contemporary research in india (issn 2231

CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN INDIA (ISSN 2231-2137): VOL. 4: ISSUE: 3
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CROSS - CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES IN CHETAN BHAGAT’S NOVEL
2 STATES THE STORY OF MY MARRIAGE
G. Nageswara Rao, Asst. Prof., Vignan University, Vadlamudi, Guntur, A. P.
Dr. N. Nageswara Rao, HOD Dept. of English, PG JKC College, Guntur, A. P.
Abstract: Chetan Bhagat has been acclaimed as one of the best-selling novelists of the popular literature. He takes
upon the sensitive issues which concern to the society in his novels, ranging from the romantic love story to a
deplorable condition of the present educational system. He has started a crusade against eradicating the evils of
the society by his ‘sugar coated novels’. Chetan Bhagat, in almost all his novels, highlights the problems faced by
the youth. He presents before us a world, which is full of optimism and comic elements. Chetan Bhagat has acumen
of giving comic treatment to a very serious theme. The main objective of this paper is to bring out the thematic style
of Chetan Bhagat's writing along with the way in which he presented his characters. This novel deals with two
different cultures, Tamil and Punjabi. Both have their own traditions and customs and people of those cultures have
their own mindset, convictions, psyche or attitude for everything around them. Money is the center of Punjabi
mindset and Education is for Tamil. There are several points in the novel where tradition and mindset of both the
cultures can be observed. This paper will also discuss the concept of social, cultural reflections and of modernity
and how he portrays the contemporary reality through the delineation of the various characters.
Key Words: Modernity, Exploitation, Cross-cultural marriage, Ambition.
Chetan Bhagat, in almost all his novels,
highlights the problems faced by the youth. The present
novel ‘2-States’, the story of my marriage is an
autographic novel of Chetan Bhagat, which deals with
complex human relationships. In this novel, we find
love mushrooming in an orthodox, conservative society.
It talks about two lovers from two different states of
India, who have to make an extra effort to turn their
dream into reality. Here, we find love shining amidst
darkness and despair. Shakespeare once said ‘The
course of true love never runs smooth’ and this is very
true in the case of Krish and Ananya.
2 States: The Story of My Marriage is considered
to be inspired from the real story of Chetan Bhagat and
his wife Anusha who belong to Delhi and Tamil Nadu
respectively. The novel presents a vivid picture of the
IIM Ahmedabad life. It moves around two IIMA
students Krish and Ananya. This couple hail from two
different states in India and thus they face hardships in
convincing their parents for the acceptance of their
marriage. In it the generation gap, communication gap,
and cultural gaps are amalgamated brilliantly.
The novel begins in the IIM Ahmedabad mess,
where Krish, a Punjabi boy from Delhi sights Ananya, a
Tamil girl from Chennai, quarreling with the mess staff
about the food. Ananya was tagged as the "Best girl of
the fresher batch". They become friends in a few days
and decide to study together every night. In mean time,
they become romantically involved with each other.
After finishing their course both of them get good jobs,
and plans seriously for their wedding. The story is
based on how they struggle to convince their parents for
their marriage, and eventually succeed in doing so. It is
narrated in a first person point of view in a humorous
tone, often taking digs at Tamil and Punjabi culture.
The novel ends with Ananya giving birth to twin boys.
They say that the babies belong to a state called ‘India’.
Inter-caste marriages are still a taboo in India and let
alone an inter-state marriage of a Punjabi and a Tamil
Brahmin.
In the beginning, we find Krish in a
Psychologist’s clinic to get counseling and here he
narrates his story. In the first few pages we are
introduced with the campus life of IIM Ahmedabad
where Krish sees Ananya and falls in love with her at
the first sight as in looks, she is a real traffic stopper.
But Ananya wants to be just a friend with Krish. He
wonders why any boy can just be friend with any girl.
