A Beautiful Mind

Five-Point Someone

Does a good student with high grades make a good person? Not necessarily, as Head of Mechanical Engineering Department Prof Cherian says in Chetan Bhagat's debut novel "Five Point Someone - What Not To Do at IIT".Bhagat's novel is not about the premier institution, but is about an educational system as a whole, and the insane pursuit of society after money, status and power. The IIT in this novel remains in the background - albeit poignantly - as a symbol of the Indian educational system and the general mind-set towards good education, better job and a "good living." However, here lies the problem too. The tag line, "What Not To Do at IIT" tends one to make a prejudiced approach to the novel assuming that this is the about the life and times in an IIT, in this case the one in Delhi.Definitely not. The novel is more about a reflection of bonding among three friends, which transcends the Procrustean rigidity of the educational system.
It also throws up the question asked in the beginning of this article and attempts to answer it from different perspectives. It also touches upon the upbringing of a child and its repercussions on the individual.Bhagat takes his reader to lofty heights of friendship, humanity and loyalty. He brilliantly contrasts it with the materialistic world's blatant chase of money, power and status.

Excogitated by a_beautifulmind @ 7:05 PM