DID NOT MEET THE EXPECTATION

Chetan Bhagat came out with the new novel named “One Indian Girl.” The story has been written with the perspective of female. In other words, it is written with the perspective of feminism. It is the story of Radhika Mehta who fast moves from an associate to a Vice President at Goldman and Sachs, drawing a bonus of millions of dollars.

The story starts with an argument in the hotel. Radhika was supposed to get married in Goa  with Brijesh and few hours were left. There were shortage of the rooms and had an arguments but finally family adjust in the hotel.

Before marriage, she gets the call from her two ex: Debanish and Neel to elope with them. After the conversation, there goes with the flashback. Debu and Radhika met in New York through common friend at the Whisky Blue. At the first meeting, it was Debu to ask for the date. Slowly and slowly, they started to like each other. But they apart because Debu wanted a girl to be a housewife and to look after the kids which she didn’t like. The reason was she used to earn more than him and used to get more bonuses. After their break up, she used to call him and used to send messages but he used to ignore.  

Later, she goes to Hong Kong and starts working there. There, she falls with her boss, Neel who happens to be double of her and is married with two kids. They both had a physical relationship. Radhika feels guilty for having a physical relationship with Neel. More than that, after meeting with his wife Kusum, she feels guiltier and tells Neel about it. He takes it normal but their relationship does not last for long. Neel thought that she was not the mother type which makes her angrier and leaves Hong Kong.

On the other hand, her parents get worried about her marriage and tell her to get married wherever they get opportunity. When they knew that she earns much, they were worried about the marriage because of the money she earned. They think that who will get married with her because of her income.  She request Radhika to visit Shadi.com and meets Brijeesh through the website.  With whom she shall marry?

The writer tried to write from the perspective of the female but somehow he fails. Feminism in the simple word, it is defined as the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.  The character Radhika talks about feminism but that doesn’t meet.  After her break up with two guys, she cries and leaves the place. Is it feminism? After break up with Debu, she could have point argument and could have convinced him that girls can earn much more than guys. But leaving the place and crying for the left one weren’t the solution. She could have fought for it. More than that, although, she knew that Neel was married and cannot be hers, why was she feeling guilty?

In keeping the arguments at the base-level, the book misses out on the nuances of the debate. For instance, while you’ll always support Radhika, the ‘hot’, uber-successful, independent girl who just wants to live her life, it may not change your mind about someone who isn’t like Radhika's character at all — someone who is broke (and can't afford a 1 crore wedding at age 24), not conventionally ‘attractive’ and indulges in far more ‘immoral’ activities than just experimenting occasionally with marijuana. Another problem is that instead of writing from perspective of women, the story is about the problems women face.

Chetan Bhagat could have done much better than this. Before this book, he has written beautiful books like Revolution 20-20, 2 States, Five Point Someone, The 3 mistakes of my life. These books were better than One Indian Girl. It’s just like watching a normal Hindi Films.

One Indian Girl was supposed to be representative of the modern Indian woman. Instead, it is about an immensely unlikeable woman who has a lifestyle that can best be described as aspirational. At least the title was right. The book is literally about one Indian girl.