Five Point Someone By Chetan Bhagat – Book Review

One of my colleagues, Ramachandran, conducted a survey in our company’s internal blogs a few months back. He wanted the bloggers to pick the top 5 fiction books of their choice. Quite a few people had picked this book and I thought I should check it out. This week, I finally got round to reading the book.

 

The story is about the college days of three students from IIT Delhi. Indian Institute of Technology or IIT is one of the premier institutes for Engineering and science in India, equivalent of MIT or Princeton. Only the best and the brilliant get in. A few 100s are chosen each year out of thousands of applicants. It is not only hard to get in but even harder to cope with the curriculum. Every IITian inspires awe and admiration from the student community. There are a few words you never associate with an IITian like losers, under performers, failures etc. This story is about just this kind of IITans who are at the bottom of their class and in the bad books of all their professors.

 

Let me introduce you to the protagonists of the story – The handsome, rich and brilliant, Ryan who is disillusioned with IIT system of education. He feels it offers no scope for innovation and judges people just on the basis of their ability of mug and conform. The fat and not-so-bright, Hari who is the narrator of the story. All he wants to do is be like Ryan and can never say “no” to him. The poor Alok who has a crippled father and a unmarried sister to support. He wanted to be an artist but decides to join the IIT because that is the only way he can get a good job and support his family.

 

Are you wondering about the title of the book? IIT uses a unique method of scoring students called Grade Point Average or GPA. The score one gets is based on the performance of the entire class (it is not an absolute score). The top performer would get somewhere in high 9 point something and the bottom performers would be in 5 point something. Such people are disdainfully referred to as 5pointers and thus the title of the book, Five Point Someone.

 

The story describes the ups and downs of their college life. Their low scores, the way they are perceived by students and professors on the account of their scores, their drinking habit, their strategy to beat the system and finally being caught stealing from their HODs cabin. What I liked about the book is that it does not try to justify or give excuses for all the wrong doings of the protagonist. They are far less than perfect people, yet you come to like them and there in I think, lies the greatness of the author. It is a very different kind of “coming of age” book; may not be in the same league as classics in this genre but definitely worth reading.

 

The convocation speech at the end effectively summarizes the message of this book – “This is my message to all the students as you find your future. One, believe in yourself, and don’t let a GPA or a performance review or promotion define you. There is more to life than these things – Your family, your friends, your internal desires and goals. And the grades you get in dealing with each of these areas will define you as a person.”

 

“Two, don’t judge people too quickly. It is great to get into IIT, but it is not the end of the world if you don’t. All of you should be proud of your IIT tag, but never ever judge anyone who is not from this institute-that alone can define the greatness of this institute”

 

“And lastly, don’t take yourself too seriously. Life is too short, enjoy yourself to the fullest. One of the best part of campus life is the friends you make. And make sure you make them for life. Yes, I have heard the stories. Sometimes I wish I had had a friend even if it meant lesser GPA”

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Wise and otherWise by Sudha Murthy
• Freakonomics By S.D.Levitt and S.J.Dubner
• Many Lives Many Masters by Dr.Brian Weiss
• Book About Gay Penguins Is Most Banned of the Year