five point someone
What not to do at I I T !
This book by CHETAN BHAGAT is certainly not about how to get into I.I.T. or for that matter about how to stay in it. It’s actually about ‘what not to do in I.I.T. ‘. This book is good to read in one’s spare time and is basically fun though it becomes boring at times.
It’s about three students, Alok, Ryan and Hari, who have just joined I.I.T. and have already become close friends. It’s about their life in the institute. They were very laidback and wanted to enjoy the best years of their life. As a result they got a five point something GPA, which by I.I.T. standards was simply pathetic.
Ryan, the lazy genius, was the undisputed leader of the gang and also the cause for Hari and Alok’s downfall. It seemed his word was law for his friends.
Alok was the over-burdened son of a poor family that was depending on him to solve all its problems by getting a good job. Hari, on the other hand was the average Joe. Most of the time Alok was sceptical about Ryan’s decisions but eventually went along with them as it was a losing battle trying to argue with the other two.
After they got their first semester GPAs, Alok decided to walk away from the gang and ended up with Venkat, the mean, lean, mark-scoring machine. But Alok was certainly not happy being with Venkat and soon came back. They dealt with the fact that they were five pointers by a form of denial and defiance. Meanwhile, Hari was carrying on an increasingly serious love affair with Neha. She was another confused kid, who happened to be the daughter of Cherian, the tyrannical professor of Industrial Engineering. Soon the fourth year came. Hari desperately wanted to do well in Industrial Engineering in order to impress Professor Cherian. His miserable failures in this quest are hilariously described. Finally Ryan came up with the hare-brained idea of stealing the exam papers from Cherian’s office. They, however messed up this task much worse than their classes. They got caught red handed and their fate was in the Disco’s (disciplinary committee) hands. Prof. Veera, the only professor in the institute who Ryan, Hari and Alok admired, tried to help them. He was part of the committee but the Disco doesn’t care or spare that easily. The only thing they do is…..SCARE. The three musketeers were suspended for an entire semester in their last year. Unable to take the pressure, Alok tried to kill himself by jumping off the institute roof. He barely survived this blow.
Prof. Veera then advised them to work on Ryan’s lube project, in the hope that they might get a clean grade sheet and perhaps jobs. They were successful in this and finally Cherian approved their project and all of them ended up with decent jobs. Ryan started working with professor Veera, Alok got a job in Delhi and was soon sent to the U.S. The salary he was receiving got rid of all his family problems. Hari too got a satisfactory job in Bombay.
This isn’t just a book about three bumbling IITians. It’s about how sometimes the system and the teachers get a bit harsh on the students and don’t realise it. It’s also about knowing what’s important in life and to maintain a balance between having fun and being serious. WORK hard, party hard, this should be the motto of every student !! What makes this story so special is that every student can relate to the maddening pressure, the scary profs not to mention the back-breaking homework pictured in this book.
Whether it’s Hari showing up drunk for his viva or Ryan’s crazy schemes or even Alok’s depression — this book can’t be ignored.