He says,
“Why would any guy want to be only friends with a
girl? It`s like agreeing to be near a chocolate cake and
never eat it. It’s like sitting in a racing car but not
driving it. Only wimps do that.” (p. 9)
CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN INDIA (ISSN 2231-2137): VOL. 4: ISSUE: 3
Bhagat does not forget to reiterate his most
common theme of his stories i.e. premarital sex between
friends. Besides focusing on the campus activities and
relations among the students, he points his finger very
tenderly and affectionately on the topic of sex. And in
this favorite topic, he prefers his heroine to take the
initiative. Like other woman characters of his novels,
Ananya dares to kiss her lover Krish in his room. And
thereafter they make a premarital love in the girls’
dormitory. However Bhagat makes the situations and
the boring books responsible for that, it is true without
doubt that he wants to give voice to the needs of the
modern youth who does not believe in the traditional
beliefs about virginity and chastity but only know their
physical needs for love and affections. Krish says:
Needless to say, one thing led to another and within
two weeks, we had sex. You put a boy and a girl in a
room for a week and add lots of boring books, and
sparks are sure to fly (p 26).
Ananya is more illogical than logical; Beautiful
girl with lots of attitude who can pick fight with
anybody, anytime and anywhere. She is confident,
independent, and intelligent. However, she is caring and
sensitive too. She dares to oppose the mess contractor
because he provides bad quality of food to all the
students. At that time, Krish offers her his help and
takes her to a restaurant. The friendship between both of
them develops very fast. Krish helps Ananya to learn
Economics and at that time, both of them start meeting
frequently. Krish proposed her and she does not deny.
They start to live in the same room and take liberty with
which Indian society is not custom too.
She represents the voices of the modern youth
who believes in the complete freedom of the fair sex.
She believes in the equality of men and women. She
knows her rights and does what she wants. She likes to
wear shorts and smoke cigarettes. She does not care the
criticism of others and their feelings. She only cares for
what she likes. She does not like people patronizing her.
She thinks modern women are intelligent and intelligent
people do not like to be instructed unnecessarily.
Ananya shares her opinion with Krish in a conversation
with him. Krish reads a topic from the marketing case,
‘Nirdosh – nicotine-free cigarettes’. And the very name
of cigarette makes Ananya feel like a real smoke. She
responds,
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“Who the fuck wants that? I feel like a real smoke (p
19).”
Krish gives Ananya a dirty look which makes the latter
react,
“What? Am I not allowed to use F words? Or is it that I
expressed a desire to smoke?” (p20)
Krish wants to know what she wants to prove by
showing her over-smartness. This makes Ananya
consider him that male should know that women are
intelligent people and they know what they should do
and what they should not:
Nothing. I want you to consider the possibility that
women are intelligent human beings. And intelligent
people don’t like to be told what to wear or do,
especially when they are adults. Does that make sense
to you? (p 20)
Bhagat has exposed the lacking security system
of the IIMA dormitory disciplines. The freedom of
students to visit each other’s dormitories that Bhagat
has expressed in the book might raise a question
whether it is safe to put one’s ward in the IIMA hostel.
Whatever maturity the youth have attained but the
Indian parents are still much concerned with the
virginity of their children mostly girls. But according to
Bhagat, girls and boys in the IIMA hostel are free to
visit each other’s dormitories even at night and there is
no objection spending nights together in each other’s
rooms particularly girls’ rooms.
As happens in college life they start messaging
each other and start hanging out. Time passes by very
speedily and now it is the time of placement. Both of
them are offered good jobs. Both the lovers with
intention to getting their families familiar with decide to
invite their parents for the convocation ceremony as it is
very necessary in India that parents must approve love
relationship. Here, they are introduced with Krish’s
mother and Ananya’s parents. Krish’s father does not
come for it because the relationship of Krish with his
father is very tense. The light friction between Ananya’s
mother and Krish’s mother get started in the ceremony
itself and the dream of the lovers to get married shatters.
After the placement, Krish’s mother wants him to
take up a job in Delhi and wants him to marry a girl of
her choice; she says
“I can show you Punjabi girls fair as milk”(p57).
CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN INDIA (ISSN 2231-2137): VOL. 4: ISSUE: 3
There are two ways to look at the cultural comments
and humour in this novel. Punjabi characters making
racial comments about south Indians may be this
happened in his real life and Chetan wanted to be true to
the characters. Even Krish making some observations
about Tamil culture and habits is bit understandable:
Punjabi guy landing in Chennai for first time and
getting frustrated with new people around him.
