Two States- Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat

I am no marketing manager for Rupa & co or do i have special stake in this book selling well.

What i am i going to write in this blog , the subject line could make you think its about the book and maybe you are already thinking i am going to do a review.

Well no , what i would like to focus is the subject of the book. These are my own opinions on the subject of the book.

I read this book in one shot , considering this is a very small book so the completion of the book in one go is not a great achievement by any standards but the book for sure enough was riveting.

The story is about two lovers from different community in India and the hardships that they undergo to get through to their marriage .

What are the hardships portrayed by the author , is it all fictitious ? No, the author has done justice to the subject and i guess it was also his personal story.

When i read the book , emotions ran so high in me , don't ask why but it was so vividly explained that i had no way not to accept what has been written.

The moment i was in the middle of the book, all that flashed in my mind was the dialogue from Chak De India movie,where the new coach Kabir Khan (sharuk) gets to know his new team and asks every one to introduce themselves , everyone states their name and the state but only Vidya Malvade says that she is Vidya and playing for India. Hearing this the coach Kabir is impressed and thundered to every other player that this should be their attitude as well.

Why did this dialogue flash my mind because even now in 21st century,when we want India to shine and do accept that we have the right resources and are resourceful alas only in thoughts but not in action.

Even now , when we want to marry , our parents have a say and one cannot marry a loved one from other caste or creed . What an irony!

No cross pollination , we want India to win world cups , we want India to lead the financial recovery,we need India to do every thing that we individuals dream of but we will frown at a Tamil brahmin marrying a Punjabi or even a Gujarathi marrying a Bengali.

What is wrong in some one marrying another person of their liking , where does caste , language etc come into play.So long as they are able to manage their lives and be a good son, father,daughter,mother,daughter in law , son in law what else should they do and why should they not marry. I am still not able to get my head around this.

The only reason i can come up with is that "What will the society tell?" Well,the society isn't going to do anything if the daughters and son marry some one other than whom they like. It's like doing something when one doesn't like it .

Tamil Superstar in one of the cinema says that "If you don't get what you want be happy with what you get" agreed but in this case , i don't see a reason why a boy and girl who like each other do not deserve to live together happily. Is it their sin to be born a Gujarathi or a Marwari or Bengali etc.

If india is to shine , this attitude has to change. It is changing i do not deny that but more should come .

This emotional black mailing,the nuclear weapon called crying by mom's and dad's just to stop the marriages just because either the son or the daughter is marrying some one outside their community should be a thing of the past.

Let's put India first.