Keep off the grass by Karan Bajaj - Breezy read

It had more similarities to '5 Point Someone'. The place of the story is the same, IIM , 3 friends, 1 by default brilliant, problems with the system etc etc.. But in spite of all these, it still had its place because it was not about the system altogether, it was more of these people and in particular Samrat , Sarkar and Vinod. Each from a different background and how they manage just fine in their hiatus in IIM Bangalore. Let me be a little frank, it was as gritty as 5 Point Someone. I am not sure what was missing but something was missing. I am not able to put my fingers on it yet. But as far as the writing goes, it is cool. It tells the crazy tale of Samrat, an NRI, who like most of them comes to India to find his soul... or what was missing in his soul..whatever..



After reading this novel, suddenly the f word didn't seem like a profanity after all...It was used so commonly.. Well you do see it in movies and you hear it from people around you more often nowadays...but somehow I have always had this thing about these words.. I don't mind using them again one particular person in my whole life..but in general I wouldn't use it...



Do people smoke grass like they smoke cigarettes when they study ? Gosh ! I was wondering about that mostly. May be since my under graduation went off in a girls college I might not know that..but seriously do they get is so easily? Don't they think of its side effects ? In this story, no one is made a role model, no one is shown in as a goodie goodie bollywood hero sort of guy.. in contrast to it, most of the time, they are shown as the role models of what not to be done in life.... I would say only Vinod was an exception, but that is because he has already seen the worse he doesn't want to mess it up again :)



The highlight is Samrat's encounter with Ruskin Bond. He just wanted to reaffirm from someone who has been in his shoes already to confirm on his decision. And there ends the story. It is a cool breezy read if you just want to unwind without thinking too much. Just like Chetan Bhagat's novels it has enough humour and witty one liners.



Go for it for a One time read.