People of every culture have certain mindset and
conviction about their own culture and for other
cultures as well. This novel echoes the same condition
of mindset of the people. The novel depicts psyche of
both Tamil and Punjabi people of this novel. Tamil
represents as emotionless according to Panjabi in this
novel. As Krish says in the prologue,
“Do you South Indian even know what emotions are all
about?’” (p X).
One another mindset is represented in the novel i.e.
Tamil traps the North Indian people. They know some
magic. Through which, Tamil girls always try to catch
the North Indian boys. Moreover, they know some
black magic, and they brainwash the people:
‘Mom, control,’ I whispered to her as I turned to leave.
‘I am under control.
These South Indians don’t know how to control their
daughters. From Hema Malini to Sridevi, all of them
trying to catch Punjabi men’ (p 48).
‘Madrasi girl?’
‘Ananya,’ I said.
‘Stay away from her. They brainwash, these people’ (p
56).
‘Oh, some stuff. That she is very aggressive and clever
and has you totally under her control. But South Indian
girls are like that, no?’ (p 65)
‘Look at him, these black people have done their black
magic,’ Shipra masi said. (p 68)
Shipra masi turned to my mother. ‘Your son is gone. I
am sorry, but this boy belongs to Jayalalitha now.’ (p
69)
In the midst of all this, we come to know the
reason of the tense relationship of Krish with his father
when Krish visits Shri. Aurobindo Ashram. He meets
the Guru and tries to seek his help for his restlessness in
love. Krish in meditation brings before us an incident
that happen three years back. He says when he was in
IIT Delhi; he had an affair with his professor’s
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daughter. The girl’s father was against their love
relationship and he was sending his daughter abroad.
Krish wanted his father to go to the professor and set
the situation right but instead of taking his side he
started to scold his mother and also beat her in front of
him, which he often did with her. Here Krish lost his
temper and fights with his father. Krish says,
“I shook my head at her, my eyes staring right
into his. I slapped his face once, twice, then I rolled my
hand into a fist and punched his face.
My father went into a state of shock, he couldn’t
fight back. He didn’t expect this; all my childhood I’d
merely suffered his dominance. Today, it was not just
about the broken glass. It wasn’t only that the girl I
loved would be gone. It was a reaction to two decades
of abuse……..I punched his head until he collapsed on
the floor………. My mother sat on the bed, fighting back
her emotions. We looked at each other. We were a
family, but pretty much as screwed up as they
come…….. I looked at my father and vowed never to
speak to him again. (p.167)
The novel attempts to unite not only two states
but also two traditions and cultures. It endeavours to
represent the people of the nation only as Indians not as
castes, religions, states etc. This is the only thing the
novelist ventures to carry to the youth of his country.
He advises the youth to fix marriage on the criteria:
physical symmetry, education, and financial position
and gender skills. He suggests one should find in one’s
match four things. First, the match should be almost
equal in physical properties. They (boy and girl) should
be sufficiently educated. Their financial position should
be considerably profound and they should be adept in
their gender jobs i.e. the boy should know how to
manage family expenses and a girl should know how to
keep the house properly. Krish chooses to make Ananya
his life partner at different levels. Krish is a north
Indian, Punjabi and Malhotra. Ananya is a south Indian,
Tamil Brahmin. Their parents cannot even imagine
inter-state relationship and thereafter inter-caste
marriage. Krish attempts to change the conservative
criteria of marriage: same caste, same state, and
different gotra and bountiful dowry.
He proves his eligibility for marrying Ananya by
skillfully convincing her parents. Krish did not lose
hope and carries on his desperate attempts to win the
CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN INDIA (ISSN 2231-2137): VOL. 4: ISSUE: 3
love of Ananya’s family members. He helps Ananya’s
father in computerizing bank ledgers and making
presentation slides. He also helps Ananya`s mother to
present herself at a concert, organized by his own bank.
Ananya’s mother’s talent in music is appreciated by all
and she becomes the center of attention in the concert.
He helps her brother Manjunathan to crack IIT entrance
test. He wins the hearts of her parents and brother in
order to win the heart of his ladylove. Then after he
arranged a dinner party exclusively for Ananya’s
family. Here he proposes to accept him as their son-inlaw. The emotional appeal of Krish is really heart
touching.
