I have had a pretty bad experience with my last
Indian author (Chetan Bhagat), but nonetheless, I decided to try this book.
It’s an OK book, but I don’t know why it is called ‘Flat-Track
Bullies’ when there isn’t a single mention of bullies, except for at the very
end where he says, “It’s a world of flat-track bullies.”
The story is about a boy-Ravi Venkatesan who is the
goody-two shoes kind of guy in front of his parents, but not really in favour
of what they tell him to do.
School was almost ending and the summer vacations
were about to start. Ravi says, “Vacation or no vacation I do two types of
things. One: Things that make me happy. Two: Things that make mom happy. Sample
this:
1. Playing with
friends, video games, chatting with girls, dreaming, sleeping…
2. Attending
school, special classes and competitions…
I guess I don’t need to explain
which of the above lists is mine.”
The point is: During the
vacations, Ravi starts bunking his special classes and plays with the type of
friends his mom absolutely loathes and disapproves of (which is why she makes a
different set of geeky friends for him). He starts spending more and more time
with them and gets into a huge, shameful mess. Should he fight, or flee?
To find out, read the book. I figured
out two things at the end of the book:
1. IIT coaching is
dead boring (not surprising) and,
2. Sometimes, being
friends with the people you mom selects can be good (really surprising)