Half Girlfriend

Half Girlfriend is Chetan Bhagat's latest novel. Chetan Bhagat is one of the leading Indian authors of current time and some of his books have been turned into movies by Bollywood directors over last several years. Most of the novels by Chetan Bhagat characterize young Indians as the focal figures. The dreams cherished by the young men and women in today's India, their visions and mindsets construct the storyline of most of his books. In Half Girlfriend we find a brief appearance of Chetan Bhagat who listens to a story of romance and melancholy told by the narrator which is how the novel begins. In postmodern literature, the appearance of an author in his or her own novel is known as metafiction. Chetan Bhagat, being a postmodern writer adds this feature to his latest fictional work Half Girlfriend. Madhav Jha, the protagonist of the novel is found having a tough time to get along with the students of St. Stephen's College, one of the top-ranking institutions located in Delhi. Madhav Jha hails from a small village in Bihar, called Dumraon. He is not so sophisticated like other boys and girls in St. Stephen's College. It troubles him to think that he cannot get on equal terms with his classmates; neither does he have a good command over English language like other students. For this reason, Madhav often feels embarrassed and undermined. However, he one day gets introduced to Riya Somani, a beautiful girl from Delhi, a new student like him in St. Stephen's College. Even though Riya hails from a very wealthy family settled in Delhi, she starts associating with Madhav through their involvement in the basketball club of the college. Shortly, they become very intimate. Madhav envisions his relationship with Riya as an unprecedented stroke of good fortune. Madhav intends to have an amorous affair with Riya which she doesn't entertain. However, Madhav leaves no stone unturned to make Riya fall in love with him but he fails over and over again. Even at one point he goes so crazy that he tries to force Riya to have a full-fledged psycho-physical relationship with him. Riya gets annoyed at Madhav's insensible behaviour and stops talking to him. 

One year later Riya gets married to her childhood friend Rohan and flies to London where Rohan runs his own business. Riya's departure from Delhi and her marriage with another guy gravely upset Madhav. He finds it too painful to continue living in Delhi without Riya. He finally goes back to his village in Bihar. His mother works for a school in the village of Dumraon. But Madhav finds the school in very miserable quandaries with almost no infrastructural facilities for students or teachers. He meets a local politician to seek some financial aid for the school but it turns out to be futile. However, he gets excited to know that Bill Gates will visit some schools in Bihar. So, he decides to make the best of his efforts to convince Bill Gates to provide financial help to the school where his mother works. But it demoralizes him to think that he will have to speak to Bill Gates in English, as his English language proficiency is poor. However, lady luck smiles on Madhav as he suddenly comes across Riya one day to his utter astonishment. Riya tells him that her marriage with Rohan did not work out and they broke off. Nevertheless, Riya remembers her affinity with Madhav while they were students of St. Stephen's College. She helps Madhav in preparing his speech which he intends to deliver during Bill Gates's visit. He succeeds in his pursuit with Riya's cooperation to raise funds for that school. But Riya flies to New York after a few days leaving a letter for Madhav which says that she is suffering from pulmonary cancer. Madhav also flies to New York to search for Riya. He stays at an apartment owned by one of his boyhood friends. He finds Riya just two days before his departure from America after looking for her restlessly throughout New York for three months. Riya is found working as a bar singer in New York. This time Riya approves Madhav's love for her. They both get married and return to India. 

As the novel concludes, we find Riya and Madhav working together for that school in Dumraon, Bihar where Madhav's mother used to work earlier on. They now have a son named Shyam. The school is now in a much better shape than before and thus Madhav's dreams come true. 

Half Girlfriend tells a love story that did not initially stand on an equal height keeping in view the social status of Riya and Madhav. However, Madhav's tenacity and devotion in terms of his love for Riya finally paid off. Riya's misperceived attraction for Rohan ended up through a sad disillusionment which left her depressed and disoriented. But Madhav's persistent, authentic love heals her pangs both on physical and psychological fronts and confers a message to the readers that true love should not be judged from the viewpoint of social ranks and files alone. 

The reviewer is a Senior Lecturer, Department of English, Metropolitan University, Sylhet