Honestly, I have never been into the habit of reading of contemporary literature (Rushdie, Naipaul, Amitabh Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, etc. were always ‘must read’). Most of the time I was occupied with reading those books which were on reference list (being a literature student and one of those nerd ones, who liked to read other works of the prescribed author to understand his/her perspective or style better, I was left with no time to read anything else).
But for quite sometime now, I have taken to reading pop-fiction, chick-lit and contemporary fiction written by Indian authors, like Chetan Bhagat, Advaita Kala, Karan Bajaj, etc., and yes I liked reading it.
Yes the jokes are pretty well cracked; drinks are also quite easily available; going to pubs is as easy going to temple; getting laid is as easy as having butter-chicken in Delhi and there are many things, which the protagonists of these books happen to experience, are pretty to easy to have. Reading through these books are as pleasant as watching our hindi movies. (Please don’t get me wrong; I am not demeaning anything)
As it is said of our hindi movies, especially the songs, they are the concrete, palpable expression of our fleeting dreams, a side of our personality which we often try to ignore or suppress. These books are also doing the same. As it has become quite common in bollywood movies to have Christian wedding of people with ‘Sharma’, ‘Verma’ as surnames, school kids going to prom, etc., so is bunking classes, going to pubs (the entry ticket may cost you fortune in real life) and getting laid at early age have become common topics in the modern Indian fiction.
The question that arises in my mind is: is this is a wish fulfillment that we Indian audience are looking for, or is this an experience of few that the majority wants to live, or indeed these incidences have become a reality for many ( hence we are more interested in knowing if I have behaved the same way as others have) and is this what has kept us all of hooked on to these books?
