CHAPTER-7

CRITICAL ANALYAIS OF
REVOLUTION 2020

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 CHAPTER-7
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF REVOLUTION 2020

Revolution 2020 is the fifth novel by Chetan Bhagat. In this novel, Bhagat has exposed in
detail some sensitive issues of contemporary India, like the rotten education system and
dishonesty as well as bribery in public life. Bhagat is known as the voice of India‘s
raising entrepreneurial class. He rocked the contemporary Indian sensibility with his
thought provoking insight in shifting paradigms of human conditions knotted in labyrinth
of love, corruption and ambition. His creative vision Revolution 2020 is justification of
the fact how the unbridled ambition have irrigated the creepers of corruption in which
‗love‘, the only consolation for human survival is going to prove a weak stem. The novel
reveals necked reality of our nation. According to M. Sreelatha,

The post-Independence Indian situation is a sad saga of

degeneration, decay of moral values and corruption rampant in

the society. The politicians, academician, bureaucrats, public

representative have opened an era of corruption, dishonesty and

hypocrisy that has percolated down to the grassroots levels. This

everyday Indian reality has been brilliantly portrayed in Chetan

Bhagat‘s novel Revolution 2020. (222)

The plot of Revolution 2020 revolves around three friends- Gopal, Raghav and Aarti-
whose lives begin from the same primary school in Varansi and whose destinies are
intertwined. The story is recounted by Gopal, the protagonist of the story, which focuses
on Gopal‘s passionate love for Aarti. Gopal‘s father was a retired teacher. His mother
died when he was four years old, so his father brought him up. Aarti is the gorgeous and
debonair daughter of the District Magistrate who is personally honest but reluctant to
looking the other way at the corrupt dealings. Her grandfather was a legendary and
respected political leader. Raghav, who hails from a middle class family, is Gopal‘s
childhood friend. He is an outstandingly clever lad who cracks JEE with an all India rank
of 1123 and becomes a sort of local hero. Having grown up with Gopal, he knows how
badly his poor friend wants to join an engineering college that will enable him to fulfill

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his parents‘ dream and achieve better things in life. But unluckily he lacks either the
capital to help him plan or the merit and stubbornness to crack the difficult entrance
examination. Aarti is Gopal‘s girl friend and love. He fell in love with Aarti from the day
he stole a piece of chocolate cake from the tiffin box. The situation which began with this
unhappy occurrence gradually blooms into love through incalculable boat rides over the
holy water of the Ganga.

The three friends cherish their own aims in life. Gopal seeks monetary means and comfort
in life; Raghav wants to bring social and political transformation in the country, and Aarti
aspires to become an air hostess. Raghav joins IIT-BHU not merely to earn a degree in
engineering but also to fulfill his ambition to marshal in corruption-free society as a
journalist. After being futile in both the IIT-JEE and AIEEE, Gopal is enforced by his
father to shift to Kota, the ‗capital of coaching classes‘, to join a coaching center as a
repeater, there by spending the entire savings of his retired father. But his preparation for
the next entrance examination is severely disrupted by the sudden and shocking revelation
that Aarti has developed affair with Raghav during his absence from Varansi. Due to
disappointment in love, he flunks again to crack the AIEEE. Gopal‘s old father cannot
accept the repetitive failures of his son and eventually dies, leaving him an orphan. But he
is left no time for bereavement, because creditors and loan-sharks begin to compel him
for loan repayments. With the past debts totaling two lakhs, Gopal strikes a deal with the
local MLA, Shukla, to start a private engineering college on his family‘s disputed land,
compelling his dishonest uncle to hand over his share at a throw away price with the help
of Suklaji‘s goons. Uneducated and extremely poor Gopal thus becomes the director of
the new college-Ganga Tech College and starts learning about a corrupt education system
whose crooked workings he has to eventually accept. His meeting and discussion with
Sunil- the event manager of the career fair held in Varanasi, serves as the eye-opener.

Gopal learns that he will have to pay bribes to just about everyone, from the government
officials for bending or relaxing rules and giving sanctions, to professors for joining the
college as faculty. Bhagat makes a serious attempt to expose the state of India‘s lucrative
private education business which is not only the lifeblood but very often the only hope for
millions of young men and women from small towns and villages who do not have the
merit to pass the entrance exam for engineering colleges which symbolize for them as
assured future. His serious reflection of the much advertised coaching system is a dark
and dismal sensor of the reality for aspiring middle class students who leave their homes
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with the last savings of their parents to try repeatedly and unsuccessfully for a course
which is ruthlessly designed for the elimination of the weakest. According to M.
Sreelatha,

Although the main plot of the story revolves around the

triangular love between Gopal, Raghav and Aarti. Chetan Bhagat

intends to convey a social message to goodness over corruption.

The novel depicts a corrupt social system where money can buy

everything. Bhagat highlights all the aspects of life in India

including the political, educational and social systems. Mainly,

he focuses on the glaring effects of corruption. It is sad to know

the grim realities of private educational institutions for

bargaining fees, appointing a dean who acts as businessman to

sell the prestige of the college trade fair, arranging faculty who

resembles Bollywood thugs to fight with men of opposite college

competing for admission. (226)

In the meantime, Raghav completes his engineering studies and joins a popular news
paper Dainik as a trainee reporter. He starts serially exposing Shukla‘s corrupt dealings
like the GAP (Ganga Action Plan) scam worth several crores of rupees that gives a bad
name to Gopal‘s college which is actually financed by the corrupt MLA in the name of
private trust. Illegal rezoning of the land controversy also causes great damage to the
reputation of the recently established college. Shukla takes revenge by getting Raghav
sacked from the job. But the latter hits back by starting his own newsletter named
Revolution 2020. It was launched avowed purpose of starting a crusade against corruption
and lack of probity in public life. Raghav publishes an article about the Ganga water
treatment scam which proves beyond doubt that Shukla is a corrupt politician who loots
public funds. The MLA is forced to resign and is arrested by the police.

Aarti, now a Guest Relationship Manager at newly opened Ramada Hotel develops a
deeper friendship with Gopal and starts spending time with him as Raghav, busy with his
social revolution, has no time to spare for her. Gopal gradually reveals his love for Aarti

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and gradually succeeds in winning her over, body and soul. Overjoyed by his victory,
Gopal rushes to Raghav‘s office to tell him that Aarti no longer belongs to him and he is
more successful than him.

However, a shock awaits him in Raghav‘s office. An incident of meeting there with a
young boy named Keshav reminds him of his own innocent childhood. He realizes that he
was also as innocent as Keshav but his ambition has led him to give in to the corrupt
system while Keshav still possesses his innocence. He also comes to know that Raghav
may not be economically successful like him but he is better person. This changes
Gopal‘s heart. So, on Gopal‘s birthday when Aarti comes to his bungalow to confess her
love for him, Gopal intentionally invites two call girls to make her believe that he is a
man without character. Aarti, shocked to see him with two whores, leaves the house
immediately and Gopal learns from the scrapbook left behind by her that she actually
loves him much more than Raghav. A heartbroken Gopal feels that even though he loves
Aarti, Raghav will make her happier. He lets her go for the good and convinces the editor
of Dainik to hire Raghav back. He swallows all the hurt and sacrifices his love so that his
friend can start youth revolution in India to conquer the existing decayed system and lead
in the enhanced one. According to Rodrigues:

As the plot of the novel takes Gopal, Raghav and Aarti to the

depths of desperation, love, ambition and crushing

disappointment; the novelist very realistically tries to reflect the

state of India‘s private education that is not just the lifeblood but

sometimes the only hope for millions of students from small

town and villages turning their bright eyes at an assured and

uplifting future. (108)ugust-2014 • ISSN No 2277 - 8160

The novel is mostly set in the holy city of Varansi except a few parts which take place in
Kota, generally regarded as the coaching capital of India. Bhagat has said in several
interviews that he chose Varansi as the setting of his novel because he had a very special
connection to the city. The setting is introduces by Gopal in the following words:

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 I come from Varanasi, which my social studies teacher says is

one of the oldest cities on the earth. People come to live here in

1200 BC. The city gets its name from two rivers, Varune and

Asi, which pass through the city and meet Ganga. People call my

city several names- Kashi, Benares or Banaras-depending on

where they come from. Some call it the city of temples, for we

have thousands of them, and some the City of Learning, as

Varansi apparently has great places to study. I simply call

Varansi my home. I stay near Gadholia, a place so noisy, you

need to put cotton balls in your ears if you want to sleep.

