Sunday 12 October 2014

Half Girlfriend : To be or not to be.



Aww! Isn't he cute?

It is often said that you should never judge a book by it's cover and in this case never judge a book by its title. 'Half Girlfriend' sounded intriguing enough for me to make me pick up the book and read what's inside. It related to the present scenario in my life where I am in a transition phase of being a 'Half wife' and  a 'Half daughter' and a 'Half Daughter in law' and may be half of everything that I used to be. So I decided to follow the guidance  that Chetan Bhagat might provide to this halved life of mine.I started reading the book. It was absolutely engrossing to the point of no return. Here I might mention, that many of my well read, well informed, well acclaimed blogger friends will probably smirk at my choice of  author, but I like CB and that's it.
Concept of Half:
The concept might have started with a half but the hero of the story did go through a tumultuous span of 5 and 1/2 yrs to make the 'half' a full, so he didn't really have any life saving formula for the 'halves' except to make them full. Although it would have been mighty intriguing if Riya Somani could have not been fully committed at the end of the story in the  fairy tale completion of a love theme.
 I mean who wouldn't love a world without any pressing 'have to do it, in spite of myself' situation in personal relationships? But well, as they say 'Love conquers all' and in this case, even a college sweetheart- who actually loved the Hero- but went ahead and married her childhood friend- to please the family- and thus dropped out of St.Stephen's, Delhi ,English honors/sports quota- to be abused and get  divorced within a year- and get a job which could support a rental bungalow for  Rs.20000/per month- only meant to be rented out to the foreigners -and still lead a lavish lifestyle as much as to hire cars and travel to remote parts of Bihar on a sales marketing job by air conditioned cars , and stay in 5 star accommodations while on official tours and well rest is a long story, but is won over, bowled over completely at the end.

The Story:
I liked what he wrote cause I am a die hard romantic who is an addicted viewer of Romedy Now. I have completely grown up on Mills& Boon and Harlequin and Danielle Steels and often cry while reading syrupy love stories. I cry when they meet, I cry when they separate after an accident/misunderstanding/ family pressure and Oh boy! do I cry when they reunite! 
So I liked what CB wrote and the icing on the cake was when Madhav Jha finds Riya Somani the day before he was about to leave New York. The epilogue was absolutely a heart-winner  when the disgruntled Rani Sahiba is completely engrossed in raising and tackling her grandson , leaving everything she had passionately done for years i.e run a school in a backward maltreated village in Bihar, to her 'beta and bahu' . Perfect!

The Style Bhai...
The flow of the novel was fluid to say the least. From the first page to the last page it is an action packed emotional story which takes us from Patna to Delhi to Dumraon to Delhi to UK to USA to Delhi to Dumraon. The story has everything from college fascination to marital discord with an angle of child abuse thrown in and thoughts spared to social up-gradation tagged to a meeting with Bill Gates  and finally a prince who wins the heart of his princess and they both run a school with a huge grant money from Bill Gates Foundation to live happily ever after (with a 3 months visit in a year to USA, as their perk). Aren't they lucky? I actually forgot to mention both their 'drop dead good looks' (Dipika Padukone and Siddharth Malhotra starer for sure)

I loved the story and would request all my practical friends not to read it if they do not believe in fantasies and Romedy Now and Bollywood. The book is a complete script of a 3 and 1/2 hours blockbuster release of Bollywood production sure to be released in 2015. A sure fire box office cyclone. It has every masala ,so be ready with your handkerchiefs and  'Fanta, popcorn cold drinksh' for a superbly entertaining show. 

Well done CB,you have won my heart. Never shall I question the power of your imagination. It is good, getting better and very soon you will be the best. I do miss my Mills and Boon days, you just gave me back a bit of my teenage.

Disclaimer: People who are addicted to literature and meaningful books which they expect will remain with them for ever and give their life a better meaning and all that blah blah blah, should never consider reading even the first and the last page of this great saga.Humph!
















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