Ravi Subramanian, an alumnus of IIM-Bangalore, following the footsteps of Chetan Bhagat, another alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, managed to gift us a Best seller: “If God was a banker”. Yes, both these authors represent the elite class: they are supposedly among the finest students of India, hence besides having successful career both decided to launch an eventful innings-as author…
But can anyone and everyone write? Courtesy to our mass janta, the newly landed authors managed with flying colors. Truly speaking, after reading “If God was a Banker” , the most important thing I would like to say is, the book is targeted at the mass but does not have real class. A typical tickling story of banking industry or for that matter can be of any industry
with lots of nuances of sexual intimacy and all the masala that would sell more…..but is this expected from the IIM pass out… should he only to understand business well and strategize on making maximum money for himself from this book or should he, being the God’s privileged one do something good to the mankind also..at least write a meaningful book for that matter…..yeah of course there is no way I can say it is bad book when millions have liked it , but it is more like all those Box Office hits, which are mere commercial success but out of the genre of meaningful cinema. I know targeting the class may not give huge royalties but gives an essential sense of fulfillment and it would have been better if Ravi would have looked for it.
Coming to the story: It unravels two characters-Sundeep and Swaminathan, both IIM alumni and successful executives at New York International Bank. The former one is smart, talented, manipulative and outgoing whereas the latter one is principled, Intelligent, shy and introvert. Both see tremendous success through their efforts but Sundeep lands into it through innumerable infidel attachments as well. Immorality is his mantra and he can do anything to please himself and his means. Finally the book ends in a moralistic undertone showing the fall of an evil. Yes the story is believable, but characterization is a bit biased. Not much justice is always done to the other characters, who help Sundeep evolve. The pivot of attraction in the book is neither its language, nor its style or plot but contrary to the general norm of language and literature, here it is the essential erotic elements added on to the story to make it “engaging”. May be they were needed as per the plot but could have been put in a better way, through some good choice of words.
In comparison, Chetan Bhagat was better… sweet read. “Five Point Someone” was really engaging, whereas”One Night at the Call Centre” was imaginative. The tickling sensations used in Chetan’s books namely : ”One Night at the Call Centre” or “Three Mistakes of my life” were somehow vivid but nicely enveloped in word jugglery and not as blatant and nauseating as in “If God was a banker”. In no way can we say Ravi has presented an unrealistic world but the way it was painted did not appeal much to my senses. If we still hold onto it, it is because his writing get us to satiate our carnal desires. Moreover, portrayal of Kalpana as the wife Swaminathan is bland as it is quite unbelievable that an IIM pass out would move on with her husband and not set up her individual career. I agree that Ravi’s intention is to show how grit and honesty wins but the way he has spoken about it might give different picture altogether. Somehow, I must say if this book is a best seller, it is so because of the petty description of Sundeep’s infidelity. In comparison to Bhagat, Ravi deals with a matured topic but with an immature choice of words. Overall my suggestion would be you can read the book as it is a best seller, but not a good choice of a read it is.