Pure serendipity no doubt, but campus novels seem to be becoming a hot new trend in Indo English fiction. Where there was a void earlier, three have appeared within a year. Chetan Bhagat's surprisingly successful Five Point Someone, about life at IIT; Sudeep Chakravarti's Tin Fish, enshrining Mayo College; and now Abhijit Bhaduri's effort.
I finally got to hear "XL di Kudiyan" (composer Rohit Munjal - who I finally met at Hyderabad). Had chai and samosas at Niranjan's dhaba and then had a serious OMAXI meeting with Madhukar Shukla for the rest of the evening.
"Bhaduri’s protagonist in his debut novel, has followed the coming-of-age of English, August’s Agastya as contemporary Indo-Anglican fiction’s most sardonic and understated characters." Indian Express
"The story of the protagonist Abbey and his friends at the institute is filled with humour and had the audience in splits when Bhaduri read out excerpts from the book, anecdotes about Abbey’s roommate Pappu and his encounter with Ganauri the washerman." The Telegraph
“What’s common between J (JRD Tata), Russi (Mody) and me?” asks Abbey, an MBA student of a business school.“A dismal academic record,” replies a friend.“Leadership qualities,” counters Abbey.
"Took me straight back to my college days!!" — Shobhaa De
