The 3 mistakes of my life

Here comes another interesting, witty and melodramatic novel "The 3 mistakes of my life" from Chetan Bhagat, his third offering after "Five point someone" and "One night at the call center". This new book has a similar flow in terms of simple phrases and day-to-day conversations. Contrary to his other two books, this one is slightly serious and touches upon real issues like politics and religion.

The protogonist Govind plans to start his own business (a cricket shop in particular) along with his two best friends Ishant and Omi. Govind has been responsible right from his childhood and has been supporting his mother. Mathematics is his passion and he can only think in terms of numbers. Ishant, a local cricketer is very passionate about the game. His attempt to join the army failed because of which his dad is unhappy about him. Omi, the son of a priest is a very reclusive and aimless person but very much inclined towards his religious beliefs. There are other interesting characters - Ali, a young cricketer who has tremendous skills with special abilities; Vidya, Ishant's younger sister and the love interest of Govind; Bittoo Mama, Omi's maternal uncle who plays a pivotal role in this plot. The story is about the impact of three mistakes that Govind commits in his life on other people's lives. A fast paced, at times witty and at times emotional narration; A typical Chetan Bhagat style, I should say! But at times, the incidents became very serious. Maybe, Chetan tried to give a complete picture and not just the fun aspect of these characters.

The story is centered around Gujarat and the lives of people there. The way he has interwoven real life incidents (Ind v/s Aus Kolkata test match, Gujarat earthquake, Godhra violence, 9/11 etc) with the storyline made me think if it's indeed a real story. There are a couple of glitches I couldn't stand - too much use of the F word by everyone, including Bittoo Mama who is supposedly an elder person involved in active politics, lots of management jargon in the first half when Govind and his friends have just started their cricket shop. These doesn't gel with the dialogues and seem to just hang around.

"3 mistakes" is a light fiction which can easily be read through in 3-4 hours. Don't expect it to be a FPS or ONACC. The style might be similar but the storyline very different :-)