The author, the columnist and the award winning screenplay
writer, Chetan Bhagat was the spotlight of the evening with the International launch
of his latest book ‘Half Girlfriend’at the 33rd Sharjah
International Book Fair on 14th November 2014.
The Director
of Sharjah International Book Fair, Mr. Ahmed Al Ameri and External Affairs
Executive Mr. Mohan Kumar, officially launched Chetan Bhagat’s latest book, ‘Half
Girlfriend’.
Chetan Bhagat addressing the audience Photo Credits: Neesha Gameiro |
“You have to thrill, excite and surprise. If you are not
reinventing it is boring. And competition comes in. Always try to do different
things. Passion in intentions can be told. People can say if you have
passionately done your job or not. So, make sure your passion is there when you
are doing something,” he said.
Bhagat shared his technique that allows him to stand out in the
crowd, create a difference and gives him a platform to share his passion. “I do it by changing the game. How come you
have heard of me more than any other Indian writers? I’m not the best one. Then
how do you see me much more? Because, I use something in my life called ‘Changing
the Game’.”
He believes that change is a
fact of life. And that today’s world is changing so fast that if you don’t know
how to change, it won’t happen. Hence, changing the game is nothing but,
winning by adaptation. There are winners who do it better than others and there
are winners who change the game. Just by changing the game we can win even if we
are not the best. Sometimes, it happens
by chance. Sometimes, it is a habit and then there’s a strategy.
When Chetan Bhagat’s first book Five Point Someone got published, almost all writers were writing
high complex vocabulary books. While nobody was writing simple books, his book turned
out to be one of the “first simple books” for young adults.
“Write in a
simple manner, and engage more people,” he said.
Bhagat said that
he himself was unaware of the fact that the percentage of people who liked simple
English and wanted simple vocabulary in books, was high. That was how his
journey began.
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“The title Half Girlfriend is such that, I have never had a
book where the title has generated so much curiosity. People have been asking-‘How
can one have a half girlfriend? Well, you have to read the book to find out’,”
he said.
“Ultimately I’m doing what I believe in. And that is what I’m
trying to convey. That people may say don’t do this don’t do that. If you
really believe in it, you have a plan; you should just go for it. And people
will consider it too. It doesn’t matter if it’s in Hindi or English. What you
say matters. Language doesn’t matter in fact because of that snobbery is where
Half Girlfriend was born. It’s about a boy who doesn’t know English. So, it’s
an English book about a boy who doesn’t know English and he’s only writing the
book,” he added.
He also spoke about “leading
the industry” as one of the steps to achievement and how his competition is not
with any writer, but his competition is only with Candy Crush, as children
today spend half their time playing Candy Crush. Bhagat mentions that his main
aim in creating a title like “Half Girlfriend” is to capture and deviate the
attention of students from playing Candy Crush and spending time on Whatsapp,
to making them read his book which would not only make children efficient
readers but would also make them aware of what his book ‘Half Girlfriend’ highlights,
i.e., the reality of rural areas in India.
His concluding remarks ended with a
quote that he personally loves to share with his fans
“We all love to gossip and Indians
are specially PHD in it. But, there are so many things we have to improve about
ourselves. So, rather than criticizing others which is fun but, frankly of no
use, better keep yourselves so busy in improving yourselves that you have no
time to criticize others.”- Chetan Bhagat
By Maryam Khan
The writer is a final year undergraduate student in the School of Media & Communication specializing in Journalism
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