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B Ground West: ..a drift into kgp..
Kabir Jha has gone into depression and no one knows why. Why does a young man quit his MNC job and withdraw from social life? B Ground West charts his journey with friends at IIT Khargpur. Kabir's friends Faiz and Monulal narrate their lives at college to his psychiatrist Nutan. With one story each semester portrays the life of indiscipline and insincerity at an academic institute, encapsulating a journey of love, internal strife, ambitions, successes and disappointments. They discuss sex with drunken alumni, smoke weed to mourn the death of Ingmar Bergman, romance a German exchange student, miss exams, and then mess up their Masters research project. In the midst of all this lies the story of Kabir's love for Ruh, daughter of an alumnus. Throughout this journey, they meet many people; some of them who scar and others who heal. The central characters continuously do soul-searching through these experiences.
238 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2015
91 people want to read
About the author
Siddhartha Bhasker
4 books11 followersDabbled in Chemistry and Economics for day jobs...Author of a novel and fantasy short story collection..working on a political murder mystery. Know more at the Author website!
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 23, 2018
Liberating!
One day, in life of Kabir Jha, enters depression.
His family has no clue what to make of it.
Will Kabir's friends help him see the dawn of happiness again?
Set in the B Ground West Hostel of IIT KGP, it is an enjoyable story of Kabir, Faiz and Monu who alternatively narrate the tale of their college life.
Nostalgic, is the word I was looking for that this book made me feel and yet, I'm euphoric that I re-lived my college days.
An engineering college lets you have information from various field. And if you live those years in a hostel, you are to be equipped with voluminous stories, gossips and experiences.
Same happens with our protagonists.
In the middle of exams, ragging, welcome parties, success, failure, studies and love life, these friends promise to have an everlasting friendship.
College could be fun for some. For those who don't know how to manage properly, it can be stressful also. With a stubborn and idealistic view towards life, Kabir decides to not to participate in campus placements. This very thing, reminded me of all my friends who did like this in my college.
I adored the fact that one of the characters was from Chemical Engineering branch. The chemistry lab, their viva and how they didn't have a look at the experiments! Wow!
I laughed too much at this point. Being from Biomedical Engineering, it made me tickle every time a fact from science came up.
The ending is praiseworthy and I congratulate Siddhartha Bhasker for it.
B Ground West: ..a drift into kgp.. will take all engineering folks like me back to their college days.
One day, in life of Kabir Jha, enters depression.
His family has no clue what to make of it.
Will Kabir's friends help him see the dawn of happiness again?
Set in the B Ground West Hostel of IIT KGP, it is an enjoyable story of Kabir, Faiz and Monu who alternatively narrate the tale of their college life.
Nostalgic, is the word I was looking for that this book made me feel and yet, I'm euphoric that I re-lived my college days.
An engineering college lets you have information from various field. And if you live those years in a hostel, you are to be equipped with voluminous stories, gossips and experiences.
Same happens with our protagonists.
In the middle of exams, ragging, welcome parties, success, failure, studies and love life, these friends promise to have an everlasting friendship.
College could be fun for some. For those who don't know how to manage properly, it can be stressful also. With a stubborn and idealistic view towards life, Kabir decides to not to participate in campus placements. This very thing, reminded me of all my friends who did like this in my college.
I adored the fact that one of the characters was from Chemical Engineering branch. The chemistry lab, their viva and how they didn't have a look at the experiments! Wow!
I laughed too much at this point. Being from Biomedical Engineering, it made me tickle every time a fact from science came up.
The ending is praiseworthy and I congratulate Siddhartha Bhasker for it.
B Ground West: ..a drift into kgp.. will take all engineering folks like me back to their college days.
October 4, 2016
My review of this book can be considered biased owing to the fact that I am an IIT aspirant myself and this entire ride through IIT Kharagpur strikes a chord somewhere in my heart. I can’t even begin to fathom what an absolute delight this story must be to a Kgp alumnus.
Kabir, an IIT pass out, locks himself from the world after witnessing (and barely surviving) a terrorist attack. His doctor believes there’s something more to his condition, something disturbing buried deep down which has crawled back to life by this sudden event. His sister, keen on getting him back to his senses, consults his college group of friends and they believe it may have something to do with his experiences at college.
The beginning was pretty exciting and I was anticipating some extreme, scandalous and exhilarating incidents but all I get to read on and on are the descriptions of the quotidian life of an average IIT guy. Though I enjoyed the experiences, I couldn’t bring myself to draw their connection to Kabir’s present condition. Not every IIT product goes nuts right? I thought he was just very confused about his existence, not sure of what he wanted, still searching for his purpose. But, aren’t we all doing the same? He probably needed some more 'Ganja' to bring him back to his senses.
Then it hit me- you don’t really have to do anything to suffer in an IIT. Some believe surviving in an IIT is actually tougher than getting into one. For those of you oblivious to the selection procedure, over 1.2 million students appear to fill less than 10,000 available seats. So, when I say TOUGH, I mean TOUGH. The most prestigious institutes of our country are notorious for sucking out the self-esteem and confidence of countless of its students who show the slightest crack in their dignity. Isn’t it ironic that people who get into IITs may turn out to be even more messed up than the ones who don’t make through? I’m really grateful the author reckoned the gravity of the situation and tried to portray it to the world.
