2 States: The Story Of My Marriage

a typical boy meets girl story. Girl is south Indian, boy a north Indian, decide to marry when all parents are happy :-) If you had an intercast or more so inter state wedding, or you are a Tamilian or a north Indian, Punjabi to be precise, you will like this book.
It's all predictable but it is fun

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to read if you fall in any of the above category :-) You can relate to it and have fun.

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For its genre (ladlit), it was a readable book, and helped me pass the three hour flight from Delhi to Chennai Annanagar in double quick time. I had a further interest in it, being myself a southerner married to a North Indian sardarji. So the reactions of the families of the couple in love invoked

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a sense of deja vu. Though the comment he makes about South Indians making wonderful seconds-in-command but lacking the calibre to be leaders did hurt.

The characterisation of the Tamilians in the book was very fitting. So also the sketches of Punjabis: I guess one can't blame him for drawing the their pictures more sympathetically, or highlighting their positive traits, as against the blandness and boringness of southerners, since he is from the community.

I also totally understood his irrational linking up of getting a job with Citibank with committing to marry his girl friend. I do that often__ the linking up of two disparate and unconnected issues in a cause-and-effect relationship, and superstitious and stupid though it may sound, it happens just as one apprehends or anticipates.

The actions of his father were least convincing. After portraying him as a monster, his better side is revealed at the end of the book, so that all ends well. This is the weakest part of the book.

If you don't expect any high flown language or philosophy, go ahead and read it

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I LOVED this book. As I've loved all of Chetan Bhagat's books. :)

This has some brilliant insights on Indian middle class...absolute must for people who want to understand Indian Middle class. I loved it and couldnt put it down once i picked it up at Goa airport when I figured that my flight was delayed...I kept reading it till boarded my flight to Bangalore. I

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walked into my home reading the last page of this book...

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i loved chetans book this is the first time i read and i fell in love with the way he described the characters, the gripping story line ....and the story itself narrated in simple understanding english .....:)

Chetan Bhagat is out with his latest best seller - 2 States. A story about a Punjabi boy and Tamil girl bridging the gap between North and South India and overcoming all the cultural differences that prejudice their families before uniting as one. It's a short novel, crisp and very Indian.

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Reminiscent of what lots of young people in India go through today. It is note-worthy that it is the younger generation that helps the older generation get over past prejudices and traditions that harm the society or individual. Said to be something of an autobiography, the plot moves smoothly enough, taking the readers from Ahmedabad to Delhi to Chennai to Delhi and back and forth these two cities poles apart in India. The language is full of Indianisms, and there is plenty of situational based humour - one is familiar with the sort of drama the young couple constantly find themselves in. While the book is a pleasant read it isn't particularly anything to write home about. It's just the sort of book one might want to take on a bus journey for some light reading.

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Love is a temporary madness. However in case of Mr. Bhagat it leads to severe psychosis with sprinkles of idiocy. The man thinks he is a NOVELIST. HELP!!!! Where’s my fucking Prozac!!!

For a marriage to happen what are the requirements,if your answer is "boy and girl should be in love" then you should read this book to know that you are wrong (at least in India!).

"2 States" was pretty good. I've enjoyed all of Chetan Bhagat's books so far, and was pleasantly surprised to find this was a sequel to his first one "Five Point Someone" that had the characters I liked the most.

Told from the perspective of Krish starting when he joins Indian Institute of

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Management and meets Ananya in line at the cafeteria where she doesn't like the food. After a little rocky start, they fall in love, move in together in the college and graduate, with most of their school time not told in the story.

At graduation the trouble begins… They're in love, but they're from different states in India with different cultures, and their families instantly hate each other when they try to get them to meet during the graduation activities. Both families are rude to each other, with Krish's mother far outdoing Ananya's parents in her hatred of south Indians.

While it's not looking good, Krish takes a job in Chennai so he can be close to Ananya and work on getting her parents to accept him. It doesn't start smooth, with him an alien in Chennai and Ananya's parents flat out telling them they cannot marry. But since he's working there, he has time.

Once he's accepted by them, then it's time to work on his mother during a weeklong business trip Ananya has to Delhi.

By the end of that fiasco, I was so sure the marriage wasn't going to happen, except that the subtitle of the book is "the story of my marriage" which gave some hope. I cared about the two of them and wanted a happy ending.

Overall it was a good book. Lots and lots of tension, lots of hopeless situations. Krish and Ananya have to really work to get what they want, Chetan Bhagat doesn't simply give it to them without a struggle.

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