Revolution 2020 – Book Review
The story begins with the backdrop of Varanasi (also called Kashi or Banaras) where people believe that their sins will be washed away on the banks of the holy river Ganges. Gopal, an 8-year-old boy, who comes from a middle-class Indian family, steals a piece of chocolate cake from his partner Aarti’s lunch box and is punished by the teacher. Aarti, who comes from a kind of bureaucratic and political family, realizes that Gopal does not have a lunch box since his mother died when he was young, he befriends Gopal and shares his lunch with him every afternoon. They become good friends. Raghav is a rich and bright student who is also friends with Aarti. He likes Raghav for his intelligence and appreciates his hard work.
The next part of the story begins ten years later.
The three friends eagerly await their results to enter a prestigious university, as their future depends on their results. Raghav scores well on the IIT-JEE exam and Gopal doesn’t. Aarti is inspired to become a flight attendant and just wants to complete a degree for the sake of her parents. She takes a Hotel Management course, while Raghav chooses to join the best university in Varanasi. Gopal’s father had dreamed of taking his son to IIT and, although his financial situation is bad, he forces Gopal to take the exam one more time, even at the cost of losing an entire year. To uphold his father’s wish, Gopal agrees to go to Kota for further training. Sad to part with his hometown and his love Aarti, he embraces a new life in Kota, where he struggles to find the right training place and the motivation to study on his own without friends in a strange place. Soon, he realizes that he can’t be away from Aarti anymore and struggles to stay in touch with her. Aarti, who is a practical girl, has found friendship in Raghav and gradually distances herself from Gopal. Depressed by the loss of Aarti’s love, Gopal’s studios suffer and he loses himself in bad company. After 6 months, Aarti returns to his life, motivating him to come out with great success. Recruit and finish your exams. Happily, he returns home to Varanasi and Aarti is back in his life. But this brief bliss ends too quickly to reveal the harsh truth when the exam results were announced. Gopal’s failure to get a position at an engineering school takes his father’s life. Dreaming of a secure future, his father had incurred many debts and now that he was gone, Gopal did not know what to do. Gopal decided to take a part-time job and join a degree course at one of the cheapest universities. On his way to a career fair where all the universities had their booths to woo students, he meets Sunil, an agent, who shows confidence in him when he tells of his sorry condition. A more interesting piece of information is that Gopal’s father owned property together with his brother that is in a pending land dispute in court. Gopal had suggested to his father to sell the land that was worth 30 acres, but his father had an emotional attachment to the property of his ancestors. Sunil takes Gopal to a local MLA Shukla and has the idea of starting his own university on the land, with the help of capital, infrastructure, and other formalities required by the MLA.
The Gopal stars are shining on him and he accepts the deal to manage and take care of the affairs and administration of the future ‘GangaTech’ university. Meanwhile, Raghav continues his passion for journalism and dedicates quality time to being a reporter at ‘Dainik’ newspaper alongside his professional career. Aarti’s desire to become a hostess is still a long way off, but she is pleased with the hospitality management. While Raghav takes care of his work, Aarti sits alone and spends time with Gopal. Whenever Aarti is with Gopal, she forgets about the whole world and somehow sighs in the hope that one day she will leave Raghav and return to him. Their secret meetings are on the opposite banks of the river, where the two row, away from the crowd, and as time passes, the two grow closer. On one of those occasions Gopal tries to kiss her and she thwarts the scene, cutting off their friendship. Gopal then busies himself with the construction of his university, meets numerous types of people, runs the business, takes care of the officials (bribes), and in 3 years the university is ready. New appointments have been made to the faculty, the Dean, etc. and all the arrangements have been made for the grand opening. Raghav is on a very big mission and a day before the opening of the university, he publishes an article from MLA Shukla, revealing all his deals, the money from the corruption, the Ganga scam he is involved in and the link to convert. your black money in white through this new college. Gopal is shattered hearing this, when all the media points to Shukla. The government pressures Shukla to resign, and they send him to jail, leaving Gopal alone to handle the situation. Somehow he manages with Dean Shrivastav to get good admissions and finally college starts off with a pretty good number in the freshman year. Then Raghav is indirectly attacked by the MLA people and fired from ‘Dainik’. Gopal gets rich, moves into a bungalow, has a car and seems to enjoy the luxury, while Raghav lost his job, frustrated by his career as a journalist, his parents also take his hands away, and only Aarti is the moral support for he. . But Raghav’s principles and ideologies are strong enough and he promises to start a revolution targeting the youth of Varnasi. Raghav begins to delve into the dark world of ministers, gathering facts, evidence and evidence against him. He is totally absorbed in bringing a strong revolution by starting his own newsprint and trying to distribute it to the smaller masses along with the daily newspaper. Once again, Aarti longs for friendship and Gopal has open arms. Each finds comfort and consolation by talking about everyday affairs and little by little Raghav goes into oblivion. One day, Gopal arrives as a guest at the hotel where Aarti works and they spend a night together. Unaware of Gopal’s breakthroughs, Raghav’s honest fight, his fight for justice, and his preparation for revolution hit the pinnacle when people start to support him. MLA Shukla suggests to Gopal that he immerse himself in politics by marrying Aarti, whose grandfather is well known in politics. When Aarti agrees to break up with Raghav, Gopal takes the initiative to inform him. But because fate would have chosen this very moment, Raghav’s honest struggle and integrity stand in the way. Despite his pitiful condition, he agrees to travel hundreds of kilometers to investigate the villagers’ problems and write his articles. Gopal is deeply moved. He creates a deliberate misunderstanding between himself and Aarti, by proving that he is a womanizer. Aarti is seriously injured. Gopal recommends Raghav’s name in ‘Dainik’, gets him a job, and after marrying Aarti, Raghav plunges into politics as a son-in-law with his ‘Revolution 2020’ ideologies. The author concludes with Aarti marrying Raghav, showing his support for the truth and that the anti-corruption revolution has begun.
A true blend of all the qualities built into the fusion of the current generation is the highlight of this book. In my opinion, Raghav is a true radical reformer who believes in bringing change at the grassroots level to make this world (India) a better place to live. Gopal is also a significant character, no matter what comes, we never lose the goodness and innocence that is within us. MLA Shukla is the epitome of the Indian politician and his favorite sentence throughout the book ‘I’ll fix it’ has really caught my attention. He is also Gopal’s mentor. As for Shukla, it is up to the reader to perceive him as good or bad and should be encouraged or not in society. The remaining characters also played an important role and shine in the company of Raghav, Gopal and Aarti, including the place of Varanasi which is a tourist place.
