Quotes from Chetan Bhagat

Aarti? She got me into trouble the first day we met,' Gopal said. I dipped a biscuit in my tea and listened.

a lot of debating, pontificating, finger-pointing, outrage and no problem-solving. The noise from one controversy will ultimately fade and make way for the next…and then, the next.

parents, bread-butter again,' I grumbled, shutting a blue plastic tiffin in the second row. Raghav and I moved to the next desk. 'Forget it, Gopal. The class will be back any time,' Raghav said.

Lakshmi is wealth accumulated through honest and fair means. Money can be stolen as well, but Lakshmi brings peace and happiness to the person who earns it.

None of the recent technologies that have changed the world and created wealth—telecom, computers, aviation—have come out of India. Yet

Don't give me your admiration, give me your love. Admiration passes, love endures. Also admiration comes with expectations. Love accepts some flaws.

The first trait is servility. At school, our education system hammers out our individual voices and kills our natural creativity, turning us into servile, course-material slaves. Our

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms—disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon, they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die. I

The second trait is our numbness to injustice. It comes from our environment. We are exposed to corruption from our childhood. Almost

Frustrated, the educated middle class comes up with elitist theories like '90 per cent of Indians are stupid' or 'most voters are dumb'. None of this is true. The Indian voter is rational. However, he is rational within his own framework. It is important to grasp the demographics and social context of Indian voters.

if a majority of us see and expect netas to be service providers instead of rulers, it will trigger a huge behavioural change in the political class.

they drive your nation, but just as a hired driver drives a bus. The driver cannot start believing he owns the bus. The driver should also know that if he doesn't drive well, he will be removed.

More than anything, babus need to answer this—what is your dharma? To listen to your masters or to do the right thing? According to the Mahabharata, Krishna advised Arjuna to fight his own cousins. Since Arjuna was fighting a virtuous war, it became his dharma to fight and not give in to attachment. The babus need to sit down and reflect on their own new dharma.

Sir, I can put a sentence together in English. But all my effort goes into remembering the right words.

Even the most educated of us are prejudiced. One simple test of prejudice is this—will you allow your siblings or children to marry outside your community or religion? If your answer is no, then no matter how much you cheer for the Indian team, stand at attention for the national anthem or cheer the Indian flag, you are prejudiced.

Life is tough when you are always talking to people smarter than you.

Hello, Madhav,' Mr Somani said. He shook my hand in an extra-friendly way, as if to compensate for the doubts of a few seconds ago.

Crying dads and slapping moms are a routine part of how Indian kids are hammered into shape and manipulated to give up on things they really want

There is nothing unusual about such noise. Chances are that if you happen to read this some years later, and turn on the television, you will see a couple of fresh, new controversies—with a lot of debating, pontificating, finger-pointing, outrage and no problem-solving.

The realization that we are responsible for the mess we are in—and that it isn't 'their' fault—is the best hope India has had in decades.

26 January is a happy day for all Indians. Whether or not you feel patriotic, it is a guaranteed holiday in the first month of the year.

That was reality, and as is often the case with me, reality sucks.

Applying the 80:20 rule, I would say that 80 per cent of our youth don't even care about politics or government. What they care about are their lives—their jobs, their boyfriends or girlfriends and, well, that's about it. We can call this set of people Self-focused Indifferent Indians.