Chetans Bhagats new book, ‘One Indian Girl’ will start shipping on Sunday. The novel is now available for preorder on Amazon for Rs 119.
The author announced the title of his new book last month .
Bhagat had earlier said that the new book will be written in female first person style and will put female voice to the fore.
“One Indian Girl is about an Indian girl who is intelligent and successful, because of which she finds it difficult to get love,” says Bhagat in his introduction to the novel.
The protagonist of the novel will be a young Indian girl called Radhika Mehta, who’s about to get married.
“I work at Goldman Sachs, an investment bank,” she says. “Thank you for reading my story. However, let me warn you. You may not like much.”
The characterization of the girl seems to indicate that Chetan Bhagat is targeting the hypocrisy of the Indian middle class — which tries very hard to appear ‘modern’ on the one hand, but under the surface holds on to the prejudices and belief systems of the traditional Indian.
Mehta says you — meaning the typical English-speaking middle class Indian — may not like her story. Why?
“One, I make a lot of money. Two, I have an opinion on everything. Three, I have had a boyfriend before. OK, maybe two.
“Now if I were a guy, you’d be cool with it. Since I am a girl, these things don’t make me likeable, do they?”
Bhagat himself says that the book hopes to question society, which judges women achievers.
“It asks why when it comes to love, being intelligent and too successful is almost a drawback for women.”
Chetan Bhagat is considered the most successful English-language author in India in recent times.
He has written titles such as Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011), What Young India Wants (2012) (speeches and columns), Half Girlfriend (2014) and Making India Awesome (2015).