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Against Ambedkar, Against the World
The year is 2030, India will never be the same again... What happens when a Brahmin youth decides to embark on a life-changing journey to lose his virginity and find his caste? What happens when the young lad runs into the ultimate giant of modern India's identity: Ambedkar? What happens when Kejriwal becomes the seventeenth prime-minister of India in a historic mandate? Welcome to the world of Mayank (the virgin Brahmin), Kamlesh (the SC with super-powers), Boboi (the tree-worshipping Catholic) and Shiv (the perpetual lover) as their destinies collide in this chilling, dark and coked-up journey, in time and space, through an India that you have never seen before.
200 pages, Paperback
Published April 19, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 22, 2018
True and real situation of our country is explained and might have the same future that has been described bt the author - Harsh Trivedi.
I recommend you to read this book.
I recommend you to read this book.
June 19, 2016
Against Ambedkar, Against the World by Harsh Trivedi is a treatise on the existential crisis of the modern Indian youth. A fictionalized account in first person, this novel traces the germination of the seeds and the final blooming of the questions “Who am I” and “Why am I” in the mind of the 25-year old JNU student, Mayank Trivedi.
Mayank has a complicated life. He is an intellectual in a group of friends, who are not inclined towards mental jogging, he is in love with a Christian, and he is a Brahmin, who does not understand the mechanics of the caste-system. Mayank’s inquiry leads him to the study and commentary on the Manu Smriti and a dope-induced vision of Dr Ambedkar. In his fictional avatar the writer documents his understanding and interpretation of class-based society, education, and economy of modern India. Needless to say his account is not rose-tinted. His frustration is rendered into a published work, which changes the course of his life.
I love dystopian literature and the back cover blurb indicates this book to be of the genre. I was pulled into reading about a dystopian India by a young writer. I would not say this work is exactly futuristic because we actually see the events unfolding around us, everyday of our lives in present-day India. Harsh Trivedi has used real names of some political leaders and parties, making this a bold book. The events are unfolding right here, right now, as well as prophetic in some measures.
The title of the book is interesting. It is difficult to interpret it until you read the book. There might be many interpretations. Amidst a journey of self-discovery, Mayank continues to question the validity and the necessity of caste-based reservations and what gives the SC categories in India their “swag.”
In a thin book, Harsh Trivedi, has weaved many lines of thoughts pestering the modern youth and how our society continues to be divided and biased. Harsh has used characters from different social and religious segments to provide an interesting narrative. I couldn’t help but note the irony of a Catholic Christian girlfriend from a North Eastern state, who fiercely rejects premarital sex, because in India there are notions around the promiscuous temperaments of Christian girls from the North East.
In writing style, Harsh is a cross between Chetan Bhagat and Karan Bajaj. In the language and the sexual references in the book, it is evident he is catering to a young audience. The questions that he raises in the book, made me discard my squeamishness about some of the indiscrete descriptions and inappropriateness of conversational lingua. This book is like an onion, it has multiple layers and a discerning reader can get ample food for thought. Editing issues are few and the writer has command over the language though a tighter hold on some lingual aspects could have polished this book further.
This book has its light moments but becomes poignant towards the end. I enjoyed the initial part with its tongue-in-cheek humor and tweeted that I was surprised this book was “unputdownable”. This book will take you through interesting characters in the JNU hostels, Kanpur, Benaras, and then in France. The events as they unravel towards the end will give the Indian reader a sense of déjà vu because we have seen similar events then and now – the scary part is does the future also project such eventuality. This is the thought-provoking question that this novel raises.
I recommend this book to young and old readers alike to discover the social, philosophical, cultural, and emotional issues that are troubling our youth. The index finger, however, points to the role of politics, and how we are allowing important issues to ferment to the point that the intoxicating madness overflows.
Mayank has a complicated life. He is an intellectual in a group of friends, who are not inclined towards mental jogging, he is in love with a Christian, and he is a Brahmin, who does not understand the mechanics of the caste-system. Mayank’s inquiry leads him to the study and commentary on the Manu Smriti and a dope-induced vision of Dr Ambedkar. In his fictional avatar the writer documents his understanding and interpretation of class-based society, education, and economy of modern India. Needless to say his account is not rose-tinted. His frustration is rendered into a published work, which changes the course of his life.
I love dystopian literature and the back cover blurb indicates this book to be of the genre. I was pulled into reading about a dystopian India by a young writer. I would not say this work is exactly futuristic because we actually see the events unfolding around us, everyday of our lives in present-day India. Harsh Trivedi has used real names of some political leaders and parties, making this a bold book. The events are unfolding right here, right now, as well as prophetic in some measures.
The title of the book is interesting. It is difficult to interpret it until you read the book. There might be many interpretations. Amidst a journey of self-discovery, Mayank continues to question the validity and the necessity of caste-based reservations and what gives the SC categories in India their “swag.”