Gadholiya is near the ghats, along the river Ganga. So if the

crowds of Gadholia become too much to take, you can always

run to the ghats and sit but the Ganga and watch the temples.

Some call my city beautiful, holy and spiritual- especially when

we have to introduce it to foreigner tourists. Many call it filthy

and a dump. I don‘t think my city is dirty. It is the people who

make it dirty.

Anyway, they say you must come to Varansi once in a lifetime.

Well, some of us spend a lifetime here. (13)

The above lines generate some fascination towards the city which makes the person think
even to visit Kashi once in his or her life time. The description of various ghats at Varansi
is beautiful. When Gopal flunk in the entrance exam he becomes upset and meets Aarti at
Aasi ghat for boating. Then there is a narration of Dashashwamedh ghat.
―Dashashwamedh, believed to be the place where Brahma performed the ashwamedha
yagnas (horse sacrifice) is the hub of all holy activities on the bank of Ganga in
Varansi.‖(35) After JEE result Raghav becomes a mini celebrity. Gopal is disturbed and
he meets again Aarti at Lalita Ghat, quieter than Dashashwamedh ghat. Meanwhile
Bhagat also narrates Manikarnika ghat which is at the left side of Lalita ghat in this way.

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―On our left, flames flickered from never-ending funeral pyres in the Manikarnika Ghat.
The ghat, named after Shiva‘s erring that he dropped here during a dance, is considered
the holiest place for cremation. (45)‖ One can also enjoy the narration of aarti in the
below lines:

I saw the evening aarti from a distance. A dozen priests, holding

giant lamps the size of flaming torches, prayed in synchronized

moves as singers chanted in the background. Hundreds of tourists

gathered around the priests. No matter how many times you see

it, the aarti on Varansi ghat manages to mesmerize each time.

(45)

Though Bhagat describes Kota in some chapters of the book, this setting provides him to depict
the contemporary coaching classes system and the craze of parents as well as their children to join
IIT institutes. On his father‘s insistence, Gopal goes to Kota for the preparation of IIT
entrance test. Here the writer has realistically describes the scenario of coaching
industries. There are number of coaching classes in Kota which guide students for IIT
entrance exam. Some top institutes held their own entrance exams. To clear the entrance
exam of such institutes there are small tuition classes in Kota. Gopal says, ―In fact, Kota
now had small coaching shops to coach you to get into the top coaching classes. From
there, you would be coached to get into an engineering college.‖(53) The coaching
institutes are no less than the bigger offices with luxurious infrastructure to increase the
seriousness of the entrance exams. The twelfth standard student never goes to school as
they attend the classes for IIT entrance. The coaching institutes have agreements with the
principal who includes flexible attendance policy. Gopal states, ―It was rumoured that the
CBSC school receive a handsome kickback from Career Path for the cooperation
extended.‖ (65)

The day of exam is very important for all the students in India. This day is described in
the following lines:

The city has changed, but the JEE exam center in Kota gave me

the same feeling as last year. Parents came by taxi-loads and

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 auto-loads. Some rich kids came in air-conditioned cars. Mother

performed little pujas and rituals for their children, ironically,

right before they went in to show over me. I didn‘t care. Tilak on

the heads and curd in the mouth didn‘t matter. Once you went

inside, you had to beat the hell out of the ninety-nine per cent of

the half a million students sitting for the exam across the country.

(91)

On his return, Gopal is on the ninth cloud. His feelings towards Aarti, along with
Varanasi are noteworthy in following lines:

Only the sights and the smells of Varansi came to receive me at

the station…..

Even the filthy and crowded streets on Gadholia seemed

beautiful to me. No place like your hometown. More than

anything, I wanted to meet Aarti. Every inch of Varansi

reminded me of her. People come to my city to feel the presence

of god, but I could feel her presence everywhere. (97)

His father cannot tolerate his failure in AIEEE so he died. Gopal becomes orphan. His
death gives Bhagat opportunity to narrate the importance of Death in Kashi.

Ease of cremation is one solid advantage of being in Varansi.

The death industry drives the city. The electric crematorium at

Harishchandra Ghat and the original, and still revered,

Manikarnika Ghat burn nearly forty thousand bodies a year, or

more than a hundred corpses a day. Only little children and

people bitten with cobra are not cremated; their bodies are often

dumped straight into the river. ‗Kasyam maranam mukti‘, goes

the Sanskrit saying, which means dying in kasha leads to

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 liberation. Hindus believe that if they die here, there is as

automatic upgrade to heaven, no matter what the sin committed

on earth. It is amazing how god provides this wild-card entry at

death, which in turn allows my city to earn a living….

Varansi is probably the only city on earth where Death is a

tourist attraction. (109)

Revolution 2020 is a story of youth‘s ambition and love in the background of corruption
in our society and youth‘s reaction to it. Bhagat adroitly delineates the issues of the
contemporary Indian society which have an effect on the lives of Indian youth through the
characters of Gopal, Raghav and Aarti. Commenting on Bhagat‘s characterization, Sanjay
Kumar states:

The way different characters and situations are developed by

novelists against complex socio-cultural practices offers the

readers an opportunity to see people and social institutions in an

interactive mode. Whether it is the characters that bring in even a

shade of change in the social practices or the social practices

which facilitate or thwart the free growth of human personality

avenues for social criticism are opened. (Kumar)

Gopal, the narrator of novel is the face of ordinary lower-middle class student of India.
He looks ordinary having little bit of belly. Bhagat writes about him, ―The rest of him –
whetish complexion, modest five-feet-seven-inch height, side-parted hair –was
reassuringly normal.‖ (3-4) He writes, ―My father didn‘t give me any pocket money, and
he didn‘t have much money in his own pocket.‖ (14) Gopal loses his mother at the age of
four. Gopal and his father have only disputed agricultural land. Gopal‘s uncle Ghanshyam
taya-ji has screwed them by cunningly taking the possession over their agricultural land.
This issue is then handled by court which moves slower than a bullock-cart.

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Like Samir in Five Point Someone, Gopal in Revolution 2020 is forced by his father to
join engineering. Bhagat states here that Students in India select the career not according
to their interests but according to their parents‘ interest. Gopal writes, ―I didn‘t
particularly want to become an engineer. Baba wished to see me as one, and that was why
I went to JSR.‖ (23) It becomes difficult for the youth to manage the family expectations.
Gopal is average student, though not dull. He joins the coaching classes for IIT entrance
exam only for his father. The education in India is so competitive that a few mistakes in
the examination can change student‘s entire life forever. The difference between Gopal‘s
and Raghav‘s result is not more than ten marks. But lakhs of students stand between
Gopal and Raghav. Raghav gets admission in the IIT BHU while Gopal is nowhere.
Gopal has two options –either to get into B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science) or to settle in a
college that demands donation. Gopal hasn‘t scored poorly. He says, ―I would be one of
those unfortunate cases who had done well, but not well enough.‖ (30) When students are
not able to complete their parents‘ hope, they get disappointed and have to speak lie when
they get lower ranks because they do not want to upset the parents. Gopal also avoids the
topic of result with his father. Telling parents about failure is harder than the actual
failure. Students work hard even though it is out of their reach to get into IITs only to
fulfill their parents‘ wish. When they fail, parents scold them instead of being with them
in tough times. This is one of the reasons why so many students commit suicide after
getting flunked in the exams. It is often because of their parents‘ expectation that students
commit suicide.

Gopal becomes ready for the next attempt without his wish. When Aarti asks him whether
engineering is his passion, his reply reflects the goal of Indian middle class youths, ―We
are from a simple Indian family. We don‘t‘ ask these questions. We want to make a
living. Engineering gives us that.‖ (36) It is said that one should follow one‘s passion but
what is the use of such pursuit if it doesn‘t earn you bread and butter. However common
public have less opportunity of chasing their passion. They have to join such education
stream which provides them instant employment.

When Raghav cracks the exam, Gopal says,

―I had to meet Raghav. I had not even congratulated him. True, I

did not feel any happiness about his JEE selection. I should have,

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 but did not. After all we had been friends for ten years. One

should be happy for pals. However, he would be an IIT student

and I‘d be a fucking nobody. Somehow, I could not feel thrilled

about that.‖ (39)

The above lines show that recent education system creates enmity even between
childhood friends. Bhagat has depicted true image of the coaching classes for IIT (Indian
Institute of Technology) entrance exams in Kota. Gopal writes,

―In fact, Kota now had small coaching shops to coach you to get

into the top coaching classes. From there, you would be coached

to get into an engineering college. Once there, you study to

become an engineer. Of course, most engineers want to do an

MBA (Master of Business Administration). Hence, the same

coaching class cycle would begin again.‖ (53)

Gopal‘s hard work helps him to reach top twenty five percentile in a class for the first
time. However, when he realizes about Aarti and Raghav, he loses his focus on studies on
which he has spent a year and his father, sixty thousand bucks. The day Aarti cuts off
contact with him, he stopped doing his daily practice sheets. In his worse time he comes
in contact with another loser Prateek who has come to Kota for IIT entrance but could not
do anything. Prateek‘s habit of drinking affects Gopal and in spite of his limited pocket
money, Gopal starts taking wine to forget Aarti. His teacher starts to see him as a quitter
and stops paying attention to him. He has to face with another problem of paying for rum.
Though he knows that his father has no money and has borrowed money for his fees, he
has no choice but asking for more money in the name of purchasing new books. He
knows that he will not be able to make into IIT as he has lost his focus. He knows it well
that he is in a bad company. He knows it that his father has taken a loan of fifty thousand
for his studies and has no money now. He knows that his stay in Kota is completely a
waste of more money as his expanse has increased due to his drinking habit. Though he
knows all these facts, he cannot go back home due to his father‘s expectations. Gopal
says:

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 Grip. Yes. That‘s the word. The trick to these entrance exams is

that you have to get a grip on them. You need a game plan. What

are your strong subjects, which are your weak ones? Are you

working with your teachers on the weak areas? Are you tracking

your progress on the mock-tests? Are you thinking about nothing

but the exam all day? Do you eat your meals and take your bath

as fast as possible so that you have more time to study? If your

answer is ‗yes‘ to all these questions, that‘s when you can say

you have a grip. That‘s only way to have a shot at a seat. Of

course you could be one of those naturally talented students who

never have to study much. But most of us are not, courtesy our

parents‘ mediocre genes. Ironically, these same parents who

donated these dumb genes take the longest time to understand

that their child is not Einstein‘s clone. (81-82)

Prateek‘s words have a lot of truth in them, ―The selection rate is less than three percent.
Most of us can‘t crack these tests, basic probability. But who will drill it into our parents‘
head?‖ (80)

He becomes comfortable in Kota only because of his daily chat with her. He gets
tremendously frustrated when he gets the hint of her relation with Raghav. When Aarti
comes back in his life after three months, he improves in his academic performance.
Aarti‘s call on his birthday improves his academic graph and again he finds a position in
the list of the most improved boys at Career Path. Love is the only motivation of his life.
His life is totally depends on her. He writes, ―Aarti had me go back to studies in a big
way. May be it was her simple ‗how was your day?‘ in our chats.‖ (86)

After wasting the whole year and studying for IIT entrance examination in Kota all alone,
and putting his father permanently in debt, he doesn‘t get proper result of IIT. The lack of
a few marks is enough to fall behind ten thousand ranks. He was distracted for a while
because of Aarti‘s affair with Raghav. And perhaps that is the reason he couldn‘t make it.

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However, due to quite limited seats, everyone cannot make into IIT. But parents do not
understand all that. They scold their children or slap them because their expectations are
not satisfied. Their parents do not support them when they need them the most. Gopal has
also thought to end his life by jumping into the river.

IITs have limited seats. They can accommodate only ten percent of engineering aspirants.
Rests of the students have to end up in private engineering colleges. There are dozens of
private colleges. But the quality of education at such institutes is an issue. There is no
guarantee of placement after the degree. Students doing engineering from such institutes
have to settle with some jobs like call centers or credit card sales. When Gopal gets
shocked after learning from Vineet that one has to settle with call center jobs after
engineering, Vineet says, ―We, like millions of other students, are the losers in the Great
Indian Education Race. Be happy with whatever you get. Of course, if your parents are
rich, do an MBA after B.Tech. Another shot at a job.‖ (10)

When the average students don‘t get good rank private colleges are the only options.
They have to spend around one lakh a year for four years of engineering degree which
does not give any guarantee of job. Gopal for instance has no money. Vineet‘s words
have ironical tone when he says, ―But your parents pay the fees. And they get to brag to
everyone their son is becoming an engineer. You are free for four years.‖ (107) Parents
force their children to study engineering only because they want others to praise for it.
Son pursuing engineering seems to be the achievement for parents. Parents satisfy their
own ego through the degree of their children. Gopal‘s father dies out of shock to see his
son a failure second time after spending sixty thousand at Kota. It is only due to his inapt
expectations from his son that results into misery. Bhagat has shown the predicament of
youth in the character of Gopal when he becomes alone after the death of his father. He
doesn‘t have anyone in the world. His father leaves him in debt.

He has lost his only support in life i.e. his father. His uncle has illegally taken possession
over his land. He seems to have no future. He has lost the girl whom he has loved the
most. His only ambition in life is to become rich as he has seen poverty throughout his
life.

In such circumstances, he happens to meet the corrupt politician, MLA Shukla who helps
him to get his land and offers him to help to build a college over his land. He knows that

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MLA Shukla is corrupt and his plan of opening a college is wrong but he surrenders his
moral values against the circumstances to become rich. MLA‘s support makes him
powerful and power corrupts him. He says, ―He offered me a chance. A job, an
admission, a fucking chance, that is all one needs in life sometimes.‖ (127)

Jealousy and lack of self confidence are one of the biggest weaknesses of contemporary
Indian youth. They struggle with each other to show themselves better than others. Gopal
feels jealous of Raghav‘s flat stomach as compared to his belly. His jealousy grows when
Raghav gets an admission in IIT and he doesn‘t. His struggle becomes strong when
Raghav wins Aarti‘s heart. He thinks that Aarti selects Raghav because he is successful
and considers himself a looser as he cannot do anything better in life. So he grabs the
chance of building a college with MLA Shukla. Gopal considers himself successful by
establishing a college even though by corrupt means. Like most of the youths in India,
success in life means money for him. Therefore he makes a show off his college and
office.

Indian youths mostly want good career, money and a girl. He thinks that Aarti deserves
better than Raghav. Gopal represents those young people in India who cherish the dream
of becoming rich as they have seen enough of poverty in their childhood. They do not
have passion in life as they cannot afford to chase a passion due to lack of money.
Therefore they do not mind to take up the crooked ways of becoming rich. Being rich is
considered to be the achievement among Indian middle-class youths. He finds Raghav his
rival also because Aarti became his girl friend whom Gopal loves the most. When Aarti
comes back to Gopal and he has to declare it to Raghav, he takes pleasure in imagining
Raghav‘s condition while he will declare that fact. However, his visit to Raghav‘s broken
office changes his heart towards Raghav. He has gone to his office with the purpose of
showing off his new Mercedes car and to declare his relationship with Aarti. But when
Gopal visits his office, he finds a villager pleading Raghav to come to his village and see
the situation where half of the children are sick and six children have died due to sewage.
The farmer wants him to write a story of his village Roshanpur where some other
politician has cheated on river cleansing plant. He says, ―But nobody is reporting it. The
authorities are not doing anything. You are our only hope.‖ (261) The farmer considers
him ―the bravest and the most honest man in the city.‖ (261) Raghav gets ready to visit
the village which is a hundred and twenty kilometers away and requires to change three

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buses to reach. This changes Gopal‘s attitude towards Raghav. Gopal envisions his
childhood in the face of Keshav, the farmer‘s malnourished son sleeping in his lap.
Keshav‘s gaze makes him uncomfortable and his inner voice asks him, ―What have you
become, Gopal?‖ (263)

Gopal saw the nightmare in which Keshav dies due to sewage water reveals his soft inner
self which is still not corrupt. Dream reveals one‘s hidden self. He has taken corrupt ways
to become rich but deep down he is sensitive and humane. He realizes why Keshav keeps
coming to him because, like Keshav, he was innocent, sweet and unaware of the world in
his childhood. As life has given him failure and misery several times, and trashes the
innocence out of him, he has killed his Keshav, for the world doesn‘t care about the
sweetness. But his innocent self is not dead completely. Otherwise he would have crushed
Raghav by declaring his love with Aarti. May be that innocent, good part of human
beings never dies –we just walk over it for a while.

Gopal gets his innocence back and attains realization. He can be engaged to Aarti within a
week and marry her in three months. He can become an MLA after marriage. His
university approval can become easy after that. He can expand his college. He has lived
alone too long. He can start a family and have kids with Aarti. But as he writes,
―Sometimes life isn‘t about what you want to do, but what you ought to do.‖ (268) He
decides not to blow Raghav down by seizing his girlfriend. Therefore he plans to call call-
girls at the time when Aarti is expected to come. He plans in such a way that when Aarti
enters his room, she finds him lying on bed with two girls half-naked. Aarti leaves him
forever and gets married to Raghav. He even uses his personal relation to get Raghav his
job back at Dainik without letting him know about it. He helps Raghav to get the things
right with Aarti. Gopal gives Raghav an idea of becoming an MLA by getting married to
Aarti. When Raghav asks him why he is helping him, Gopal replies, ―Everyone has to do
their bit.‖ (288) Raghav contests the election and he has fair chance of becoming an
MLA. It could have been Gopal him-self. But Gopal says, ―He‘ll be a better MLA than
me. What would I have done? Made more money. With him, there is a chance he could
change something.‖ (294) At the end of the novel, Gopal is a changed person who too
wants to change the nation. He says, ―The revolution will come… We will have a better
nation one day… Once Ganga Tech becomes big, I will try to fix the system. I am sick of
giving envelops to people.‖ (295)

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Raghav is the representative of a small intelligent group of Indian youths. He is brilliant
in studies from the beginning. His attitude from early childhood is honest. He hesitates in
stealing cake from Aarti‘s lunch box when he was in class 5th. He gets good rank in
AIEEE and JEE and becomes a mini-celebrity in the town as the local newspaper carried
his story. He gets into IIT BHU. But he is passionate about changing the nation through
writing. He starts his efforts of changing the nation by launching a college magazine. On
this inauguration of magazine, his address to the audience echo the stand youth took in
the anticorruption movement led by Anna Hazare in the year 2012:

The world has changed. Our college, our city, our country need

to change too… Who is going to change them? We are. It starts

here. We will shake the world… We will print what nobody has

the guts to print. Issues that affects us. No bullshit…. Our first

cover story is about the state of our hostel kitchens. Our secret

team went and took pictures. Have a look at how your food is

prepared. (99)

Raghav displays the pictures of cockroaches on the kitchen floor, flies feasting on mithai
and mess workers kneading dough with their feet. He starts the change from his own
college and sends the copy of this magazine with pictures to the campus director.

Raghav and Gopal are juxtaposed in the microcosm of Indian youth with two different
attitudes. The former represents the attitude of bringing change in the nation while the
latter represents the attitude of accepting the present condition. Raghav has worked hard
and gets into IIT just because of his father‘s wish. However, he wants to be a journalist to
change the nation after getting engineering degree from India‘s most reputed institute.
Gopal says, ―You don‘t come to a professional engineering college to edit magazines.
People work their ass off here to get a good job.‖ (100) Raghav‘s attitude of changing the
nation is seen when he replies, ―That‘s such a narrow-minded view. And what about the
things around us? The food being cooked in an unhygienic manner. Labs with outdated
machines. Look at our city. Why is Varanasi so dirty? Who is going to clean our rivers?‖
(100) Gopal represents those youths who accept the wrong things and get used to it. He
argues, ―Oh fuck off… Nobody can change anything. Hostel workers are not going to

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cook like your mother. And Varanasi has been the world‘s dumping ground for thousands
of years. Everyone comes here to dump their sins. Does anyone give a fuck about us
residents, the people who deal with all the crap left behind?‖ (100-101)

Raghav takes part in university politics. He loses university election for general secretary
because he believes, ―One has to be fair and win. Else, what is the point of wining?‖
(131) Unlike Gopal, he doesn‘t surrender himself to corrupt ways though he loses many a
time. Raghav‘s passion for changing the world is seen from the fact that after working
hard to get admission in IIT and completing his B.Tech. From India‘s most reputed
institute, he rejects the job offer from India‘s leading software company i.e. Infosys and
decides to join a Dainik as a news reporter for one third of salary Infosys offered. He
represents those few numbers of youths who have the courage to chuck the best career for
making a difference in the world. Raghav‘s parents are upset with his decision. But he
doesn‘t want to use his degree just for making money. He doesn‘t care about his parents.
He believes that the revolution begins at home. He dreams of a real people‘s revolutions
in India.

He takes up an ordinary job of a reporter rejecting the lucrative job at Infosys. He goes on
his dad‘s old scooter to different place. He is not affected by Gopal‘s grand college and
luxurious office. He is incorruptible. He rejects the job of a lecturer offered by Gopal in
which he doesn‘t need to come to college but just to help the college for the inspection.
He doesn‘t want to get associated with Gopal‘s college because it was built with Shukla‘s
illegal money.

Raghav shows the courage of writing an article entitled ‗New engineering college opens
in city –with corruption money?‘ on the same day of college inauguration exposing MLA
Shukla and his involvement in the corruption. Raghav‘s article exposes that the money
MLA Shukla has given for college comes from the corruption he has done from Ganga
Action plan scam. Due to his article CM cancels his visit to the college inauguration. He
writes articles about black-marketers, ration shop owners, LPG cylinders sold illegal, the
RTO officer taking bribes and the routine stuff. His article entitled, ‗Varanasi Nagar
Nigam eats, builder cheats‘ about illegal buildings constructions and VNN‘s inaction
upsets Gopal and Shukla-ji as Ganga Tech was among the list of controversial building
approvals. Shukla-ji takes revenge on Raghav for writing against him. He talks to the
higher management of Dainik and gets Raghav fired from the job. Bhagat has nicely
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portrayed the condition of committed and honest person in a corrupt system. He has to
remain jobless though he was the best and the most honest reporter of Dainik.

Though he loses his job, he doesn‘t lose his spirit. He says, ―I will find a job, Gopal. And
tell that MLA of yours –just because he could get a trainee fired from Dainik doesn‘t
mean he can silence the truth.‖ (196) Raghav cannot get a job in any newspaper in
Varanasi as Shukla-ji has informed all the major editors. Therefore, he starts his own
newspaper called Revolution 2020. Aarti explains Raghav‘s purpose behind his
newspaper, ―Revolution 2020. That‘s his goal. That India must have a full-blown
revolution by 2020. Power will be with the youth. We will dismantle the old corrupt
system and put a new one in place.‖ (197) The headline and the article of his first issues
of Revolution 2020 resonate the anti-corruption movement in India led by Anna Hazare
in which lot of young people supported him. It reads:

What do you say about a society whose top leaders are the

biggest crooks? What do you do in a system where almost

anyone in power is corrupt? India has suffered enough. From

childhood we are told India is a poor country. Why? There are

countries in this world where an average person makes more than

fifty times that an average Indian makes. Fifty times? Are their

people really fifty times more capable than us? Does an Indian

farmer not work hard? Does an Indian student no study?... Why,

why are we then doomed to be poor? (205)

Raghav is one of many youths who came leaving their comfort and supported Anna
Hazare‘s anti-corruption movement. Raghav seems to be Bhagat‘s mouth-piece when he
further writes, ―This has to stop. We have to clean the system… We have to start a
revolution, a revolution that resets our corrupt system. Raghav‘s mission of Revolution
2020 seems to be Bhagat‘s mission:

People will realize who is fooling them. It could take ten years. I

call it Revolution 2020, the year in which it will happen, the

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 movement that will finally shake the muck off India. When the

Internet will connect all colleges across the county. When we

will go on strike, shut down everything, until things are fixed.

When young people will leave their classes and offices and come

on to the streets. When Indians will get justice and the guilty will

be punished. (205- 206)

His first article on MLA Shukla was without proper evidences but he writes a concrete
article with all the proofs about MLA‘s corruption of 20 crores rupees in Ganga Action
Plan which was meant for cleaning the river. His article exposes MLA Shukla by citing
all the proofs of how MLA managed to dump the dirty water elsewhere in the river and
claim to have cleaned it. The article has a picture of Varuna River, with a dot to show the
exact point where the effluents were released. He puts MLA Shukla in the trouble by
exposing fake invoice, contractor-MLA link and the audacity to dump the dirty water
right back into the revered Ganga. His article attracts the attentions of all the mainstream
newspapers and news channels. All the mainstream news papers and news channels
interview him and he exposes MLA Shukla completely by presenting all the evidences
against MLA. Bhagat has portrayed the ideal youth image through the character of
Raghav. He is such a person who cannot be bought. He cannot be threatened either.

Raghav lives for changing India for better. Raghav seems to be Bhagat‘s spokesman
when he proclaims his mission of revolution in the year 2020 for ―A society where truth,
justice and equality are respected more than power. Such societies progress the most.‖
(243) He further elaborates his point, ―Power-driven societies resemble animal societies.
―Might is right‖ is the rule of the jungle and applies to beasts. And beasts do not progress,
humans do.‖ (244)

Raghav has to pay for saying the truth like a few people has paid in India when they
opposed corruption. Shukla-ji‘s men attack Raghav‘s press and break his only computer.
He has no job, no business and soon nobody would remember about his paper after the
story dies. Though he has lost everything, he hasn‘t lost his passion for changing the
nation. In absence of computer, he starts writing his articles on the malpractices in

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handwritten sheets, get them photocopied and circulate them. He even has lost the
electricity connection in his small office.

When Gopal asks him with genuine sympathy, ―Why do you do all this, Raghav? You are
smart. Why don‘t you just make money like rest of us?‖ (264), his reply makes him the
representative of those young people who took initiatives and supported the anti-
corruption movement, ―Someone has to do it, Gopal. How will thing change?... We all
have to do our bit. For change we need a revolution. A real revolution can only happen
when people ask themselves –what is my sacrifice?‖ (264)

Thus, through these two characters, Bhagat has depicted two attitudes of youths. One
surrenders to the system due to circumstance and the other fights against it. Most of the
youths like Gopal are turned corrupt due to the circumstances. Raghav is Bhagat‘s mouth
piece. Bhagat has narrated his vision on education, politics and corruption through the
articles Raghav writes in the novel. Revolution 2020 stands for the revolutionary spirit of
Chetan Bhagat. Raghav serves the downtrodden of his city by writing their pains through
the media to the responsible authorities. He emerges as a successful journalist. He writes
the daily news on the papers and distributes them to the social activists. It was quite tough
job but he does not abandon his service. In the end, the exploiters yield to the
revolutionary spirit of the journalist. Gopal, the big exploiter of the students as well as
Raghav‘s rival surrenders to the latter‘s vitality.

Aarti is a daughter the District Magistrate of Varanasi. She has her own aspirations from
her childhood of being an airhostess. She was conscious about her body since she was in
class 5. She denies Gopal‘s offer of ladoo by saying, ―No, laddoos make you fat. I don‘t
want to be fat… fat girls can‘t become airhostesses.‖ (16) She practices dieting from her
childhood to become an airhostess.

She is beautiful since her childhood. Her looks have always drawn appreciative
comments from the school teachers. Gopal writes, ―However, two years ago when she
turned fifteen, the whole school started talking about her. Statements such as ‗the most
beautiful girl in Sunbeam school‘, ‗she should be an actress‘ or ‗she can apply for Miss
India‘ became increasingly common.‖ (21) Gopal doesn‘t want to take her to cricket
ground her entry into the cricket stadium will definitely disrupt the game. Gopal writes,

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―Batsman would miss the ball, fielders would miss catches and jobless morons would
whistle in the way they do to give UP a bad name.‖ (22)

She is the typical Bhagatian heroine. She has the habit of touching Gopal (the
protagonist) like other Bhagat‘s heroines. Aarti is not passionate about her career. She is
care-free in studies. She joins the coaching for IIT Entrance but she doesn‘t want to be the
engineer. She joins it to accompany Gopal. On their boat rowing, it is a ritual that Aarti
takes Gopal‘s tired palms and presses them.

Aarti seems to have wider vision of career and education. When Gopal is flunked in the
IIT entrance exam, he gets disappointed and thinks he will get nowhere in life. But Aarti
says, ―Nonsense… So people who don‘t have a top AIEEE rank get nowhere in life?‖
(35) Unlike Gopal, his father and Raghav, she believes that people without IIT degree
also can do greater things in life.

Aarti is a confused character. In the beginning when Gopal proposes her, she is not ready
for any relation more than friendship though she behaves like Gopal‘s lover. She
massages Gopal‘s palm, hugs him in his tough time, takes care of him like a mother, daily
asks him whether he has taken dinner and chats late night every day. But she pushes
Gopal back when he tries to bring his mouth close to her to kiss. She declines, ―Don‘t…
You will spoil our friendship… Don‘t‘ get me wrong. You have been my best friend for
years. But I‘ve told you earlier… I don‘t see you that way.‖ (36) Even after that she
behaves like her wife and goes for Gopal‘s shopping as he is moving to Kota for a year.
She says, ―If I came to Kota with you, I‘d cook for you every day.‖ (43) Such statements
further confuse Gopal about her feelings for him. He thinks, ―The picture of her cooking
in my kitchen flashed in my head. Why does Aarti make statements like these? What am I
supposed to say?‖(43) Even Gopal thinks that she sends confusing signals, ―Why do girls
send confusing signals? She had rebuffed me on the boat the other day. Yet she comes to
shop with me for boring clothes hangers and don‘t let me pay. She calls me three times a
day to check if I‘ve had my meals. Does she care for me or not?‖ (44)

Aarti is in her teen age and is not ready for any love relation when Gopal proposes her.
However, when Gopal leaves for Kota, she comes close to Raghav and falls in love with
him. It is because of her guilt that she cannot share with Gopal about her affair with
Raghav. When Gopal finds out about her relation with Raghav, he turns furious and calls

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her name by saying, ―What the fuck… you someone pure or what? Behaving like a
slut…Did you give him a blow job?‖ (77) Aarti breaks all contact with Gopal for three
months. However, it is again Aarti who calls Gopal on his birthday though he has used
bad words for her and her relation with Raghav.

Though Gopal has used bad words for Aarti, after three months she begins to call Gopal
on his birthday which shows the confused state of Aarti‘s mind. Deep down, she also
misses Gopal but she is into relation with Raghav. Gopal feels extremely happy to receive
a call from her after three months though he knows that she has lied to him and she is
Raghav‘s girl friend. Gopal has no choice but to accept that Aarti is Raghav‘s girlfriend.
His reunion with Aarti improves his academic graph and again he finds a place in the list
of most improved students at Career Path.. When Aarti comes back in his life after three
months, he improves in his academic performance. He writes, ―Aarti had me go back to
studies in a big way. May be it was her simple ‗how was your day?‘ in our chats.‖ (86)

When Gopal returns to Varanasi after finishing his exams, he goes to Raghav‘s college
with Aarti as Raghav is going to launch his magazine. Gopal has no choice but watching
them together, sometimes hand in hand. It becomes difficult for Gopal to see them kissing
each other when they depart.

Though Aarti is in relation with Raghav, she keeps meeting Gopal in coffee shops, on a
boat rides and in theatre without informing Raghav about it. She regularly meets Gopal
because Raghav remains very busy with his newspaper work. However, Gopal gets busy
in his project of building a college. Gopal doesn‘t find any upside to remain in her touch.
He writes, ―I found it more productive to scream at construction workers than hear stories
about her dates with her boyfriends.‖ (146) He starts avoiding her calls and soon she too
drifts away. However, after three years when Gopal meets her again, she gives him
confusing signals by saying, ―I haven‘t sat in a boat for a year.‖ (147) That perplexes
Gopal and he thinks, ―The confusing, confounding Aarti had returned. What did she
mean? Did she miss the boat rides? Did she miss being with me? Was she tossing a bone
at me or was she just being witty?‖ (147) Bhagat has shown various phases of love. Gopal
has tried hard for the last four year to get over Aarti. But one laugh of hers set back years
of effort. Suddenly he feels like they have never been apart. She is committed to Raghav.
They have some unspoken rules. They don‘t talk about the past and touchy topics. Gopal
would not touch her though she would sometimes hold his hand mid-conversation. At
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movie theaters, they enter and leave separately. This what boys and girls in small cities
do. Whenever Raghav calls, Gopal quietly steps away so that he cannot hear their
conversation. And when Raghav gets free, she leaves to meet him. Gopal at times feel
that he has becomes a buffer until her boyfriend got free from work.

