Here I ended up with yet another fiction book in my bibliography. At first sight this book resembled a publication of penguin books which I later discovered that it wasn't. So involuntarily I picked up this book since it resembled a previous read magnificent, unbiased book about Nehru's life, which was of course published under penguin books. When i took it in hands and read the end cover page, I felt like putting the book back into shelf as fictional novels written by novice writers contain amplified and explicit description of sex, which in my opinion, is unacceptable in literature. But very soon i realised that it has been a long break since i have read the last book so i decided upon reading casual writings, instead of jumping straight to my usual craving for philosophy and history. And luckily this book did not disappoint me at all.
I brought back the book and devoured it within two evenings. Now it was time for my perfunctory act of writing a summary( which i simultaneously planned to upload on my blog, owing to the 'meaningfulness' of the novel). But i felt that if i devastate the suspense of this book for the readers of my blog( i know there are not many, but still there are) it will be a total injustified act to the joy hidden in reading this book. So I zeroed down to writing a review instead.
The Story begins in a Restaurant in Manhattan where Samrat Ratan, an investment banker, is having a brunch with a blonde. The contrast is magnificent! A successful NRI investment banker sitting in a Japanese restaurant with a passionate-about-bankers American blonde in Manhattan. This is when the blonde asks him about his return to the country where he belongs to. The most interesting thing about the novel is that the opening sentence is the spark of this entire novel which jolts the protagonist and forces him to think about the meaningfulness of his life, his existence, his belongingness to the place where he lives and to the place where his ancestral roots are from.
So he sets on a journey in India to nowhere just to seek the answers to his questions. He takes admission into the IIM Bangalore where he is initially perceived as Guy-gone-crazy who left his half million dollar yearly salary of a bank where everyone wants to be and came to IIMs oblivious of the hideous education system it pillars on.
Samrat's Pursuit for truth begins with getting stoned on marijuana as soon as he enters India and revolves around him and two of his friends, Sarkar and Vinod, with extremely different opinions about the 'homeland'. All through the odyssey there is GPA,Truthseeking, Philosophical crap, and Marijuana. One of the most captivating part in the novel that holds you within is the suspense of Shine Sarkar's identity. Apart from all these it denudes the atrophying Indian Educational system while simultaneously silencing the questions raised on it's usefulness.
I would like to write an excerpt from the book, which is of course my personal favourite part in the book, in which a summer intern bickers about the discrimination and jaundiced opinions in Indian society. He does so in reply to a question asked by a French MD, Anne asking what "desi" means...
The pursuit finally ends after lots of drags of marijuana, fucked up GPA at the IIM, lots of weird hanging out with buddies, an experience of great Indian prison cell, an uppy downy session with a hippie and an ordeal with a cannibal Sadhu. In a nutshell the book keeps you enchanted till you finish it
I brought back the book and devoured it within two evenings. Now it was time for my perfunctory act of writing a summary( which i simultaneously planned to upload on my blog, owing to the 'meaningfulness' of the novel). But i felt that if i devastate the suspense of this book for the readers of my blog( i know there are not many, but still there are) it will be a total injustified act to the joy hidden in reading this book. So I zeroed down to writing a review instead.
The Story begins in a Restaurant in Manhattan where Samrat Ratan, an investment banker, is having a brunch with a blonde. The contrast is magnificent! A successful NRI investment banker sitting in a Japanese restaurant with a passionate-about-bankers American blonde in Manhattan. This is when the blonde asks him about his return to the country where he belongs to. The most interesting thing about the novel is that the opening sentence is the spark of this entire novel which jolts the protagonist and forces him to think about the meaningfulness of his life, his existence, his belongingness to the place where he lives and to the place where his ancestral roots are from.
So he sets on a journey in India to nowhere just to seek the answers to his questions. He takes admission into the IIM Bangalore where he is initially perceived as Guy-gone-crazy who left his half million dollar yearly salary of a bank where everyone wants to be and came to IIMs oblivious of the hideous education system it pillars on.
Samrat's Pursuit for truth begins with getting stoned on marijuana as soon as he enters India and revolves around him and two of his friends, Sarkar and Vinod, with extremely different opinions about the 'homeland'. All through the odyssey there is GPA,Truthseeking, Philosophical crap, and Marijuana. One of the most captivating part in the novel that holds you within is the suspense of Shine Sarkar's identity. Apart from all these it denudes the atrophying Indian Educational system while simultaneously silencing the questions raised on it's usefulness.
I would like to write an excerpt from the book, which is of course my personal favourite part in the book, in which a summer intern bickers about the discrimination and jaundiced opinions in Indian society. He does so in reply to a question asked by a French MD, Anne asking what "desi" means...
'Indians use desi to describe themselves, sometimes affectionately, but mostly derogatorily. You know why we use it derogatorily? It is because Indians are the biggest racists.We hate each other - North Indians hate South Indians, Bengalis hate Punjabis, Resident Indians hate Non Resident Indians, Upper Caste hate Lower Castes, Marwaris hate Parsis, Hindus hate Muslims, everyone hates everyone, but we all cohabit and together blame the West for Racism'
The pursuit finally ends after lots of drags of marijuana, fucked up GPA at the IIM, lots of weird hanging out with buddies, an experience of great Indian prison cell, an uppy downy session with a hippie and an ordeal with a cannibal Sadhu. In a nutshell the book keeps you enchanted till you finish it
