst engineering college students because it explored the myth of IITs. I've met many starry eyed kids studying or want to study engineering and their awe for the IITs. To them IITs was a heaven where only few chosen ones are given an entry and you got to have something really special inside you to get into them and every one who gets the degree gets an "awesome" life. I think just by the act of speaking about failures in IITs he got a leverage and I think this is a big part of his mass appeal. So was his "One Night ..." which was a terrible bore for me. This I think is a common theme in all his books: speaking about (even if not speaking well) with themes which capture popular imagination but no one has been talking about them. Not-so-rosy lives of mediocre students of an elite college in "Five Point ...". Lives of call center employees where many people don't know what are the kids with bare minimum education doing inside swanky offices with such a lavish lifestyle in his "One time ...". I haven't read his third book but I am told it is about intercaste marriage between two up and coming MBA graduate students which deals with casteism and regionalism in an environment/social setup where they are considered things of the past. Look his novel as high concept narrative and you will see my point.<br /><br />Now I haven't had much time to read or listen to CB outside of his two books but his claims of voice for Bharat vs India etc. are just a spin, an attempt to legitimize his work and align it with a popular paradigm to claim some amount of gravity and that it is not another kitsch.<br /><br />CB's writing doesn't has literary merits but then why measure kitsch made in Hindi cinema by standards of western cinema. It is a different audience, different cultures even different art form. I would say pleasing a radically diverse mass audience who have nothing in common but a vague sense of common nationality is a significant creative work if not an artistic feat. Really imagine Manmohan Desai making 3 people donate blood simultaneously to an injured woman in Amar Akbar Anthony. If you look for great cinematography or writing or acting you are asking the wrong questions. What made MD make such weird scene and why did people enjoyed such a twisted and unbelievable way of showing secularism? These are questions belonging less to art and more to popular cultural studies. <br /><br />I think anything that is so popular should not be merely shrugged off. If not an artistic piece of work with critical element, analyze as pop culture phenomenon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-20562356047257296292011-02-19T12:59:53.026+05:302011-02-19T12:59:53.026+05:30Lalit Modi is an international convict on the run ...Lalit Modi is an international convict on the run and pseudo-exiled from his own country. Lovely comparison....Subbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17440078451421626755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-53077717303901075702010-04-01T12:21:22.920+05:302010-04-01T12:21:22.920+05:30Bhagat sells.Thats it. His books have been roaring...Bhagat sells.Thats it. His books have been roaring successes. I do not understand how a reviewer or anyone else for that matter can claim to know what constitutes "art" or "literature". Lakhs have read his books. <br />Its the kind of argument we constantly hear about. Test cricket vs IPL etc. Bhagat is gonna go down in history for making book reading cool. He is the Lalit Modi of English literature. And thats no bad thing.Gaurav Varmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15146201477712505463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-23334372888420917412010-02-26T16:17:40.978+05:302010-02-26T16:17:40.978+05:30I do not find any redeemable or endearing qualitie...I do not find any redeemable or endearing qualities about Chetan's personality or his books.Sumit A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04612418835036574408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-39042280978516739072009-12-19T09:55:22.564+05:302009-12-19T09:55:22.564+05:30Shammi: coincidentally I was having just this conv...Shammi: coincidentally I was having just this conversation with a friend yesterday: about how Chetan's core readers would find it difficult to process the work of, say, Jhumpa Lahiri (even though her writing style is very simple) because of the ideas expressed in her stories, the types of lives her characters lead and the things they take for granted.<br /><br />And "upgraded version of Women's Era" - excellent analogy.