“I, Krish Malhotra, would like to propose to all of you.
Will all of you marry me?” (p.183)
He finally wins the consent of all the members of
Ananya’s family. Now comes the turn of Ananya to win
the love of Krish’s family members.
Ananya also wins the heart of Krish’s family but
what about the two families union? Krish arranges a
meeting of two families in Goa, but there also Krish’s
mother verbally explodes and the relationship of Krish
and Ananya is in jeopardy. Ananya decides to break off
with Krish. Krish tries his best to convince Ananya that
everything can be fixed up again. But Ananya does not
show any affection for him. At that time Krish’s `bad
father` comes to his rescue and goes to Chennai and
convinces Ananya’s family without Krish’s knowledge
because now he does not want to miss the opportunity
of helping his son. He missed the opportunity for once
and still he pays a heavy price for that. When Krish gets
a call from Ananya, he is very much surprised, and
wants to hug his father. Father-son relationship is
always incredible.
Finally the two families are reunited and Ananya
and Krish get married to each-other. The marriage
ceremony held in Tamil style is also full of comical
elements. It is really true that the love marriages around
the world are simple but as mentioned on the back
cover of the novel the scenario is totally different when
it comes to India.
“Boy loves girl.
Girl loves boy.
They get married.
In India there are a few more steps.
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Boy loves girl.
Girl loves boy.
Girl`s family has to love boy.
Boy`s family has to love girl.
Girl`s family has to love boy’s family.
Boy`s family has to love girl’s family.
Girl and boy still love each other.
They get married.”
Chetan Bhagat, in this novel, deals with a very
serious theme in a lighter vein. This novel definitely
gives us cultural shocks. Chetan Bhagat has touched
some of the sensitive issues of cultural differences,
father-son relationship, and corporate exploitation. He
is of the view that love has no boundaries, whether it is
of caste, creed, religion, states or countries. It’s
definitely love that triumphs against all odds.
This is an excellent novel because it conveys
how the young generation fights old generation to get
the approval for marriage. The boy tries to get
acceptance from the girl’s family and the girl tires to get
acceptance from the boy’s family while both of them
are trying to get acceptance from their respective
families. The story closes with Krish’s marriage with
Ananya, where he is able to unite the two cultures of the
two states together. The Punjabis and the Tamils dance
around the couple and according to Krish it is the
attainment of the greater purpose for which he decided
to convert his love into an arranged marriage: “Only for
the sake of uniting the nation” (p. 267). It is the voice of
the millions if youths who fall in love with somebody
and want to marry but fail mostly due to this crosscultural disparity.
Krish has a unique way to unite India. He
suggests the youth of the country to marry outside their
state because, he thinks, it is the only way India can be
made one. He wants his children not to belong to any
particular state but the whole country. About his kids he
says that they will neither be Punjabis nor Tamils but
they will be only Indians:
‘They won’t be Tamil or Punjabi. They will be Indian.
They will be above all this nonsense. If all young people
marry outside their community, it is good for the
country; it is good for the country. That is the greater
purpose.’ (p 103).
CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN INDIA (ISSN 2231-2137): VOL. 4: ISSUE: 3
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Works Cited:
1. Sharma, Neha."Chetan Bhagat feeling cheated?", Hindustan Times, 27 December 2009.
2. Chetan Bhagat, 2 States – the Story of My Marriage. Rupa & Co. New Delhi. 2009.
3. http: //www. nytimes.com /2008/03/26/books/ 26 bhagat.html?_r=1
4. http://www.fastcompany.com/most-creative –people /2011/Chetan- Bhagat-writer
5. UTV Bags Film Rights of 'Revolution 2020'. // News India Times;11/25/2011, Vol. 42 Issue 47, p22
6. Chetan Bhagat. Rahman, A. R. // Time International (Atlantic Edition);5/10/2010, Vol. 175 Issue 18, p57
7. Chetan Bhagat. Rahman, A. R. // Time;5/10/2010, Vol. 175 Issue 18, p99
8. 50 Power people: Rank 41 to 50. // India Today;4/29/2013, p15

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