Whoa!!!!! First appreciate me for selecting this title for this blog post of mine ” Chetan Bhagat’s lovely Samjoutha With The Art Of Communication”. I dedicate this space of my blog to my favorite author of this season , Mr Chetan Bhagat ( I’m notorious in switching loyalities in the aspect of favorite authors and favorite film heros 
; by the way did I mention that Ranbir Kapoor is my favorite hero these days). Coming back to the original topic of this post, I thought of writing some good words for Chetan Bhagat, ofcourse this writeup of mine does’nt fetch him Nobel Prize directly but for my silly heart’s satisfaction I made this bold decision of analyzing CB’s writing style and mentioning good things about it. I’m not going to write about his birth place, education, family , food habits and famous quotes unlike other biographical essays where we are accoustomed to do so.
As I said earlier, I’m a diehard fan of Chetan Bhagat though I have’nt enrolled in any CB’s fanclubs or forums and hope you still beleive my adoration. Jokes apart, I adore CB( by the way CB is Chetan Bhagat) and his literature (I have no other term left to name his collection of books and articles) as he deals SENSIBLE subjects with SENSITIVITY blended with his SUBTLE HUMOUR. He makes it a point to deliver a strong message in every book or article of his without being PREACHY like a convent Nun. Delivering a strong message without being preachy and reaching wide audience is not at all easy task.
CB does not deal with some boring stuff like the food patterns in mayan civilization or the emerging, alarming diseases among the rats in Euthopia. He deals with the subjects very much related to common people in the society. We can relate to atleast one or the other character in his books , reason being his protogonists are common people like us. Yep! You may wonder what’s so special with CB when anyother aspiring and intelligent author of these days does the same job..what’s so special about CB? He too writes about students, their problems, love and marriage….all the normal routine stuff which you find in every other book, every other bollywood, tollywood, kollywood or other wood film. Why is that this CB’s stuff is so irresistable, easily digested and worth multiple reads. Why!! Why!! Why!! (me shouting at the top of my voice..like a female protoganist of Ekta serial crying aloud while banging the temple bell…)
Made an effort to understand this mystery of CB by applying the management concepts which I’ve been trying to learn these days in my university. Finally tried to understand CB’s successful writing wrt Aristotle’s modes of persuasion in Rhetorics. Rhetorics is nothing but the “Art/Subject of Communication”. Aristotle Dada explained these modes of persuasion in a wonderful manner ETHOS – PATHOS – LOGOS . Let us try to understand CB’s writing style in this Rhetorics angle…
Ethos and CB :
Ethos is an appeal to the authority or honesty of the speaker. It is how well the speaker convinces the audience that he or she is qualified to speak on the particular subject. It can be done in many ways:
>>By being a notable figure in the field in question, such as a college professor or an executive of a company whose business is that of the subject.
>>By having a vested interest in a matter, such as the person being related to the subject in question.
>>By using impressive logos that shows to the audience that the speaker is knowledgeable on the topic.
>>By appealing to a person’s ethics or character.( This description is taken as it is from wikipedia)
CB got his Ethos angle as he is educated in IIT Delhi and IIM A. This is one of the beautiful combinations of study any educated person in India prefers. The respect given to alumni of these prestigious institutes is huge and readers feel he is credible, clever enough to speak enough about any stuff.
Pathos and CB
Pathos is an appeal to the audience’s emotions. It can be in the form of metaphor, simile, a passionate delivery, or even a simple claim that a matter is unjust. Pathos can be particularly powerful if used well, but most speeches do not solely rely on pathos. Pathos is most effective when the author connects with an underlying value of the reader..( This description is taken as it is from wikipedia)
CB excels wrt to this Pathos angle of persuation. Characters and situations in his books are very much common and we feel them, we can relate to them when we read his books. The similes used by CB are awesome. I don’t mind saying that Chetan Bhagat competes to Mahakavi Kalidasa wrt simlies. To refresh your memory Mahakavi Kalidasa is well known for his similies and people even say Upama Kalidasasya… now don’t ask me if people used to eat Upma in those times too..There they were referring to Upama..that is..SIMILIE.. Coming back to the hero of this post CB, he uses the similes so well and they make everyone laugh aloud caring a damn about their age or profession or mood disorders. Regular readers of CB will agree with me 1000% on this aspect and his latest book released on Oct 8th 2009 , 2 states is really having awesome similies. 
Logos and CB
Logos is logical appeal, and the term logic is derived from it. It is normally used to describe facts and figures that support the speaker’s topic. Since data is difficult to manipulate, especially if from a trusted source, logos may sway cynical listeners. Having a logos appeal also enhances ethos (see above) because information makes the speaker look knowledgeable and prepared to his or her audience. ( This description is taken as it is from wikipedia)
CB uses this logos factor to a minimum level and this makes the life of reader easy. He does not flaunt about his IIT/IIM things with tons of attitude which somany of IITians have(not all…but most of them;) ). Don’t know about CB personally but as far I have observed him in his books, articles, twitter and his blog, he takes good care not to display that attitude(Somehow I feel he does’nt have attitude). He does not use unnecessary mathematics or hifi management terms to reaffirm about his education levels.
Driving the point home, I find that perfect combination of Ethos-Pathos -Logos in his writings makes Chetan Bhagat a good writer more than that most admired writer in these years. He got a lovely chemistry with all these persuasion aspects in his writing. One can make one read any article or book only when that person is persuaded to read. Chetan Bhagat excels in this art of communication. No exaggeration in saying that Chetan Bhagat is the J.K.Rowling of India. He revived the reading habit amogst youngsters even in this fast paced life . I wish him very best for his future writings and hope he continues to write good stuff as he has been doing from the past few years. Hope you people have enjoyed reading CB’s lovely Samjoutha with the art of communication through this post.
PS: Hope people are not taking notes about ETHOS- PATHOS – LOGOS …this question is not going to appear in your final examinations
Cheers,
Prasanna Rayaprolu
(Image taken from : 