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-28518378025694031512009-12-19T09:43:40.812+05:302009-12-19T09:43:40.812+05:30Aargh - I shouldn't write without caffeine in ...Aargh - I shouldn't write without caffeine in my veins - sorry, meant Brave New World written in simpler English wouldn't simplify its philosophy. Sigh.Shamminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-63975414829636994942009-12-19T09:42:14.063+05:302009-12-19T09:42:14.063+05:30Dang, I wish I could edit my comment - the above n...Dang, I wish I could edit my comment - the above needed a close parenthesis after 5 Point - I meant that Above Average was more complex - well, not hugely so, but relative to 5 PointShamminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-17728667184475824962009-12-19T09:40:39.378+05:302009-12-19T09:40:39.378+05:30Jai, thank you for responding - yes, you've pu...Jai, thank you for responding - yes, you've put it much better - I meant complexity of ideas. CB's books are easy to get, not just easy to read - and I think his appeal lies in precisely that - affirmation not just of a world, but a world-view - with just a teeny dollop of challenge to stretch the boundaries and make it daring (like a heroine having premarital sex). Look at the relatively less successful Above Average by A.Baghchi (which also did well, I believe, but not as well as 5 Point - which had a more complex writing style, but even more complex characters. I am not being supercillious about CB - there is a place for all sorts of writing - but his reminds me of a upgraded version of Women's Era, as opposed to a "easier" version of say,New Yorker. Writing Brave New World in a more difficult English would not make its philosophy any easier to get - nor for that matter, would writing One Night in tough English make it challenging conceptuallyShamminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-41348370133795031742009-12-16T20:50:00.325+05:302009-12-16T20:50:00.325+05:30I think CB is popular because a huge chunk of the ...<i>I think CB is popular because a huge chunk of the population finds it difficult to deal with writing of the "makes my head hurt if I think too much" variety.</i>.<br /><br />Shammi: I'd point out though that there's a very wide spectrum of possibilities between Chetan's writing and the "makes my head hurt if I think too much" variety. (Even accounting for the fact that people at different reading levels will have vast different barometers for "makes my head hurt" writing).<br /><br />Or maybe you're talking more about the complexity of ideas expressed in more literary works, rather than the complexity of writing styles? That's something I touched on in my older post about mass-market fiction; about people who read not because they want windows into different worlds but because they want affirmation of their own worlds.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-36093993372650476822009-12-16T19:49:11.101+05:302009-12-16T19:49:11.101+05:30This is obviously very late in the day to comment ...This is obviously very late in the day to comment - but when I read through the post and the comments - it occurred to me that CB's popularity is not merely because his English is easy to comprehend. I come from a family where my father, uncles learnt English late in life - and grew to enjoy very complex pieces of literature, because they enjoy complexity. I think CB is popular because a huge chunk of the population finds it difficult to deal with writing of the "makes my head hurt if I think too much" variety. That's his secret - he is not just drawing non-English readers into the fold, but non-readers per se.Shamminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-53406453387322840022009-02-06T16:03:00.000+05:302009-02-06T16:03:00.000+05:30"It might surprise you to learn, for instance, tha..."It might surprise you to learn, for instance, that many young writers currently being published by low-investment publishing houses (like Srishti) regularly produce work that makes Chetan's writing seem definitely literary by comparison." <BR/><BR/>I cannot agree more. On a whim and drawn to the male protagonist's name, I bought 'Ofcourse, I Love You' published by Srishti. I tried ardently till page 15 and then gave up. I realized, books and art aren't related anymore. You can just about write anything and someone will be willing to publish. As to CB, critics have a right to express just like CB has a right to 'express and not impress'. Though I agree, reviewing just to 'slam' a book is not what a reader expects from a reviewer. <BR/><BR/><BR/>"Many people don’t understand that my books are read by government-school kids, for whom English is very much a second language ..."