The 3 Mistakes of my Life - My Review

Before i talk about the book, there's something i did not like. In an interview, Chetan Bhagat (The author) wrote about this being the most important book he's written and even said that this book will bring back the reading habit of Indians.
High Hopes!!!!
Mr Bhagat, just because Indians are crazy about Religion and Cricket, your book't won't sell. In fact, the super image i had on Bhagat got slightly tarnished - not only with this book - but because of blatant promotion.
Now, not everything is so bad.
The book holds a lot of promise.
It is the story of 3 friends (again!) who are (once again) entwined in a series of dark circumstances.

Let's start with the pros of the book

For the first time in his 3 books, Bhagat has ventured out of the realm of the young. i.e. though the protagonists are youngsters, the story deals with a very mature subject (Not that, you evil minds!!)
Govind, Ish and Omi are friends from a little colony in Ahmedabad. Their passions are Money, Cricket and Religion respectively. How they try to get there forms the crux of the story.
There are several heart-warming parts of the book as well - The Iqbal-esque cricketer Ali, his dad, Mamaji's Samosas, the love between Govind and Vidya (Including a ........).
But the Cons outnumber these by far!!
One thing i liked about 'One night at the call centre' (You can read my review Here) is the way Bhagat started the story - about being approached by one person who formed part of the actual story and being asked to write a book about it. However, he tried doing the same in this book too - in a more melodramatic fashion - He starts off with receiving an E-Mail from some boy (Govind in this case) who has just committed suicide and wanted to tell someone about his dying. Somehow, he chose Bhagat! Bhagat apparently rushes to Ahmedabad and saves the boy from dying. Then he proceeds to ask for his story. Not too believable right? There's more!
These 3 chaps along with Ali (The cricket kid) manage to slip into the Australian Dressing room during an India-Australia match at Goa and manage to convince an Australian player (who also owns his Cricket Academy in Aus) to check out Ali! The player not only agrees, but is duly impressed and also offers free tickets to all 4 of them to fly to Australia so the kid can get proper training in his academy!!! It doesn't end here - Ali impresses the Cricket Australia officials enough for them to offer him (and his 3 guardians) residential permits in Australia!! However, the kid declines saying he wants to play only for India!!(Politically so correct :))
What Bhagat Could not manage to do is seamlessly entwine all the 3 topics - Business, Cricket and Religion.
Finally, the climax is a big let down - Though he weaved the story around issues of the time - Gujarat Earthquake, Ayodhya Struggle and Godhra Massacre, the end is way to Bollywoodish!
Probably he wrote the story as a screenplay for a film (as his earlier book has already been made into one)
Still, Bhagat is one of India's promising young writers. I look forward to his next book, which undoubtedly will dwell with a youthful story again, and will be a major hit.
One good word about the publishers - Rupa, who published all 3 of Bhagat's books are to be lauded for keeping the cover price at the same level, even after Bhagat's previous books have been bestsellers! The book is priced at just 95/-! Hope Rupa gets to publish lots of books, sell lots of books (keep the price the same!) and make a lot of money!!