Once Gopal kisses her and they don‘t talk for two days but on the third day she texts him
at 2.00 am, ―Don‘t call or message me…Ever‖ (204) She says exactly opposite to what
she feels. By messaging him, she actually wants him to call her. But Gopal doesn‘t. At the
first issue of Raghav‘s newspaper she calls and invites Gopal and he becomes confuse
about her intentions. The fact that sex dominates in Bhagat‘s novel is revealed from the
thoughts of Gopal, ―I didn‘t want to kiss her just once. I wanted to kiss her a million
times, or however many times it was possible for a person to kiss another person in a
lifetime.‖ (209) it is the stage when Gopal cannot afford to lose Aarti.

Gopal‘s love reached at its peak intensity after the kiss and that‘s why he becomes direct
by asking her, ―What would you do if I kissed you again?‖ Aarti who is committed to
Raghav to this question by saying, ―I don‘t know‖ (210) She doesn‘t say ‗yes‘. However,
she doesn‘t hang up the phone in disgust either. Even if Gopal warns that he may kiss her,
she agrees to meet him. She is confused between Raghav and Gopal. Now she starts
feeling for Gopal but her mind stops her as she is committed to Raghav. Gopal books a
room in a hotel where Aarti works. Aarti doesn‘t mind staying in her room though she is
committed with Raghav. She decides to stay there for whole night though Gopal has
warned her that he might kiss. She also mentions, ―If my boyfriend finds out… That I am
in another man‘s room for so many hours, he will kill me.‖ (216) She is not typical Indian
type. She doesn‘t mind taking drink with Gopal in the hotel room. She finds his boyfriend
Raghav boring as he doesn‘t drink much. Gopal maintains distance while being with her
in the room but Aarti takes initiative and sleeps in Gopal‘s lap while watching a movie in
the room. Gopal hesitatingly places his hand on her forehead and gently strokes her hair.
She doesn‘t object. Gopal‘s dream of being with her seems to be becoming true. He
writes, ―I couldn‘t think of her a happier moment than this in my life so far.‖ (219) Gopal,
expresses his feelings for the first time in his life after so many years and says, ―Will you
run away again?... Run now if you want to…Because if you stay for a while in my life
and then go…‖ (219) The effect of wine manages to open up their heart. She even
confesses that she feels lonely in life as ―Raghav has no time. My parents can‘t see why I

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want to work. They can‘t understand why DM‘s daughter has to slog.‖ The movie ends
with a kissing scene and Gopal writes, ―I don‘t‘ know if the scene motivated us or the
wine or the face that I felt I might not get another chance. I leaned over Aarti. She looked
up at me in surprise. However, she did not protest. Just stared.‖ (219) She doesn‘t mind
when Gopal starts kissing her. In fact, after two minute, she too starts responding. But
with each moves of Gopal, she protests verbally but supports by physical response. At
each of Gopal‘s move, she keeps saying, ―This is wrong‖ (220) but she doesn‘t mind
about his moves. When Gopal reaches to her breast, she protests verbally. Gopal writes,
―I shut her up with another kiss. She wriggled a little, but I kept kissing her. She started to
respond. Slow at first, then matching and finally outpacing me.‖ (220) Her verbal protest
is contrasted with her physical moves when she says, ―This isn‘t right, Gopal‖ and at the
same time bites Gopal‘s lower lips. When Gopal tugs at her top to take it off, Gopal
writes, ― ‗Don‘t, Gopal!‘ she whispered but raised her arms to make my job easier.‖ (221)
She halts him one final time when Gopal reaches down to unbutton her jeans by saying,
―I have a boy friend‖ (221) But soon gives up her protest and removes herself. The whole
scene of sex between them shows Aarti‘s confused mind and her complicated bonds with
two men. Her commitment with Raghav stops her from being with Gopal. But soon the
desire dominates the commitment and gives a way to surrender to Gopal.

Though sex dominates the courtships in Bhagat‘s novels, the feelings of lovers for each
other cannot be ignored. Sex is the ruling but not the only interest of Bhagat‘s characters.
After sexual intercourse with Aarti, Gopal feels one with her. The life after that remains
no longer the same. The love making only magnifies his love for Aarti. He writes, ―They
say men withdraw after sex. But I wanted to draw her close, cuddle and keep her with me
forever.‖ (221)

However, confused Aarti gets upset after sex about the fact that she is committed to
Raghav. Her indifference after sex confuses Gopal. He thinks, ―She obviously cares for
me, for no girl will do what she did otherwise. Yet, why was she acting distance? Does
she expect me to tell her I will there for her now? Or is she regretting it? Is this going to
bring us closer or take us further apart‖ (222) She doesn‘t‘ talk to her for two days after
that night. When they meet, she doesn‘t behave the way girl behaves with a boy after sex.
She feels guilty for cheating Raghav. However, the fact that she has surrendered her-self
to Gopal by her will is revealed when Gopal says, ―Aarti, you are a sensible girl. You

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don‘t do stuff unless you want to…You never said yes to me despite my attempts for
years. Something made you do it that night.‖ (225) Her feelings have changed but she is
ashamed of having sex with Gopal because she is committed to someone else. She starts
getting into Gopal but her conscience bites her for cheating Raghav.

Gradually, she decides to be with Gopal and but finds it difficult to break this news to
Raghav. Sex becomes the expression of their love and not just the impulse when Aarti
comes to Gopal‘s new bungalow for the first time. Gopal decides to inform Raghav about
their relationship. However he changes his decision in order to contribute something for
the revolution of the country as Raghav would be no where at that stage. Gopal calls two
call girls and breaks the heart of Aarti on his Birthday. He then goes to Raghav after his
joining at Dainik to meet Aarti and marry her. Thus she marries Raghav at the end.

MLA Shuklaji is a typical corrupt politician. Bhagat gets chance to reveal the crooked
ways of the society and the role of corruption in it through this politician. He is
introduced when Gopal meets him for opening a college with Sunil. He is busy in meeting
people but he instantly takes interest in Gopal when he talks about 15 acres land of his
family. He invests his black money in order to turn white to build the college in the name
of no profit trust. He becomes the guide of Gopal who instructs how the all system runs
faster with money. He is too much harassed by Raghav. His corruption scandal once
published in Revolution 2020 and he has to resign his post ultimately. His family life is
also shown complicated some say his two sons are in America for further study while
there is also humour about his second wife. At last he shares all his accounts and business
with Gopal in the jail as he knows the intention of CM who is not to free him from jail.
He started trusting Gopal so much that he considers him like his son.

Though the story is centered round three characters, Bhagat has highlighted social evils
such as students' mania for the professional courses particularly engineering and medical
ones, defective educational system prominently commercialization of education,
corruption, and the inept legal system. He delineates competently these issues of the
contemporary Indian society which affect greatly the lives of people. He expresses his
concern for the future of the younger generation.

Bhagat has revealed the difficulties of average students in Indian Education system in this
book. Gopal is average, though not dull, in studies. He joins the coaching classes for IIT

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entrance exam only because his father wishes him to be an engineer. However when
millions of students across India appear for the exam, ten marks seems a huge gap. He
states, ―One lakh students stand between me and those ten marks.‖(24) He thinks himself
―in a sea, along with lakhs of other low-ranker, kicking and screaming to breathe. The
water closed over us, making us irrelevant to the Indian Education system.‖(24) Gopal
tries hard. He gets a rank number 52,043. He hasn‘t scored badly. However, the NITs had
only thirty thousand seats. He says,‖ I would be one of those unfortunate cases who had
done well, but not well enough.‖(30) It is parents‘ expectation that make the student
competitive as well as upset. They are compelled to speak lie when they get lower ranks
because they do not want to upset the parents. Gopal avoids the topic of result with his
father. This system of education makes them forget to learn co-operative attitude of life.

On his father‘s insistence, Gopal has to go to Kota for the preparation of IIT entrance test.
Here the writer has accurately describes the picture of coaching industries. There are
number of coaching classes in Kota which guide students for IIT entrance exam. Some
top institutes held their own entrance exams. To clear the entrance exam of such institutes
there are small tuition classes in Kota. Gopal says, ―In fact, Kota now had small coaching
shops to coach you to get into the top coaching classes. From there, you would be
coached to get into an engineering college.‖(53) The coaching institutes are no less than
the bigger offices with luxurious infrastructure to increase the seriousness of the entrance
exams. The twelfth standard student never goes to school as they attend the classes for IIT
entrance. The coaching institutes have agreements with the principal which includes
flexible attendance policy. Gopal states, ―It was rumoured that the CBSC school receive a
handsome kickback from Career Path for the cooperation extended.‖

Gopal decides to take admission in private college after his second failed attempt. Here
the novelist has shown us the scenario of private engineering colleges in India. We have
good colleges like IITs and NITs. But they can accommodate less than ten percent of
engineering aspirants. Rests of the students have to end up in private colleges. Bright
students like Raghav can get admission in IITs. But what about the average students like
Gopal? Private colleges have played the role of providing such average students with a
chance to earn a degree of their choice. There is nothing wrong in this. In fact, is even
good that the private sector is playing a role in educating our students. However the
quality of these institutions is an issue.

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Lots of colleges have opened up in the last decade. Say for example in Gujarat only, there
are around 170 engineering colleges. All colleges compete with one another for filling
their intake. Gopal goes to the career fair where he finds private colleges around the
world trying to woo the students. He writes, ―Members of managing bodies of the
colleges stood with smiling faces. Banners inside the stalls displayed campus pictures like
real estate projects. In cases where parts of college building were under construction, the
pictures were an artist‘s radiation.‖(112)Thus, the novelist reveals the loopholes of
contemporary education system. He writes, ―Selected faculty and students from each
college greeted us with glossy brochures of their institute in these stalls. Everyone wore
suits and greened like a well-trained flight crew. Hundreds of loser students like me
moved restlessly from one stall to the next.‖(112)The deans and the directors of the
colleges try to persuade students for taking admission in their colleges like salesmen.
When Gopal decides to take admission in the Chintumal College, the director of Sheri
Ganesh college bargains down college fees by saying,‖ Tell me your budget. I will give
you ten percent discount if you sign up right now.‖ (114) The owners of these collages
are brothers but they literally fight for one admission. The mittai shop owners, sari shop
owners and country liquor barons own a college for money and name. The reality of these
college owners is describes by Sunil, ―Money. There‘s huge money in private colleges.
Plus, it enhances their name in society. Now they are noble people in education, not
liquor barons. (116) Honest people cannot invest in the academic field as they have to pay
bribe at each step of college. Most of the college owners in our country are uneducated.
Gopal, for instance in the book, has never gone to college and he establishes an
engineering college. Sunil rightly says. ―Stupid people go to college. Smart people own
them.‖(120)

With such proliferation of colleges, quality standards differ widely across these institutes.
To control the quality, the government has put in place procedures like elaborate approval
processes and regular inspections. However they are abused and corruption is rife. In The
Times of India Chetan Bhagat has written an article Bootlegging of Education in which he
says, ―Many private college owners have personally admitted to me that they had to pay
bribes at every stage of opening the college – from getting land and building approvals, to
approving the course plan and set fee structures.‖ In the book he has narrated the way a
private college owner has to pay bribe at each step of opening college when Gopal‘s

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destiny leads him to become a director of the engineering college on his controversial
agricultural land with corrupt politician Shuklaji‘s support.

The reason for such corruption in education is our government‘s no-profit policy in
higher education. Every college must be incorporated as a non-profit trust. There are no
share holders, but there can be only trustees. Technically, one cannot earn profit out of
college. Bhagat in his article Bootlegging of Education writes:

The government somehow believes there will be enough people

who will spend thousands of crores setting up good colleges for

the millions who need seats every year, just out of the goodness

of their hearts. On this flawed, stupid assumption that people are

dying to run colleges without ever making money rests the higher

education of our country. (Bhagat, 125)

Of course nobody makes no-profit business. Black money, fake payment to contractors
and over –inflation of expanses are just a few ingenious ways to get return on the
investment owners have made on building colleges. The only way to make money from
colleges is through illegal methods. As they want to make profit, they have to squeeze the
cost by not giving enough facilities to the students. To ensure the facilities, we have
AICTE inspections. The AICTE committee also decides the fee structure of the college.
To get them approve the more fees with insufficient facilities, college owners have to
bribe the inspectors. They have to bribe municipality officials for the building college.
After VNN, they have to bribe for incorporating a trust. They bribe even though they
open a non-profit trust so they can illegally retrieve money from the trust. After that they
have to pay to clear the inspection for the approval of construction. But before that they
pay to obtain the inspection date. Bedi rightly says, ―…..any government work, especially
in education, requires a fee.‖ (138)

Gopal and Shukla-ji have spent lot of money for bribing the government officials for
opening the college. Gopal doesn‘t understand the need of paying bribe to so many
people just for opening a college. Shukla-ji explains, ―If we had a straightforward and
clean system, these professors would open their own colleges. Blue-chip companies and
software firms could open colleges. The system is twisted; they don‘t want to touch it.
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That is where we come in.‖ (166) This kind of corruption ensures that none of the
genuine players ever think of investing in the field of education. Ex-academics, world-
class corporates and honest people will never enter the field of education. Thus, corrupt
politicians and dishonest businessmen open colleges for engineering and medicine. And
we hand over our kids and their future to them.

The novelist also reveals the unreliability of teachers‘ community. When the students are
confused for selecting college, they mostly rely on teacher‘s or the principal‘s advice. The
college owners make deal with the school principals. Gopal and Shuklaji have spent lot of
money for bribing the government officials for opening the college. Gopal does not
understand the need of paying bribe to so many people just for opening a college. Then
Shuklaji answers him that if they had a straightforward and clean system, these professors
would open their own colleges. The system is twisted; they don‘t want to touch it. That is
where they come in. This kind of corruption ensures that none of the genuine players ever
think of investing in the field of education.

As a student of management, Bhagat is not against commercialization of education.

However, some ethics should be followed when the matter comes to education. Bhagat
has given a solution of this problem in education in his article, he writes in What Young
India Wants:

Good people must be encouraged to open colleges…..This would

mean companies like Infosys and Reliance might open colleges,

perhaps on a large scale, as shareholders will approve the huge

investment required. If these colleges open colleges, at least they

will be of a certain a certain standard. Competition can ensure

that the ability to make profits never turns into greed. But if the

business model id sustainable, many good players would be

attracted to this sector. (Bhagat, 126)

Love is one the important themes of his all novels. The base of the novel is love of the
protagonist for Aarti. Like other Bhagat‘s novels one can find the complicated state of
relationship of the lovers. Gopal is passionately in love with Aarti. His proposal is

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rejected by Aarti. After few days, she gets into love relationship with Raghav. However,
she is quite comfortable in being friend with Gopal even after rejecting his proposal and
being in relationship with Raghav. Gopal and Aarti meet or talk almost every day though
Aarti knew about Gopal‘s love for her. Aarti‘s state of confusion is the terrible reflection
of this milieu where one doesn‘t know actually about oneself. They continue the
complication till the matter needs to put into proper name. Aarti throughout the novel
moves from Raghav to Gopal and Gopal to Raghav. Gopal loves for Aarti is as clear as
crystal but even he becomes confused by her responses to him. Such complication is not
only the interesting part of the novel but also the painful and complex mental stage of
modern youth. This complication is justified in the following words.

The social milieu as depicted in the novels of Chetan Bhagat is

alarming. As the characters in his novels moved into the new

millennium they find themselves at a crucial point in the long and

tortuous history of the human race on the planet Earth. They live

in a shrinking world in which the malign heritage of conflict and

competition will have to give way for a new culture of

convergence and cooperation. It is not that they lack the

intellectual or economic resources to tackle the problem.

Scientific and technological ingenuity has given the youth the

capacity to overcome all these challenges but what is missing is

the wisdom and compassion to apply them creatively.