On the backsides, I don't know if I would have finished the book if I didn't have the 'IIT craze'. The story just moves on in random directions, failing to grab the attention of the reader. The storytelling isn’t erudite. 300 pages narrating the story of 4 IITians (who I pretty much admire) and no connection felt with a single character -nope, nothing at all. Though the entire concept was something new and noteworthy, I wouldn’t give the book much credit for its literary appeal, which it didn't have much.
P.S.- Read it if you are/have been/will be a science student and you know your Hindi because otherwise most of the jokes will laugh back at you.
Kabir, an IIT pass out, locks himself from the world after witnessing (and barely surviving) a terrorist attack. His doctor believes there’s something more to his condition, something disturbing buried deep down which has crawled back to life by this sudden event. His sister, keen on getting him back to his senses, consults his college group of friends and they believe it may have something to do with his experiences at college.
The beginning was pretty exciting and I was anticipating some extreme, scandalous and exhilarating incidents but all I get to read on and on are the descriptions of the quotidian life of an average IIT guy. Though I enjoyed the experiences, I couldn’t bring myself to draw their connection to Kabir’s present condition. Not every IIT product goes nuts right? I thought he was just very confused about his existence, not sure of what he wanted, still searching for his purpose. But, aren’t we all doing the same? He probably needed some more 'Ganja' to bring him back to his senses.
Then it hit me- you don’t really have to do anything to suffer in an IIT. Some believe surviving in an IIT is actually tougher than getting into one. For those of you oblivious to the selection procedure, over 1.2 million students appear to fill less than 10,000 available seats. So, when I say TOUGH, I mean TOUGH. The most prestigious institutes of our country are notorious for sucking out the self-esteem and confidence of countless of its students who show the slightest crack in their dignity. Isn’t it ironic that people who get into IITs may turn out to be even more messed up than the ones who don’t make through? I’m really grateful the author reckoned the gravity of the situation and tried to portray it to the world.
On the backsides, I don't know if I would have finished the book if I didn't have the 'IIT craze'. The story just moves on in random directions, failing to grab the attention of the reader. The storytelling isn’t erudite. 300 pages narrating the story of 4 IITians (who I pretty much admire) and no connection felt with a single character -nope, nothing at all. Though the entire concept was something new and noteworthy, I wouldn’t give the book much credit for its literary appeal, which it didn't have much.
P.S.- Read it if you are/have been/will be a science student and you know your Hindi because otherwise most of the jokes will laugh back at you.
September 13, 2015
I have known the author and the plot for a long time now. But do I know the story for a long time ? No. I don't know the story I used to know. The story evolved with time. For last 5 years, I have been watching it change its shape. The story I feel now is more of a coming of age story.
The story is about four friends in an engineering college in India during the time Bergman lived his last years. The characters keep on talking to each other. Sometimes, they talk to themselves. Sometimes the plot itself joins the conversation. It's a captivating book and at times dives deep in to human nature, confusion, depression and loss of faith in the system/society. There are lots of anecdotes, bizarre and psychedelic monologues inside.
Somehow, it seems that the story tries to find a closure to the story itself. The characters start ruminating about their past after a shocking incident to one of the character and try to seek what they really want out of life. Interestingly, the story is narrated by a different character in each chapter. However in the process, at places, it becomes difficult to identify the characters from their style of narration.
Overall, a good read to feel nostalgia about your school/college and rejoice or repent the time you could or could not spent with friends or a special friend.
The story is about four friends in an engineering college in India during the time Bergman lived his last years. The characters keep on talking to each other. Sometimes, they talk to themselves. Sometimes the plot itself joins the conversation. It's a captivating book and at times dives deep in to human nature, confusion, depression and loss of faith in the system/society. There are lots of anecdotes, bizarre and psychedelic monologues inside.
Somehow, it seems that the story tries to find a closure to the story itself. The characters start ruminating about their past after a shocking incident to one of the character and try to seek what they really want out of life. Interestingly, the story is narrated by a different character in each chapter. However in the process, at places, it becomes difficult to identify the characters from their style of narration.
Overall, a good read to feel nostalgia about your school/college and rejoice or repent the time you could or could not spent with friends or a special friend.
November 26, 2016
Won this book in a giveaway. It was a good read. Author has tried his best to keep the plot alive.
The plot is not that good. Kabir, the hero is in depression and the doctor decides to know his past from his friends. Friends start to narrate a day from each semester. This is the core of the story. What they did on a certain day of a semester like boozing, riding and so on was no where related to the depression of the hero. And the reasons for his depression is not heightened specifically. At the end its just said in a paragraph with a bunch of reasons. How one of his friend prepared electrodes, how he did an experiment is nowhere related to the story. Unnecessary stretching of story is evident.
The plot is not that good. Kabir, the hero is in depression and the doctor decides to know his past from his friends. Friends start to narrate a day from each semester. This is the core of the story. What they did on a certain day of a semester like boozing, riding and so on was no where related to the depression of the hero. And the reasons for his depression is not heightened specifically. At the end its just said in a paragraph with a bunch of reasons. How one of his friend prepared electrodes, how he did an experiment is nowhere related to the story. Unnecessary stretching of story is evident.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews