Five Point Someone and Why It Sucks

In college, I was a five point someone. I had a great time on campus. I was not looked down on by my classmates, friends and batchmates. The problem with my hallowed institute was that the grading pattern followed a cumulative grade point average. So, if you did badly in the first semester, you were stuck with those grades for life. The problem was not with the system, but with my professors. Since I did really badly in my first semester, they assumed I was dumb and since all exams were internal, personal prejudice did matter somewhat. I wasn't the kind who would go and whine and cajole like the other people in my class, so I guess I was not Ms. Popular. Which is why I had to work my butt off to bring my grade point average to acceptable levels and even after moving up the ladder academically in subsequent semesters, my cumulative grade point average still sucked. Anyhow.

I did suffer initially after college because I missed working for the big IT firms because of my grade point average. It hurt. I cleared every test taken during recruitment with flying colors, but they wouldn't hire someone with a low grade point average. I should mention here, that many of my classmates who were academically ranked higher than I, did not.

Which is why, the material things in life matter so much to me, because I have had to struggle and work for them. Now, I earn probably three or four times as much as most of my peers and classmates. It has not been easy. Today I can pick and choose my employers. I know many of the people personally who came to my college for recruitment and didn't recruit me because of my low grade point average. It feels ironical.

When I read Five Point Someone, even though I had experienced the downsides of ranking low in my class, I found it superficial. Despite everything, I still have high regard for my college. I think my professors were mean and unfair, but they were brilliant and honest teachers. I got encouragement from some professors who were supposed to be maneaters in college. I made many friendships and all through these years, my friends have stuck with me. I enjoyed participating in stuff in college, I interacted with brilliant people and found it exhilirating.

So, I found Chetan Bhagat's book typical of the North Indian Engineering Student Stereotype. I should know, I have suffered the type all my life. Most Indians revere my college as a ticket to a better life or the USA. Mostly, it is treated like a sacred cow. Which is why a crappy book written by an alumnus is treated like the Holy Bible while brilliant books written by people from other colleges are largely ignored.