Knowledge is expanding but wisdom languishes. The astounding

communication technology which today encircles the globe

seldom uses its tremendous potential to spread global values and

foster a more caring compassionate consciousness. (Somwanshi,

177)

Ambition is prominent theme among other ones. Every character wants to be something
in their life. Gopal wants to be rich, Raghav wants to contribute to the society by
eradicating the evils through the means of journalism while Aarti wants to be an air
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hostess. The story revolves around their aims of becoming what they desire to be. Raghav
is the first out of three who starts his social contribution as a reporter from his college
days while Gopal gets the opportunity to fulfill his dream by crooked way. He knows that
life may not give him the same chance twice. He works hard to build the college under
the guidance of Shuklaji. He bribes many government officers in order to see him as a
rich man. However Aarti cannot become air hostess after completing her aviation course.
She is not allowed to move out of Varanasi by her parents. So she joins Hotel Ramada
where she takes the charge of a guest reception manager. Aarti is not unhappy about her
job as it is career of hospitality. Somehow she works of her choice. This theme definitely
appeals the young people because this is their stage to realize their passion and choose the
path as per their skill and talent.

Parent-child relationship is again the recurrent theme of Mr. Bhagat. Gopal and his father
have a wonderful bonding but when the topic of career comes out his father does not want
to compromise. There are only two people in Gopal‘s life Aarti and his Baba. But he
insists his son to go Kota with a view to preparing AIEEE and JEE. He does not
understand his son properly. He slaps him when he fails in the exam. Gopal needs his
support at that time his father stops communicating with him. The following lines are the
sharp commentary on parents when they fail to understand their own children, ―But most
of us are not, courtesy our parents‘ mediocre genes. Ironically, these same parents who
donated these dumb genes take the longest time to understand that their child is not
Einstein‘s clone.‖ (82) Raghav too faces the same problem as he is interested in
journalism but for his parents he earns the degree of engineering.

His narration technique is a unique blend of reality and fiction. He has enough creativity
to present stories which seem so real, despite being fiction. The lead character is never a
super hero, and is always a common man struggling with his life, career, family and
relations. He narrates things in a way as if the lead character is representing a million
similar lives. That is why he connects with millions. The narrative technique of Bhagat in
Revolution 2020 is typical like his previous novels. However he comes here with some
serious motives. This is also noticed in the below statement:

Besides this deliberate patterning of the narrative and the diction,

Bhagat‘s approach towards the issues he addresses, is part of his

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 wonderful choreographing skill. In many of his Interviews, he

has made it clear that he writes because he wants his writing to

change his country. This pro-patriotic, pan-India sentiment recurs

in his narratives and most of his protagonists mouth these

sentiments of the maker, which, I think, is one of the main USPs

of Bhagat and his writing. (Banerjee, 3)

In one of Chetan Bhagat‘s speeches given at the HT Leadership Summit in Delhi on

November, 2008, Bhagat said:

―…I am no leader. At best, I am a dreamer with perseverance to

make dreams come true… A lot is wrong in my country. There

are too many differences. The question is not who we blame for

this. The question is how do we fix it? Because to do anything

great, you have to become one first. Two generations ago, our

forefathers came together to win us Independence. It isn‘t like we

didn‘t have disputes then. Religion, caste, community have

existed for centuries. But Gandhi brought them all together for a

greater cause – to get the country free. Today, we have another

greater cause. To get India its rightful place in the world.‖And it

is the avatar of being a new Gandhi that Bhagat has wanted to

don in his narrative to bring about the Change, which often

makes him preach or switch into the didactic mode.

But ironically enough, Bhagat‘s narrative often exposes that this

pro-patriotic sentiment is a mere marketing strategy to attract his

readers, and his narrative often falls prey to the discourses it

disrupts itself.

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Unlike other novels Revolution 2020 is comparatively long. Like Bhagat‘s previous
novels this too begins and ends with Prologue and Epilogue. The first sentence is the end
of Bhagat‘s motivational speech at Ganga Tech. This reminds the readers that Bhagat is
also a motivational speaker. The lines are similar to his speech given at the orientation
program for the new batch of MBA students at Symbiosis:

And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that

spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in

history. And there is something cool about saying – I come from

the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You.‖ (Bhagat, 1)

As soon as he completes the speech, Gopal- the uneducated director of Ganga Tech,
invited him for drink and dinner. In the conversation with Gopal, Bhagat appreciates
morning aarti at the ghats. Gopal becomes bit uncomfortable by this answer. He insists
Bhagat to have at least one drink at his home and the writer cannot say no to him. Gopal
asks him certain questions about his raid on the principal‘s bungalow and his relationship
with Professor‘s daughter. When the writer asks him how he knows all these. He replies,
―Everyone knows. We‘ve read the book. Seen the movie. (2) This is a wonderful style of
Bhagat to relate his previous books with the recent one. Their communication excites the
readers further as Gopal tells Bhagat that he is not only the youngest but also the most
uneducated directors he has ever met who had never been to the college. After drinking
six glasses, he has to be hospitalized. Around 3:00 am, Gopal comes into consciousness
Bhagat wants to go to attend the morning aarti. And this word hurts him a lot and he tells
Bhagat that it is her name. Readers come to know that he loved someone called aarti,
―Like is not the word, Chetan-ji… Imagine every sadhu and priest in Varanasi. More than
all their devotion put together, that‘s how much I loved her.‖ (7) When Bhagat inquires
him whether she also loved him, Gopal says, ―This is not an interview, Chetan-ji. Either
you sit down and listen to this stupid man‘s whole story or you leave.‖ (7) Bhagat gets
curios about his story. Thus this curiosity of the author creates interest in the readers.

The contemporary society is changed with the evolution in the field of technology. So the
style of writing demands adaptation of upcoming gadgets. Bhagat‘s characters are the
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people of 21st century who are comfortable with the internet and cell-phones. There is an
abundant use of such equipments. They use on line chatting and SMS for communication
when they are away from one-another. To make the fiction real, Bhagat has used chatting
and SMS language in the novel. Bhagat also gets chance to explain how chatting is easier
than calling to hide or control feelings. Gopal‘s temper is high when Aarti is in
relationship with Raghav but he controls his feeling by using certain smileys. On phone,
otherwise, his tone will have expressed his emotions. But internet allows the further
conversation as he places strategic smiley to hide his intense curiosity and anger. He
overdoes the smileys just to make her more relaxed while sharing her attachment with
Raghav. In this way, Bhagat tries to reach his message to the audience. However this
book has a wonderful love story, it is highly criticized by many critics as Bhagat‘s typical
humour and witty observations are absent. As far as the title is concerned, the novel does
satisfy the hopes of the readers. At the same time the spelling of Revolution is printed in
such a way where the second to fifth letter are printed opposite and tinted with pink box-
this highlights the love as the center of the novel and Twenty20 has also connotative
meaning one- the love of twenties and the second- the revolution will be there in India in
2020. In nut shell, Bhagat is capable in revealing certain dark sides of contemporary
society as per the above observation.

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 WORKS CITED

Banerjee, Prasun. The Choreoghraphed Narrative:Recontextulising the

Narrative Strategies in Chetan Bhagat's Fiction. The Creiterion: An

Intrnational Journal in English (2012) Print.

Bhagat, Chetan. What Youn India Wants. First. New Delhi: Rupa

Publication Pvt. Limited, 2012. Print.

Kumar, sanjay. Social Conceptualization in the novels of Anita Nair,

Chetan Bhagat and Arvind Adiga. (n.d.). Print.

Rodrigues, Dr. Joseph. A Critial Review In 'Revolution 2020'- an Amalgam

of Socio-Political Commercialization Wolrd Combined with Love

Triangle. Global Journal Reserch For Analysis (2014) Print.

Somwanshi, A. P. Social Realism in R. K. Narayan and Chetan Bhagat'

Novels : A comparion. Vishwabharati (2012) Print.

Sreelatha, M. Chetan Bhagat and Aravind Adiga as Social Critics:

Comparing Revolution 2020 and The White Tiger. Dhavan, Tapan K.

Ghosh & R. K. Chetan Bhagat: The Icon of the Popular Fiction. New

Delhi: Prestige Book International, 2014. Print.

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