At last I read it; around two decades too late! I had heard about the book in college days and got multiple recommendations from trusted friends - still it was one of those things - you keep it off for later and then realise that it is too late. Ultimately it took the presence of the author, Upamanyu Chatterjee, in my favourite bookstore in a Lit Fest to prod me into purchasing and subsequently reading the book. I got it autographed by him too - again perhaps couple of decades too late to get full leverage out of the copy.
The book is about the initial years of an young IAS officer - Agastya Sen( aka August) and his experience in an obscure(and probably imaginary) place called Madna. Born and brought up in upper middle class surroundings, August’s struggle to coup up with a life that repulsed him continually is the main subject of the book. However, the author tells his story with abundant charm.
The protagonist’s irreverence to almost everything sacred from Mahatma Gandhi to Friend’s Mom is narrated with great punch and humour. His unapologetic acceptance and often indulgence in subjects ranging from sex, addiction to marijuana, dirty talks(carried me back to my school and college days), corruption and inefficiency in bureaucracy made Agastya Sen one of the coolest hero to have graced the Indian literary landscape.
Philosophically speaking he suffered from what is known as’existential crisis’ - a life sans purpose . And all he wanted was to be happy. But a purposeless but happy life does not combine well and thus Agastya’s search was doomed from the very beginning. We try to do better - manufacture a purpose and pretend that it is worth the effort - money, career, family - and then we enjoy our small moments of happiness.
Sometimes, the protagonist’s lack of moral sense disturbed me a bit but then this is exactly what has made the book a’cult classic’ - our answer to’Catcher of the Rye’. However, by the end, even he mellowed down a little which, all thing considered, is not too bad a thing for him or those connected with him.
To sum up - the book is a cracker of a read and young men and women in colleges or in early days of their employment will immediately identify with the characters. The language is sublime and full of wit and humour - often the reader is left to marvel at author’s capacity of finding similarity between unconnected events or things. Some of the one liners are worth underlining and there are quite a few of them.
A great masala fare - not to be missed!