Chetan Bhagat

(born 22 April 1974) is an Indian author, columnist, and speaker. Bhagat is the author of bestselling novels, Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011), and What Young India Wants (2012). All the books have remained bestsellers since their release and three have inspired Bollywood films (including the hit films 3 Idiots and Kai Po Che!). In 2008, The New York Times called Bhagat "the biggest selling English language novelist in India's history". Bhagat, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, is seen more as a youth icon than as an author. Time magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Bhagat writes op-ed columns for popular English and Hindi newspapers, including The Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar, focusing on youth, career and issues based on national development. Bhagat voices his opinion frequently at leading events. He quit his investment banking career in 2009, to focus on writing.

Quotes

 * Pfizer and Moderna are the best vaccines. They have been out since Dec-2020. Why don't we have them in India yet? Do we not deserve the best? Don't we buy defense equipment from abroad? Is this not a war like situation? Why does the vaccine have to be made here and only here?
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 28, 2021 also quoted in


 * Remember, we need global help right now to get the vaccines. The person who needs the help cannot have ego.    Ego never served anyone anyway, but if we keep ego or fake pride now, when we need help, we won't succeed.     Heads down, get to work, source and administer the vaccines.
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 28, 2021 also quoted in


 * Oh but why couldn't Pfizer agree to our terms, some say. Well, we needed Pfizer's vaccine more than they needed us. We could have saved lives if we kept our ego down and said 'how can we make it work Pfizer' rather than 'why can't you listen to us.' Lives could have been saved.
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter


 * Today, whichever CM will be able to source and vaccinate their entire state will become a national star. Great political opportunity that will save lives too!
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter


 * The Pfizer vaccine, one of the best ones, used in most developed countries, applied for permission in India in Dec-2020. India instead asked them to do more studies here. Pfizer withdrew its application in Feb-21. Imagine lives saved if we allowed the vaccine from December itself
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter


 * We need 70% entire population to get herd immunity. Not just adult population. Virus doesn’t check your Adhaar card. It maybe more than 70% even as the vaccines we’ve used have lower overall efficacy than mRNA vaccines.  Define the problem properly to solve it.
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter


 * I have a fascination with getting my entire country vaccinated. For that we need all the vaccines we can get and we will need them all. Nothing to do with nation of origin.
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter


 * Keep asking on the vaccine plan. How much vaccine? By what date? What %age of pop vaccinated by May 31, June 30,July 31? Real numbers.  Abuse me, troll me, demean my work, doubt my intentions, mock me. But keep asking on the vaccine plan. For the sake of my country. 🙏🏻
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter


 * Firefighting is good. That's what's happening right now. But solution is in vaccines. Enough vaccines.It's not which vaccine. Our vaccine. Their vaccine. It's enough vaccines. If we don't have enough, mayhem won't stop. Swallow pride. Accept mistakes. Get 'enough' vaccines.
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter


 * Top-3 national priorities right now, where the entire country should be focused: Vaccine. Vaccine. Vaccine.
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter


 * The best news of the day. Pfizer vaccine (a major trial was under progress) is 90% effective. Victory for science and humanity. Stock markets soaring across the world. Seems like the real deal this time.
 * — Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) 2021 at Twitter

Five Point Someone - What not to do at IIT! (2004)

 * Ryan and I took everything; though everything tasted the same, we could at least have some variety of colors on our plate.
 * P. 21
 * People like him think that they are god's gift to the world. What's worse, they are.
 * P. 25
 * Alok tried to ask the professor for a re-quiz, who stared back as if he had been asked for both his kidneys.
 * P. 34
 * I know, these Hindi movies are crap, but they do kind of take your mind away from the crap of real life like nothing else.
 * P. 37
 * Figuring out women is harder than topping a ManPro Quiz.
 * P. 45


 * Theaters are the opposite of class lectures, the front row is where the action is.
 * P. 87
 * Girls are beautiful, let's face it, and life is quite, quite worthless without them.
 * P. 106


 * But her parents were certified weirdos and probably deserved such tactics.
 * P. 106aid nothing, hoping silence would evaporate us.
 * P. 193


 * Kind? This is DisCo, not Mother Teresa's home.
 * P. 200
 * All of us needed time to rest. And we had time - four months of it - to take all the rest in the world.
 * P. 215
 * In the first three months, half of my salary went for a pigeonhole in the Siberian end of town.
 * P. 270

One Night @ the Call Center (2005)

 * to analyse my dream and its significance in my insignificant life, but I had to get dressed for work.
 * P. 13
 * Esha's modelling is also beyond me as no one is ever going to pay me for my looks.
 * P. 27
 * I suspect he was never young, was just born straight forty years old.
 * P. 31
 * Sometimes counting seconds is a great way to kill time through a woman's tantrums.
 * P. 37
 * One thing guys know is when to shut up.
 * P. 68
 * Girls are strategic. They will talk about love and romance and all that crap but when it comes to doing the deal they will choose the fattest chicken.
 * P. 72
 * Crap happens in life. It could happen tonight.
 * P. 74
 * Girls handbags have enough to make a survival kit for Antarctica.
 * P. 82
 * I may not be a great surgeon, but the one little heart I have, I have given to you.
 * P. 92
 * We were talking a lot, but we weren't communicating at all.
 * P. 145
 * Only women think there is a reason to thank people if they listen to them.
 * P. 158
 * That was reality and as is often the case, reality sucks.
 * P. 168
 * Think about this, the people gave birth to me cannot stop hating each other enough. What does that tell you about me? Half of my genes must be fighting with other half, no wonder I am so fucking messed up.
 * P. 211
 * Progress is building something lasting for future.
 * P. 228
 * It is time to face real world, even if it is harder and painful. I'd rather fly and crash, than just snuggle and sleep.
 * P. 239
 * Few people in the world get to hit their bosses but those who do will tell you it is better than sex.
 * P. 248
 * As I said sir, no one is perfect. Apart from Google of course.
 * P. 264
 * But that is what life is like, uncertain, screwed at times but still fun.
 * P. 283
 * This means that I can do whatever I really want. God is always with me. There is no thing as a loser after all.

The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008)

 * Admiration passes, love endures.
 * P. 3
 * life is tough when you are always talking to people smarter than you.
 * P. 5
 * But it will work, man. If you put your heart into it, it will.
 * P. 18
 * God gives talent so that the ordinary person can become extraordinary. Talent is the only way the poor can become rich. Otherwise, in this world the rich would remain rich and the poor would remain poor. This unfair talent actually creates a balance, helps to make the world fair.
 * P. 61

Revolution 2020 (2011)

 * Love makes us do stupid things.
 * P. 5


 * Successful people don’t have friends.
 * P. 5


 * Telling your parents you’ve failed at something is harder than the actual failure.
 * P. 32


 * Girls have no idea what effect their wavering has on boys.
 * P. 73


 * When you screw up someone’s life, the least you can do is leave the person alone.
 * P. 105


 * It is amazing how the brain will connect one thought to another until it gets to where it wants to be.
 * P. 159


 * Practical enough to leave the people who do the funny stuff alone.
 * P. 170


 * That’s what human relationships are about – selective sharing and hiding of information to the point of crazy confusion.
 * P. 184