<BR/><BR/>The Board-certified 2nd language English books have many abridged classics as a part of the syllabus. So it is not like the 'audience' is not exposed to good writing/expression. <BR/><BR/>But the point is not that. We can write a book and we can be happy at its commercial success, but calling the critics vain wouldn't get us anywhere.DreamCatcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00845992295404383129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-40235573138307938702009-01-31T20:16:00.000+05:302009-01-31T20:16:00.000+05:30BMR: It seems to me you're confusing two very diff...BMR: It seems to me you're confusing two very different things - what I think people should do and what I actually expect them to do. <BR/><BR/>I think people should recycle their trash, but I don't expect they will. I think people should vote based on issues rather than on religious or caste lines, but I don't expect they will. I think people should all work towards gender equality, but I don't expect they will. And yes, I think people should read RKN instead of CB, but I don't expect they will. <BR/><BR/>In all of those cases, I'm willing to accept that what should happen won't. But I'm not willing to pretend that this is a good thing, or stop insisting on what I think should happen, even if I don't think it'll do any good. <BR/><BR/>Let's see now, another 6,856 words to go.Falstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09791162324919462038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-54160520702661739582009-01-31T12:12:00.000+05:302009-01-31T12:12:00.000+05:30Shamya: careful, you're treading on dangerous grou...Shamya: careful, you're treading on dangerous ground. Young Falstaff will absolutely demolish you in a 7000-word comment soon. And that's if he <I>agrees</I> with 90 percent of what you've said.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-63534001579281170322009-01-31T10:54:00.000+05:302009-01-31T10:54:00.000+05:30Falstaff: You seriously think an average Indian yo...Falstaff: You seriously think an average Indian youngster who says "anyways..." and writes it as "newys" in SMSes will actually pick up an Ursula LeGuin or Cornelia Funke? Or Jane Austen? Or RK Narayan for that matter? <BR/><BR/>I'm not even getting into LeGuin or Funke or Austen. They are 'firang'. A Narayan book will usually come with a pencil-drawn illustration on the cover with a name like 'The Vendor of Sweets' or the 'Financial Expert'. Why would anyone pick these up?<BR/><BR/>And remember, we grew up with Narayan. It's ancient stuff now. Vikas Swarup and CB are the in-things now. Like Anurag Mathur a decade ago. A Call Centre relationship or an IIM complication is a very real situation right now.<BR/><BR/>They listen to Britney Spears and not Janis Joplin. Michael Learns to Rock and not Grateful Dead. <BR/><BR/>Why would they read anything but Chetan Bhagat?<BR/><BR/>---<BR/><BR/>Falstaff, you write: "Since these (hypothetical) people have never read any books they're by definition making an ill-informed choice. Surely we should be helping them make better choices - there's plenty of stuff out there that's perfectly accessible while still being profoundly well written."<BR/><BR/>How, exactly? Not through reviews. The reviews are not for them. It's all about what the next guy is doing? A CB book is the same as a popcorn film. Quick two-hour read. A feather in your cap. They are not reading CB because they don't know there's better stuff available. They are reading CB because it needs to be read if you are a 20-something boy or girl. <BR/><BR/>PS: I think we have just done RKN a great disservice by bringing him into a discussion on CB.Black Muddy Riverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15955846722038215253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-73763450846731198412009-01-31T07:56:00.000+05:302009-01-31T07:56:00.000+05:30"Once you’re done with the basics, someone gives y..."Once you’re done with the basics, someone gives you a French novel written in a simple, conversational style and you get through it – this makes you feel like you’ve got somewhere, gained some sort of acceptance into a world that used to be closed to you. Then you pick up the newspapers the next day and see that critics everywhere have written that this book is utter crap, that only an idiot would like it."<BR/>What kind of an argument is this?<BR/><BR/>1.Is the reader stupid enough to not know why he "liked" the book?Is he supposed to like it because he understood it?If I understand this argument correctly CB expects some stupid things from his reader.<BR/><BR/>2.Secondly, if a writing is accessible linguistically,is it supposed to be accessible literarily as well? This is again an assumption which has no basis.There are many poets and writers who use words which are commonly used and which would be fairly easy to comprehend for a learner.But their writing is not that accessible.A linguistically deficient person may like an inaccessible book and vice versa.