INTRODUCTION:

The novel has three main characters namely, Govind, Ishaan, and Omi. Young adolescent age plays a significant role in the psychological and social development. Chetan Bhagat has explored the problems of younger generation, their struggle and aspiration. The story also reflects the love for the game of cricket of today’s youth.

The mindset, behavior and aspirations of Indian youth have transformed to a well-groomed, with ample knowledge and modernized technological advanced gadgets, social media and online streaming content. There was a time when we as kids were not allowed to watch television for more than an hour or so but today’s kids are tech savvy.

They are up-to-date on every bit of advances be it our surroundings, social issues or world matters.

Vikram Patel, a Ph.D. Scholar, states in his research “A Complete Replica of Contemporary Indian Society in the Fictional Works of Chetan Bhagat that approach and aspiration of an Indian youth is changed now. They are more confident and determined. They are not ready to compromise in their lives. They make their own choices and take firm decisions. Indian youth is living a high standard life. They care about their approach and their dressing. They feel offended if they are called indigenous or desi.

“People of India, especially the middle class people, have grown much individualistic temperament in life. They want personal space. They hardly compromise in their personal lives. Along with it, people feel that their standard of life has been elevated. They do not like to be called indigenous. They want to show themselves modern. Modernization and westernization have considerably influenced their lives. They hardly accept their limitations of life. They have higher aspirations of life but they are not in a position to reach there. At the result of that, they experience restlessness in life. The comparative and competitive environment creates, in them, a sort of stress and uneasiness in life. The writer has genuinely thrown light on such actualities of the contemporary middle class society.” (p.7)

Govind Patel is a simple boy. He is very ambitious and aspires to become a good businessman. He lives with his mother. He believes that being a Gujarati it is in his fate that he will be a successful businessman as the most Gujarati people do. From his early teens he starts taking interest in his business. He earns some money teaching mathematics. After a few years he starts a sports shop. The other protagonists Omi and Ishaan are his friends. He also love a girl named Vidya whom he teaches. She is the sister of his friend Ishaan. Govind is a wise businessman who is also good in maths. His love for cricket inspires him to start a new business in sports related products, so he opens a shop and sells sports related products.

Chetan Bhagat’s this character is carved to project a young boy’s aspirations. He even showed interest in starting a business of the kind for which he had passion in his school and college days. Govind is very ambitious and wants to expand his business.

Ishaan is a diehard cricket fan. He loves his country. He also plays cricket and is supposed as the best cricket in his locality. He aspires to become a known cricket player and wants to play for his country one day. He has sour relationship with his father. Ishaan is an emotional guy. He is not greedy of money. Here his basic nature differs from his close friend Govind who is more like a businessman and a money-minded guy. They are good friends and help each other in their tough times. However, the time and the situation changes and they are not in talking terms and it’s because of the fact that Govind loves his sister. They were good friends until he is unaware of the fact about their relationship.

The third main protagonist is Omi. Omi is the son of a priest at the temple in the local area. He is not ambitious like his friend Govind. He is more like a religious person. He loves to maintain his body and exercises vigorously. He is under the influence of his uncle who owns a few shops in the temple premises. Under his influence, Omi starts taking interest in religious politics.

Indian social and political system is such that the whole politics revolves around caste and religious divide. Main issues like unemployment and jobs are hushed up in the religious fight. Chetan Bhagat has raised these serious issues through the characters of the novel. There is an unrest and disturbance in the minds of Indian youths. Chetan also questions the parents’ mindset. They are ready to invest for their wards’ higher studies but they do not want to spend money for the grooming in the sports. Today’s youth do not want anybody’s interference when it comes to making a choice of their career or any other important decision.

S. Mijo Rexly, a post graduate researcher states in research, Psyche of the Modern Youth “Youngsters most often dislike someone controlling them. Youngsters long for freedom. Once the freedom is given, they enjoy their lives. They fall in love easily. Maturity is lacking in them. They give importance to friends and love. Youngsters live in an imaginary world, so they long for freedom. The critical study on the psyche of the youngsters is made and the dilemma regarding the relationship they had with others was found. The modern youth expect a world full of opportunities. Status and respect is given only when a youth is able to get a decent job after graduation.” (p.6).

Srikanth John writes in his research in IJOHMN that the novel exposes the bitter truths of human lives and their nature. It is more materialistic and practical. They are influenced by their passion and the feeling of emotion has left behind. They only think with their brains and less with their hearts. That is why we can find so much unrest and anxiety in today’s youth. They are stuck in the whirl of their own competition. This gulf has immersed them into the never-ending fight against their own will.

