3 mistakes- Not a mistake afterall

I was very reluctant to buy this book written by one of my favorite author (Because of five point someone) Chetan Bhagat. That was because the second book of his which was. "One Night At A Call Centre" was a huge disappointment to me. I didn’t want to make another mistake of reading his third book, "3 Mistakes Of My Life". But it was too tempting for me not to buy that as I respect him for his patriotism and also for the way he writes.

I didn’t have any expectations from this book. Another boring thing in the book was the cricket. It has been discussed so many times that it has already become a cliché to me (and also thanks to the IPL, it sounded even more boring). I started reading the book to kill time during my daily journey to office.

The book started with an unusual incident which happens to Chetan Bhagat and as expected someone narrates him a story which Chetan Bhagat wants to use for his next book. This is his style of writing and it’s the same with both of the previous books he has written. I somehow guess 3 is his lucky number (I hope third is not his last book!!!). There are always 3main characters in his stories and mostly with same characteristics. One of them will always be the protagonist who slightly overshadows other two characters which is again true with his 3rd book.

The actual story starts when 3 friends decide to start a business in Gujarat. One is a businessman and always thinks practically (hero of the story), the other a passionate cricketer who is a loser in life because he doesn’t want to do anything else in life. The third is a boy without brains and just follows the other two. But he is slightly religious because of his parents. To involve all three in this, they start a cricket shop at a store in the temple. This all goes very well and the hero of the book starts dreaming high.

Our hero invests money in a big showroom which collapses due to the earthquakes. In the meantime, hero falls in love with the sister of the cricketer friend and commits first two mistakes of his life. The story becomes quite interesting at this. By the time they recover from the earthquake, they are again struck with the religious riots in Gujarat which shatters all their lives and even kills one of the friends. Strangely, the other two friends never seem to mourn the loss of their childhood friend which can be called as a flaw in the story.

Between all these drama, there comes another character in the story who is a little boy and who is a cricket champion. He is a gifted child (though it is quite non realistic) and can hit six to anykind of ball shot at him. The author also introduces the Australian bowler whose name closely resembles Bret Lee. The whole story and the death of one of the friends is very tightly linked with the story of this gifted kid. Due to this kid, the friends also go to Australia for somedays. The author has tried to add some patriotism to this Australian episode which manages to give the trip a meaning.

All in all, I can say that the book has got all the masala from death, passionate romance, tragedy, pain, animosity, talent, rivalry, etc which can be often seen in a typical bollywood movie. The only difference being, a good blend of emotions in the former.

Though most of the things are similar to his other books, one huge difference I saw which were missing in his other books was the irony and pain depicted here. It’s awesome and the main reason which makes the book more interesting.

I would say that this is not another blunder like “One Night At…” though not as brilliant as “Five Point…” Hence, I will give it a 7/10 rating. One thing I really liked in the book was that he has mentioned somewhere that Bangalore is a High-Tech City. This, I am sure any Bangalorean would like and could be another reason to buy this book and read.