<BR/>He is just thinking of lame excuses to justify his lameness.:)Rahulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08600228969911790479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-85289812512414204752009-01-30T23:43:00.000+05:302009-01-30T23:43:00.000+05:30If what CB says is right, then Chacha Chaudhary sh...If what CB says is right, then Chacha Chaudhary should be hailed as a cult classic in English-Comic-Literature just becoz it sells BIG time.<BR/><BR/>Let's leave alone CB for what he is - a very good marketer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-25892250777676196642009-01-30T21:16:00.000+05:302009-01-30T21:16:00.000+05:30J'wock: Fair enough. I can only judge by what I co...J'wock: Fair enough. I can only judge by what I consider easy / difficult, which is obviously unrepresentative. And I am aware that there's a lot of stuff out there that's considerably worse than CB - if only from reading extracts on Aishwarya's blog. <BR/><BR/>But if these authors are more demanding, they're also a lot more rewarding. Which is why we need to be encouraging people to make the additional investment required in reading them, even if they start by reading CB. <BR/><BR/>I do recognize that "Most of the readers we're talking about here are people who aren't looking to books (or fiction at least) to help them engage with complex or challenging ideas;". My point is that they should be, and if they're not I suspect it's at least in part because they don't recognize that fiction has the power to do that, and as long as they restrict themselves to reading CB they never will. If there is a special role that reviewers should be playing in a world of non-readers it shouldn't be (as CB seems to suggest) that they sanction mediocrity, it should be that they try to provide people with the education in reading that they've never received.<BR/><BR/>Contrary to how it may seem, this is not meant to be a screed against CB. I do think that CB provides valuable (at the price) entertainment to an often overlooked segment of the market, and I'd be the last person to pretend that writing for the mass-market is easy (I know, I, for instance, couldn't do it). I just dislike the implied superciliousness of the idea that great literature (especially non-Indian literature) is somehow irrelevant to the masses, and that we should be content to let these *lesser* people remain at their level and not even attempt to draw them towards higher, better things. <BR/><BR/>Plus, of course, I'm amused by the implicit suggestion that CB only writes the way he does because he's being responsive to the common people. As though if we lived in a world of more developed readers he would suddenly start turning out deathless prose.Falstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09791162324919462038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1706586000397743842009-01-30T20:50:00.000+05:302009-01-30T20:50:00.000+05:30...though obviously I'm not the best judge of what...<I>...though obviously I'm not the best judge of what other people might find difficult...</I><BR/><BR/>Falstaff: this part of your comment is absolutely true. I've enjoyed the work of all the writers you mention, but I can't believe you're saying that Desai, Chandra and Hasan are as easy to read, and as approachable (for someone who's only just learnt English and is looking for reassuring comfort reading), as Chetan Bhagat's novels are. Big, big difference in my view - the work of these authors is a good deal more demanding than Chetan's. Also bear in mind that it isn't only a question of the ease or difficulty of the writing style (Amit Chaudhuri's prose is beautifully simple). Most of the readers we're talking about here are people who aren't looking to books (or fiction at least) to help them engage with complex or challenging ideas; they're looking for safe reading that they can instantly relate to, with stories involving familiar settings and situations. I think I've written about this in that earlier post about the mass-market.<BR/><BR/>I respect many of the general points you make in your comments, but I do feel that you're greatly disconnected from the average Indian market, and from some of the hierarchies of English-language comprehension in India. (Hell, some of the stuff you read is too difficult for <I>me</I>, and I work on the books beat! Not being sarcastic or inverse-snobbish here.) It might surprise you to learn, for instance, that many young writers currently being published by low-investment publishing houses (like Srishti) regularly produce work that makes Chetan's writing seem definitely literary by comparison. (You might want to confirm this with Aishwarya btw - she enjoys picking those books up from secondhand stalls so she can quote passages on her blog.)Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-24179849028752111282009-01-30T19:49:00.000+05:302009-01-30T19:49:00.000+05:30Ashwin: Let's see. Off the top of my head, I'd say...Ashwin: Let's see. Off the top of my head, I'd say Anita Desai, Vikram Chandra (at least Love and Longing in Bombay), Amit Chaudhuri. Also, to be more contemporary, Anjum Hasan and (if we're including the sub-continent as a whole) Daniyal Mueenuddin. None of them are particularly difficult to read (though obviously I'm not the best judge of what other people might find difficult). Frankly, I'm having trouble thinking of a contemporary Indian fiction writer (the pachyderm in the room - Rushdie - doesn't count) whose work isn't a) about *ordinary* people in everyday India and b) doesn't use more or less standard narrative with reasonably uncomplicated language. It's not like we have an <I>avant garde</I>.<BR/><BR/>The other question, of course, is why these hypothetical people should necessarily be reading work by Indian writers. You want someone who writes about arranged marriage and class anxiety and economic insecurity and romance without sex? Read Jane Austen. You want someone who really understands how it feels to be on the fringes of social class, always trying to move up? Read Chekhov. One of the greatest joys of literature is discovering a connection to a story that runs deeper than surface detail.Falstaffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09791162324919462038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-45342007061792175952009-01-30T18:07:00.000+05:302009-01-30T18:07:00.000+05:30twas nice meeting u there! :)BTW I read in the Jai...twas nice meeting u there! :)<BR/><BR/>BTW I read in the Jaipur times of the next day, that Chetan indeed drew a larger crowd than AB! and that something like this had never ever happened earlier.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-84501882493615091662009-01-30T15:39:00.000+05:302009-01-30T15:39:00.000+05:30Reviewers have the right to comment on the quality...<I>Reviewers have the right to comment on the quality of writing, irrespective of the success of the book! If Chandni Chowk to China were to become a hit, would you be obliged to call it a masterpiece?</I><BR/><BR/>Diviya: um...does something in the post (or in the hundreds of reviews I've written in the past) give you the impression that I disagree with this idea? Actually, I don't think even Chetan disagrees with it, though he does have a problem with criticism that gets personal.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-7814101741078924762009-01-30T15:20:00.000+05:302009-01-30T15:20:00.000+05:30(More on Chetan soon. In full disclosure, he wasn’...(More on Chetan soon. In full disclosure, he wasn’t the festival’s biggest draw on the day of his session: that honour belonged to a certain Mr Bachchan who made an appearance on the front lawns an hour or so after our session got over.)<BR/><BR/>The biggest drawa in a literature festival are Bachchan and Chetan Bhagat - says a lot doesn't it?<BR/><BR/>Reviewers have the right to comment on the quality of writing, irrespective of the success of the book! If Chandni Chowk to China were to become a hit, would you be obliged to call it a masterpiece?Diviyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08838049411959253969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-70534447427846255782009-01-30T14:41:00.000+05:302009-01-30T14:41:00.000+05:30I agree with Falstaff, there are much better autho...I agree with Falstaff, there are much better authors/books to be read for a first time reader than Chetan Bhagat.<BR/><BR/>Its like a new Hindi learner starts off with Vedprakash Sharma instead of Premchand or Aggeya.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-59756219824751517502009-01-30T12:24:00.000+05:302009-01-30T12:24:00.000+05:30"there's plenty of stuff out there that's perfectl..."there's plenty of stuff out there that's perfectly accessible while still being profoundly well written. Why couldn't these people be reading, say, R.K. Narayan rather than CB?"<BR/><BR/>@Falstaff: Who else apart from R.K.Narayan falls into this category in your opinion? I'm curious, and want to know that there are other (Indian) writers who can fall into this category; as much as I agree that Chetan Bhagat's work is mediocre and "exploitative", I cannot help agreeing with most of what he has said in this interview. <BR/><BR/>AshwinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com