CONCLUSION:

Chetan Bhagat has successfully raised the issues of younger generation through the novel. It is the Indian political system and education system which has many potholes. Chetan has put all those ingredients which works among Indians and as per their tastes. On one hand, he used close friendships among group of friends and their passion for cricket and on the other hand Chetan also garnished the storyline with the pinch of political and religious differences. Though all the three main characters are close friends but somewhere down in their hearts there is sleeping hatred against the other religion. Chetan aloso used a pinch full of love angle. Here the feeling of love blossoms between the characters who are teacher and student. One more issue was raised but in a hushed up manner was the restlessness among today’s youth. If they are shows as crazy about a game they are also shown as thinking about their future and their career. Chetan has explored various shades of human relationships. His novels reflects young generations’ modernized behavior but also reflects the Indian cultural values in them. Like in Two States, the protagonists love each other but they do not run from their homes to live together. Both of the characters try their best to impress their respective families and take their permission for marriage. Though they are determined and modernized in their approach, they still have feelings for their family. They want to achieve new heights in their professional front but they want to grow under the influence of their parents and grandparents. Some exceptions could be found in every field and society but still a normal chunk follows the footsteps and morals shown by their family and guardians. Today’s youth is determined to their aspirations and requirement.

When one reviews the works of Chetan Bhagat, one can easily make out that almost all his works revolves around youth of our country. Whether they are portrayed as a college student or as a dynamic young professional who work in multinational company. When you pick up Half Girlfriend or Two States or even One Night @ the Call Center, one similarity is definitely there and that is the youth, their problems in professional front, or problems in their love lives. All his novels has all the above mentioned ingredients to make his novel famous among young crowd. Three Mistakes of My Life unfurls different dimensions of human behavior at various stages and time bound incidents. Like people’s behavior is good till the time they are not time tested as they behaved differently at the night of religious riots. Before this night, Omi, Govind and Ishaan were very good friends. They used to spend a lot of time together and there were hardly any differences in their hearts but as soon as politically-motivated religious fights erupts they forget their friendship and indulge in hurtful activities. This incident of the novel actually reflects the true color of a human being. One can easily relate to those bad experiences of their lives when one had experienced those dreadful nights off death and fear.

Today, unemployment has plagued our youth’s strength and passion. Youths are getting involved in anti-social activities and religious hatred. Their power is being wrongly used for selfish purposes. Despite all these issues they own idols. They love the game of cricket with heart and soul. They cry and shout for the game. They praise and applaud in happiness despite their struggles in life at every stage. Our social and political system need contemplate in depth and show this repository the right direction and path in rewriting our country’s fate. Our youth is living in an oblivion state and need to make them aware of their talent and strength. Our parents need leave the traditional thinking behind and believe in their next generation’s thought process and support them making their career in different sports and other fields.

REFERENCE:

1. Bhagat, Chetan. Three Mistakes of My Life, Rupa publication, 2008.

2. PATEL, Vikram. A Complete Replica of Contemporary Indian Society in the Fictional Works of Chetan Bhagat: A Detailed Literary Analysis of his Five Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Center and The Three Mistake of My. International Journal of English Language, Literature in Humanities (IJELLH), [S.l.], v. 4, n. 6, p. 17, June 2016. ISSN 2582-3574. Available at: <https://www.ijellh.com/OJS/index.php/OJS/article/view/1442>. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24113/ijellh.v4i6.1442. Date accessed: 22 Jan. 2019.

3. Vats, D., Tripathi, D. and Tiwari, A. (2012). Indian Youth and Cricket Mania: Chetan Bhagat’s Three Mistakes of My Life. [online] The-criterion.com. Available at: http://www.the-criterion.com/V3/n2/Sapna.pdf [Accessed 9 Jan. 2019].

4. REXLY, S. Mijo. Psyche of the Modern Youth: A Critical Study on Chetan Bhagat’s Half Girlfriend.. International Journal of English Language, Literature in Humanities (IJELLH), [S.l.], v. 7, n. 3, p. 7, mar. 2019. ISSN 2582-3574. Available at: <https://www.ijellh.com/OJS/index.php/OJS/article/view/7818>. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24113/ijellh.v7i3.7818. Date accessed: 13 Dec. 2019.

5. John, S. (2016). Visionary exploration of Chetan Bhagat’s Works. IJOHMN (International Journal Online of Humanities), 2(1), 5. Available at: < https://ijohmn.com/index.php/ijohmn/article/view/67>. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24113/ijohmn.v2i1.67, Date accessed: 15 Dec. 2020.

Received on 05.03.2020 Modified on 29.03.2020

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2020; 11(2):139-141.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2020.00023.6