Chetan Bhagat's - The 3 mistakes of my life

Genre – Fiction
Rating – 3.5 / 5

I am head over heels in love with Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone. With 5 point Someone, Chetan Bhagat has set very high expectations of himself in my mind. When a book says – ‘by Chetan Bhagat’ I have great expectations from the book. Somehow his second book ‘One night at call center’ did not please me well… and my liking score took a deep plunge for his third – ‘3 mistakes of my life’. If not for its tail-end plot, I would have given a real poor rating for this book.

This is a story about 3 friends, Govind, Ish and Omi and their business (sports store). To start the entrepreneurship, Omi makes the arrangement for the store, Ish brings knowledge of sports and Govind has the intelligence to run the business. Along with the sports store they also provide Cricket coaching and Maths tuition to make some extra bucks. Both Cricket and Maths classes have “special” students who unknowingly play major role in the story. Govind is the narrator and the “3 mistakes” are his mistakes in life. This simple tale is set in the backdrop of Gujarat’s earthquake and Godhara riots. Like every other common man’s dream in Gujarat, Govind, Ish and Omi’s dream come crashing as the result of these mishaps. To add up, the political riot showcased at the near-end brings everything to halt.

The book is ‘Okay’. Story is plain. Characters are average. Book completely lacks Chetan Bhagat’s charisma. I kept on reading with optimism for finding Chetan’s witty funny side. Sadly author hasn’t utilized his language skills and humor sense as he has in his previous works. From the story line I wonder if it was written with a perspective of converting it into another Bollywood movie. I would not recommend it to a Chetan Bhagat fan.