He’s been trolled time and again, yet author Chetan Bhagat who was in Bengaluru on Thursday to launch his new book One Indian Girl at Landmark, is breaking all records in pre-order history, even before the book is out in the market.
Chetan has written for the first time in a female voice. It’s a heart-warming story of a modern Indian girl Radhika Mehta working at Goldman Sachs, an investment banker and is about to get married. She makes good money, is opinionated and was in a couple of relationships prior to her marriage.
How did the idea of his new book about we ask? The the banker-turned-writer, states, “I have always wanted to write in the female first person, just had the confidence now to do it. I write about social issues, making them simpler for people to understand. Feminism is an important issue in society, and somewhat misunderstood. I thought it would make a good story.”
Talking about the challenges in donning a female voice, Chetan confesses, “It’s quite difficult as you have to get the mental chatter of the female character right. Radhika, the protagonist of OIG, is a neurotic and hence I have to write down her thoughts as well. Female readers have to connect to that, and I must admit it was a challenging.”
One Indian Girl is a story that the urban generation can relate to. It leaves some readers with the question, if the fiancé of the protagonist, Radhika (a working, independent woman) would do the same, would her man be all right with this and accept it?
Prod the author in what way will this book unsettle some male readers and the Chetan who likes to be called a true feminist states, “I think many male readers will be and are ok with it. Some male readers will be unsettled by Radhika’s boldness and somewhat frank approach to sexuality. It could be intimidating for some men used to thinking about sex and women in a certain regressive way. To me feminism means a woman has as much right to pursue her happiness as any man.”
He is loved by all his female fans for his feminist writings. We ask how Anusha, his wife, handles all the female adulation and pat comes the reply, “There’s a separation of Chetan the person and Chetan the writer. She’s happy that Chetan the writer has fans. She knows that Chetan the person is different from that.” And when he’s not writing, what does he like to do in his spare time we ask and he signs off saying, “I like to spend time with my family.”