In a thin book, Harsh Trivedi, has weaved many lines of thoughts pestering the modern youth and how our society continues to be divided and biased. Harsh has used characters from different social and religious segments to provide an interesting narrative. I couldn’t help but note the irony of a Catholic Christian girlfriend from a North Eastern state, who fiercely rejects premarital sex, because in India there are notions around the promiscuous temperaments of Christian girls from the North East.
In writing style, Harsh is a cross between Chetan Bhagat and Karan Bajaj. In the language and the sexual references in the book, it is evident he is catering to a young audience. The questions that he raises in the book, made me discard my squeamishness about some of the indiscrete descriptions and inappropriateness of conversational lingua. This book is like an onion, it has multiple layers and a discerning reader can get ample food for thought. Editing issues are few and the writer has command over the language though a tighter hold on some lingual aspects could have polished this book further.
This book has its light moments but becomes poignant towards the end. I enjoyed the initial part with its tongue-in-cheek humor and tweeted that I was surprised this book was “unputdownable”. This book will take you through interesting characters in the JNU hostels, Kanpur, Benaras, and then in France. The events as they unravel towards the end will give the Indian reader a sense of déjà vu because we have seen similar events then and now – the scary part is does the future also project such eventuality. This is the thought-provoking question that this novel raises.
I recommend this book to young and old readers alike to discover the social, philosophical, cultural, and emotional issues that are troubling our youth. The index finger, however, points to the role of politics, and how we are allowing important issues to ferment to the point that the intoxicating madness overflows.
August 18, 2019
The author has cited Dr. Ambedkar as a reason for social, political and economic disturbance in India. He completely at the denial of disgraceful caste system in India.
May 2, 2016
I got a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review:
Well, the title should tell you something if not everything. It's the tale of a Brahmin boy Mayank with a North-East Indian Girlfriend Baboi and two friends called Kamlesh and Shiv. Kamlesh being SC and Shiv being fellow Brahmin.
Even though the blurb promises an India of 2030 it's only present in very few pages that too towards the end, all the abuses and the revolutions happen during the first two parts of the book. It's fiction and the main character is openly against the entire reservation and talks in general about how easy reservation made it for the undeserving guys from SC/ST.
I am also from SC but I have never used the quota because whatever I did it didn't matter there and I believe that the best reservation would not be on the basis of the caste but rather on the basis of financial situation. But let's leave my personal ideas and thought and come back to the book.
Mayank writes a book and it spirals into a huge controversy and which culminates in a bleak vision of future India. The book starts and stays on a comedic path but towards the end moves towards something sad but totally valid as per the narrative. Very nice book and totally worth reading I liked it and finished it in a few sittings.
I would advise everyone to read this at least for quick fun.
People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put I just love reading and so to that end I have made it my motto to just Keep on Reading. I love to read everything except for Self Help books but even those once in a while. I read almost all the genre but YA, Fantasy, Biographies are the most. My favorite series is, of course, Harry Potter but then there are many more books that I just adore. I have bookcases filled with books which are waiting to be read so can't stay and spend more time in this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.
Well, the title should tell you something if not everything. It's the tale of a Brahmin boy Mayank with a North-East Indian Girlfriend Baboi and two friends called Kamlesh and Shiv. Kamlesh being SC and Shiv being fellow Brahmin.
Even though the blurb promises an India of 2030 it's only present in very few pages that too towards the end, all the abuses and the revolutions happen during the first two parts of the book. It's fiction and the main character is openly against the entire reservation and talks in general about how easy reservation made it for the undeserving guys from SC/ST.
I am also from SC but I have never used the quota because whatever I did it didn't matter there and I believe that the best reservation would not be on the basis of the caste but rather on the basis of financial situation. But let's leave my personal ideas and thought and come back to the book.
Mayank writes a book and it spirals into a huge controversy and which culminates in a bleak vision of future India. The book starts and stays on a comedic path but towards the end moves towards something sad but totally valid as per the narrative. Very nice book and totally worth reading I liked it and finished it in a few sittings.
I would advise everyone to read this at least for quick fun.
People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put I just love reading and so to that end I have made it my motto to just Keep on Reading. I love to read everything except for Self Help books but even those once in a while. I read almost all the genre but YA, Fantasy, Biographies are the most. My favorite series is, of course, Harry Potter but then there are many more books that I just adore. I have bookcases filled with books which are waiting to be read so can't stay and spend more time in this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.
March 15, 2017
The first half of the book is totally unrelated to the actual theme of the book. It is basically just, a repetition of an SC/ST guy cursing a Brahmin guy and some other irrelevant extensions. In the second half (after around 100 pages), you start feeling that the book is actually drifting towards the theme, but then it again loses the grip after 50 pages or so. The book then becomes a story of a guy who reads the Manusmriti and decided to write a book condemning the Manusmriti. Towards the end, the book focusses on the brahmin vs SC/ST riots. I didnt understand as to what the author actually wanted to convey through the book. Will India 2030 be engulfed in the Reservation Debate and if so, why?
On the whole, the novel has nothing new to offer.
On the whole, the novel has nothing new to offer.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews