2 States

By Chetan Bhagat

Act 1: Ahmedabad

(03/12/23) Starts off with the first meet between Krish and Ananya . Ananya is the college crush, and brimming with confidence. Krish turns a chance encounter into a restaurant lunch, by a sacrifice of a rasgulla. A weekly cycle broken for the sake of a lifelong commitment. Well done! At lunch, they dive deeper into lives, knowing about 11 martyrs before Krish. Krish is undettered, and they move closer via Microeconomics, Krish showcasing his math prowess. Silent study sessions slowly turn to acts of restraint for Krish, and it all comes together a few days after they fetch a B+ and A-. Now, the author happily fast forwards 1.5 years to placement season, where the question of “what next” comes up. Quite cinematic of how Krish interrupts Ananya’s interview to tell his final decision of “what next”. In the end, all turns out well between them, and comes the next challenge: family. The first encounters are anticlimatic, and the act is curtained. Some key takeaways: Loved how Krish utilised his geeky math prowess to keep the connection, and used the “ignore strategy” to remind Ananya of his importance. Also, he knew of the right time to report his uneasiness.

Act 2: Delhi

(04/12/23) Scene at Krish’s Delhi home. He is yet to join Citibank, and is fully-free. The decision of choosing his first work location haunts him. A small fight with his mother and his father’s attitude towards family convinces him to keep Delhi as a top choice. Ananya’s memories help Chennai to battle Delhi for the top spot. An interesting detour is taken when Krish’s mother takes him to see Dolly, a rich Punjabi girl. Turns out she knows about Krish and Ananya from family connections, and is still interested in Krish. Dolly is mocked by the author for her maturity in relationships. Krish has a straight ’no’, and smartly uses his “writing ambition” to seal the deal. Some heated discussions with the post-military father are covered. In the end, Krish fills both Delhi and Chennai at top. As it turns out, God assigns him to Chennai. Some key takeaways: Secrets about personal life zoom through family, beware; even God supports true love.

Act 3: Chennai

(06/12/23) Lets dive into the main act. Chennai covers more than half of the novel. On that note, prayers for Chennai people, read about floods in Chennai due to cyclone recently. Coming to the story, Krish arrives to Chennai, and struggles to communicate. Nungabakkam, which is 100 rupees away, demands 500 rupees through the auto-driver. Well, greed is a common human sentiment. Accompanied by a Tamil-settled sardaar, Krish saves 400 rupees. Without surprise, he is the only North-Indian in his apartment, and fellow trainees at Citi. Bala, the boss, is proud of his loyalty, and expects the same from juniors. Being from IIMA, Krish is put straight into Priority Customer Banking, so that he can charm them with his degree, and steal invest their money. His primary tool are the reports from research team, composed of equally bored MBA grads. He commits the first crime deal with a rich housewife, who falls down 70% amid dot-com-burst. Anil, the country manager inspects the firm, and Bala pleads Krish to take the blame of the aggressive loss-making strategies. Grounding? Being North-Indian, IIT-IIM grad and a trainee. Some humiliation traded for lifetime service from boss, nice deal. On the other side, Ananya is busy with HLL work and meets Krish weekly or so. A fun incident is when she comes to Krish’s apartment, greeted with chicken and beer, and then with the landlord of a society with non-veg, alcohol and now girls banned. Moving to the mission, Krish starts taking Manju’s(Ananya’s younger brother) JEE tuitions at 5 a.m.. One down, two left. He does regular breakfast with the family, but the vibe doesnt match for a potential son-in-law. Meanwhile, Harish, an IIT-M and MIT-offered CISCO lad comes for rishta. The funny part, Krish is present in the whole meeting. Although Ananya has a final ’no’, her mother is forever angry on this. Now, for the father, Krish teaches him makes his PPT, a rare skill for DGM of a govt. bank. They share drinks, and personal secrets. The PPT goes to Delhi, and becomes national inspiration. One more down, one left. For the mother, things go worse post plate-shop incident. The problem solver in Krish comes out, and he invites the mother to sing at a company event, sharing stage with Tamil stalwarts. Some context, Radha’s Carnatic career is on a downfall post Chennai posting, and is a reason for her grief. This recognition could change everything. During event preparation, Krish and Ananya go to a day’s trip to Pondicherry for both work and relax. Krish happens to meet a Guru, where his story with father is reveiled. Lesson: “Forgiveness is the key to ending pain induced by others.”. With his own mother being sad at Delhi, he decided to wrap up Chennai asap. The event is a success and the Swaminathan’s are all for Krish. Hooray! Now, the other half: Krish’s parents have their turn. Takeaways: tradeoffs are important part of life, nothing can beat perseverance, and tackle problems part-by-part, they usually get solved, for example here, geniunely helping people to win their confidence.

Act 4: Delhi Reloaded

(08/12/23) Krish got transferred to Delhi, on simple pretext of being lone North-Indian, and Ananya got one week visit to HLL Delhi, to get “strategic exposure” to North India. The first day, Ananya had to put up at Krish’s house. Well, the main goal was to impress Krish’s parents. First attempt was to take up the dinner task. Ananya failed miserably, burning the food at high flame, and the “flame” got fueled by two other reasons: i. Ananya finishing 2 frootis when mother went for a walk, and ii. Krish helping Ananya while cooking. Now, the father also entered, and having no clue of why Ananya was there, he became angry. The funny part was how author described Ananya’s reactions to Krish’s family, like “terrified”, “jaw went slack”… The father in anger decided not to got to Minti’s(Krish’s cousin from mothers’ side) wedding. The three of them went to the wedding. Ananya found rapport with the younger cousins easily. The author vividly describes the wedding arrangement, and the gifts such as “Hyundai”. Now comes the drama. The boy’s side is proud to be sad at the fact that they “assumed” it was an Accent, but they got a Santro. They literally stopped the wedding! Rajji mama (Minti’s father) already in loan, apologised every way. Ananya took the lead here, organised a meeting with youngsters and the groom, and made him realise his true value. The groom embarrased by the whole incident agreed to continue the wedding. Ananya won over all hearts here. So one would think now they were all set for the wedding, but but but, the parents are yet to accept each other.

Act 5: Goa

(08/12/23) To make the parents comfortable, Krish and Ananya decided to take a trip to Goa. A 5-star funded their stay to procure Citi’s annual ceremony rights. Smart move. Tension starts as soon as they enter the hotel. The hotel upgrades one of the two rooms to a bigger one with seaside view. Krish gives the new room to Swaminathans. At meal, Krish’s mother gifts sarees. Ananya’s side is empty handed. Another bomb thrown in the mix. They travel Goa for a while. During another meal, the topic of “we had better offers” and “you trapped Krish” came up, and another heated argument. Both families rushed to their rooms. Ananya wanted Krish’s mom’s apology, Krish proposed a mutual apology. Now, the biggest bomb: Ananya overhears Krish and his mother talking of “teaching her to toe the line”. Finish, the Swaminathans return at once. Breakup bells, ting tong…

The Final Act: Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Chennai

(08/12/23) Krish becomes a maniac returning to Delhi. No haircut, no proper food, weak body, working day-night and what not, all in remorse of Ananya going away. Ananya stops taking calls from Delhi. Krish happens to have a Bombay client, and calls using his phone. Good news, Ananya is still for him, but only if his mother apologises. His mother refuses. Krish couldn’t face more, and rushes to Chennai. Ananya refuses to engage again. Krish goes to Bala. Seeing the maniac condition, Bala takes Krish to a therapist. Diagonosis: early signs of a mental breakdown. The therapist had experienced breakup, she recommends anti-depressants in case of suicidal tendencies. Final advice is to follow gurus’ advice. Krish goes back to Delhi. Krish and fathers’ relations improve amid “pension forms printout incident”. Now comes up the most influential deed by the father. He goes to Chennai, apologises to Swaminathans, and brings back the marriage. They are now onto deciding the dates! Hooray! Father’s love has its own space. They decide on Chennai as the venue, as the marriage is majorly organised by the girl’s side. Now follows a hearty description of the marriage, and the story concludes… Indeed, a happy ending. Sad for me, I devoured another fiction, and can’t get the same fun again. Well, that’s how fiction works…