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The novel drift

Gone are the days when IITs and IIMs figured only in ‘how to crack it’ books. Today fictions are being set in these prestigious institutes

Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Jolly good time Harshdeep Jolly

If you can’t join them, read them. This seems to be the new trend in the literary world, where more and more novels have the rarefied environs of IITs and IIMs as the setting. The novelists are young alumni of these institutes, inspired by the likes of Vikram Seth and Amitav Ghosh but writing in a style that reads more like a Bollywood script. Stories are spun around study pressures, ragging, social integration and romantic dalliances. Does all this happen only in IITs and IIMs?

You get some confusing answers. But one thing is sure. In an age, when it’s getting increasingly difficult to sell the written word, publishers are using tags like ‘what not to do at IIT’ and ‘a journey through IIM’ to create some buzz around the books.

Says Harshdeep Jolly, an IIM Bangalore product whose “Everything You Desire”, a semi-autobiographical novel, has just hit the stands, “To me the setting was more important than the characters.” In the same vein, the manager working with Accenture, adds, “But I have not created it as an FMCG product. I am passionate about writing and as the IIM campus was something I was familiar with, I used it as a setting. People usually know IIMs for their difficult entrance exams or the placements and the high salaries. What happens within the two years the students spend there is not in the public domain. I wanted to share it.”

Ronita Ghosh of Srishti, publishers of the book, says such books attract attention, a must for a new author. “It divides the readers between haves and have-nots. For those who have been to the prestigious institute, it creates a nostalgic effect, and for those who haven’t been able to make it, it acts as an inspiration, a window to experience that ‘world’.”

She, however, feels that it is just a passing trend not the future. “It is leisure reading, which I believe the youth demands.” Talking of the trend it was started by Chetan Bhagat’s coming-of-age IIT saga “Five Point Someone”, which has sold around 10 lakh copies according to Kapish Mehra of Rupa, the publisher.

“Chetan’s book gave a fillip to the market and now more publishers are exploring the segment,” says Mehra. Denying that Rupa projected it as an IIT novel, Mehra feels the setting is just one of the ingredients for success as is the effective marketing. “It was an original idea and a reflection of the times. Nobody thought that a novel can be written where you don’t need to reach out for a dictionary.”

Chetan says the language goes with the campus setting. “The slangs are common on the campus. One day a boy wrote to me that he wanted to commit suicide after failing to make it to IIT but when he read ‘Five Point Someone’ he came out of the negative thought. To me, this is the success of literature.”

Amidst this entire chest thumping, another first-time author Amitabha Bagchi, whose novel “Above Average” is a subtle critique of the social system which crushes certain alternative ambitions, feels bad that his novel is also being projected as another IIT novel. This has affected the reviews, for some critics have found the situations could have unfolded in any other campus.

Says Bagchi, “I wrote it as a literary piece, but before I could find a publisher, Chetan’s book hit the stands. So when I found a publisher (Harper Collins) they were confused about how to project it. Finally, the blurb suggests that it’s an IIT book. I didn’t like it but I also wanted my book to reach maximum readers. And if this kind of promotion, as the publisher feels, helps it, then I don’t mind it.”

ANUJ KUMAR

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