2 states

Chetan Bhagat's book are the ones I can say I have read them all :) I know he wrote like 4 books. 3 books I ve read it long back. I heard about this book Two States in 2009 ever since I heard of it, I wanted to buy . However I never got a chance. This week on Sunday I was leaving to my hometown for a quick trip. I was an hour early and had too much time at hand before train arrives. So I went into to HigginBottoms to pick some book. My eye fell on this one. I didn't even try looking for another book just bought the book and walked to the waiting area.

Usually before reading any book. First I checkout the cover of the book. No No don't think I'm judging a book by it covers. I don't believe in that. I Just want to understand a bit of the story before I get into it...

Its says Love marriages in the world are simple.

Boy Loves Girl. Girl Loves Boy, They get married.

In India , there are few more steps:

Boy Loves Girl. Girl Loves Boy. Girl's family have to love the Boy , Boy's family have to love the Girl.

Girls family has to love Boy's family . Boy's family has to love Girl's family.

Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married :P

Its a story about a Punjabi guy Krish who loves a Tamil Bramhin Ananya and how they get married after convincing their parents... Thats a story of most of the couples now a days... So whats so new... But when I started to reading it I felt an instant connection from the first sentence of the first chapter. It reminded me so much of the hostel days. Those walks upto the STD both. Waiting till 10 for reduced STD rates and all.. However my hostel was not that liberal as this one which allows a guy and girl to study and sleep in the same room..

And my connection got stronger because the two cities in mention Delhi and Chennai are really close to my heart. My cousins stay at Delhi and Chennai is my second home .. I can almost visualize all those places he mentioned in the book especially places from Chennai like Nugambakkam , Loyola College , Anna Salai, Mylapore, Rain Tree, Amethyst etc... Because every place had some or the way connected to my stay of 8 years in this City. When the author mentions about Ratna Stores.. Wow I don't think there is any other better way to explain the look of Ratna Stores.

Two states makes a good reading. I completed the book in 6 hours of my travel.. Even though book makes an interesting read. Still I truly feel bad for the continuous sarcasm about Tamilians . Even though I'm not one, still my loyalties are high towards Tamilians than Punjabi's.

There are particular moments where I surely felt connected especially when you are new to Chennai and you don't know the language. The Auto drivers tend to cheat you.. And when you are staying in a Veg only house, and the landlord pays a surprise visit and busts Krish for eating Non veg. That was a similar situation which we faced. Our first place where we stayed is a Veg only obviously Non-Veg is not allowed. And we got busted by our landlord cooking prawns... I can completely understand and empathize with the situation.

All in all I loved the book. Certainly Chetan Bhagat has a good sense of humor. There so many occasions when I broke into laughter while I was reading the book and most funny one is when Krish gets married in southern Brahmin's style .There is one particular ritual where the groom should go for Kashi Yatra. Krish decides to do an extra good job gets into an auto and ask him take him to Kashi Varanasi in UP.

Recommend to read especially people who are associated with both places ....