5 things I liked about 5 Point Someone

Chetan's first book was lately read by me in 2008, with the book being released way back in 2004. But the charm of the book is still not lost, even after 4 years of its first publication and it is still topping the best sellers list in India. So, I am not presenting the review of the book here, but things I liked about the book while reading, mostly drawing similarities between IITians and non-IITians. For the non-starters, Five Point Someone is a fictional work by Chetan Bhagat about 3 friends - Hari, Alok and Ryan in an IIT.

Our Language: Chetan speaks our language, language of youth which enables him to reach the majority of young indians through his writings. Though novel is set up in an IIT background, the scenarios depicted by him is pretty much similar to other engineering colleges in India, with most of the engineering under-graduates speaking the same lingo, as he has presented with over emphasis on some special 'key' words! Dreaded Viva: I think atleast some of us, engineering students, used to shiver and most of us used to develop a healthy fear during those lab exam days. That is one of the reasons for Hari, one of the 3 characters to feel uncomfortable during the grilling viva-voce and he goes to the extent of attending viva after having vodka to overcome the fear, only possible in novels! This fear among students is not without reason as in the case of other engineeing colleges, professors from rival colleges who come for lab viva try to settle scores by means of this dreaded tool and make life miserable for the students like Hari. But the question always remains as who started the trend first: the professors from this college who had gone to other colleges or is it other way! Atleast IIT guys should be lucky in this regard as these institutions are autonomous and vivas are conducted by in-house faculty only! Is it right to assume so?

Placement Scenario: Placement scenario is almost the same in decent engineering colleges as in IITs nowadays, with software companies knocking the door of every possible engineering college to hire talent, leave alone the higher pay packages IITians get. Here, the cutoff aggregate percentages are 60-70% as they vary from company to company. This aspect do worry students at the beginning of 6th semester. Aggregate percentage below this is as good as five pointer in IIT but unlike in IITs there is no relative grading of students! Also, as in the case of novel's characters, Alok and Hari, companies arriving for recruitement last, relax the eligibility criteria little bit.

Lots of Ryans! Characters like Ryan can be found in almost every second guy you meet in any engineering college bashing their own college and then the University for the same reasons as Ryan's like mugging up the portions, no original thinking etc etc. The 'novel' idea of Cooperate to Dominate extended here as well, as assignments if at all given carried little or no weightage and so, mass copying was common and semester projects, that was another story in itself! Well, Chetan indicates how it is important to make a balance between the usual routine stuff in the colleges and the original thinking.

Other than IITs: At the end of the novel, Chetan does not forget to mention that it is not only the IITs which produces quality engineers in India. This has been depicted as a speech made by Prof.Cherian, Head of the Department, Mechanical Engineering in Hari's dreams, which might indicate how this viewpoint is not yet fully accepted. Also, he stresses on the point that it is not the end of the world, if you dont get into IITs.

Regards
Raveesh