Catch KEEP OFF THE GRASS Compiled By Karan Bajaj Presented As File

loved the book, its been a long time since I read something so good, I like his writing style very conversational, the book doesnt drag on its just enough! It's a book that looks at identity, without the stupid newage crap most writers talk about.
Its a normal young person just trying to figure out who is, in a normal setting, that we can all relate to! Emptiness, we all feel a void within us from time to time, a feeling of being lost, we keep asking ourselves core questions about our existence like, Is this what we want from Life Is it all to it Are we missing on something important Most of the time we get back to the routine before even venturing to think about them in detail, back to the same life that we are questioning.


Keep off the grass is the story of Samrat Ratan, a USborn Indian origin Investment Banker who seeks a connection with the world around him, so in search of it he goes back to his roots joining the IIM Bangalore where he meets Shine Marker, a potloving, laid out genius amp Vinod Singh, an exArmy Office who fought in the Kargil War.
As a Firangi Desi, he attracts attention for choosing to come back to India leaving the socalled wellsettled life, and there begins his journey deeper into the world his parents left behind decades ago, the chaos, the madness and the underlying peace.


Keep off the grass is not a new story, we have a similar narrative in Chetan Bhagats Five Point Someone which is funnier than this but Karan Bajajs writing has put his heart writing it, especially when Samrat is lost in the whirlwind of his mind, the details of it make this an enjoyable read that can be completed in a couple of hours.

“YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE YOU ARE FAIRLY RESTLESS, SOMEWHAT DISSATISFIED SEARCHING BUT NOT KNOWING WHAT TO SEARCH FOR, HAPPY, PERHAPS, BUT AT A LOSS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPINESS REALLY MEANS, ”
This book had its moments of humour, A light and breezy read, Mildly predictable at some places and the choice of characters, Gives a flavour of the people and mindsets in elitist institutions and the aftermath of the choices they make,.
five point someone meets English August,
fun filled light hearted read of an American with Indian roots coming to India to find his inner self,
Little bit of philosophy with a continuous undertone of comical delight,
The last line of each chapter is the next chapter title, And the book ends with "Keep off the grass" :D
Loved the Ruskin Bond epilogue : Keep Off the Grass is the first novel by Karan Bajaj.
It's the story of Samrat who leaves his Investment Bank job in Manhattan to join IIM to do MBA, He comes here and what happens and is he another confused Desi in America His life goes Topsy tirvy in India and he gets lost in the smoke of Grass or Marijuana and rivers of alcohol.
This is a novel of self discovery and how Samrat reaches there is what the book about,

People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading, Simply put I just love reading and so to that end I have made it my motto to just Keep on Reading.
I love to read everything except for Self Help books but even those once in a while, I read almost all the genre but YA, Fantasy, Biographies are the most, My favorite series is, of course, Harry Potter but then there are many more books that I just adore, I have bookcases filled with books which are waiting to be read so can't stay and spend more time in this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just sitelinkKeep on Reading.
What Chetan Bhagat did to IIT's is what Bajaj did to IIM's, But well I must give credit to Karan for writing it better than Chetan Bhagat, I enjoyed reading the book but unfortunately I can't rate it very highly, In this category of dark humour books English August stands out like none otherits freakin awesome Nothing new same tried and tested formulae,friend one is rich one is intelligent one is looking for inner self

Don't expect much like you will discover yourself or something, you will definitely feel it's a fiction but at the time sametime it will not disappoint you.
One time read !! Keep off the grass is typical VERY typical of college memoirs, very typical of everyday philosophy, snuggling neatly intothe genre of modern day "journey of selfdiscovery".
It's a light amp enjoyable read, It's full of cliche's maybe if I read it immediately upon buying in, I'd have found it less so, . . but in the lastyears, just about everyone writes college memoirs ridden with uneducated philosophizing, This novel is predictable in parts, yet it's fun, The protagonists are not very relateble, but sufficiently likable, The incident at Banaras ghats, . . amp the way the chapter ends, . . is quintessential cliche' :D
Despite this, I am giving it four because its ease of being read, entertainment, amp cuteness.
The closing incident, in fact the closing chapter is so cute, awww! This is a really useless amp meaningless book! The only reason it gets that one extra star from me is because there is Ruskin Bond in the book.
This doesn't even deserve half a star :X New The thinking man's chetan bhagat is what some call the author, I totally agree.

Definitely more hardthoughtinducing than Chetan Bhagat and for me, certainly more entertaining, Some anecdotes in the movie, 'idiots' at least the more 'filmy' parts seem to be taken from this one rather than Chetan Bhagat's 'five point someone'.
But well! Thats just my opinion,

Anyway, a darker , a mroe satirical take on elite campus life as compared to many other contemporary,similar and concomitant works by ivybschoolleague Indian authors.
Worth a try though some parts are too ambiguous/ridiculous to be taken at facevalue to be reality, The last reason is the only factor influencing a ratingdrop from a potentialpointer to apointer It would be apt to review this book in bullet points, I think considering how the protagonist perpetually hated management practices and consistently reminded us of that.


The book raises the right question and I think there is only one the one we all, almost always, ask and fail to find an appropriate answer to.


In the end, the protagonist does not really find the answer he just decides to walk ahead in a certain direction, full of confusions and doubts and hope.
In my view, that is the best answer when you are pondering over something bigger than life while trying to contain everything within it.


It is an easy read and for most parts an interesting one, The writing compliments the characters, and there is no attempt to force complicated literary words and phrases into it,

The IIM life is well explained and visualized, and classroom lectures are kept at the periphery all good and measured.


The Kurdish joke is funny,

The story is hurried in later parts, Perhaps the author or the editor decided to keep the page count well short ofand chucked out a large portion of what could have been a rightfully right part of the story.
I wish the book had aboutmore pages describing his adventures in the Himalayas, Benares and Manhattan just mentioning those exciting locations and narrating a twothree page long experience each time is not enough.
Those left outpages are one big negative, imo,

The characters become linear after a while and there are many, I would want to know who Sarkar is other than the dude in love with ganja and devil may care attitude.
Peter, the Danish girl, Raja bhaiya all are important enough to impart some wisdom towards making his final decision, Ruskin Bond is a welcome surprise but again barely mentioned,

In conclusion, it is a good first book and a daring one, Not many venture into tough existential questions about life and its meaning, and try to find an answer in their first book.
For that only Karan Bajaj gets an extra star from me,

I am about to read his second novel in coming days and I hope to find him more mature and better as a thinker and a writer.


For those having two minds about reading Keep Off the Grass, my advice is to give it a try.
The book might not shake you out

of limbo but will give a gentle nudge in the right direction, And if it does, that will be a mighty achievement for the writer and the reader both,
Dark and inspiring. Its not about the destination but the journey, "The quest for the infinite cant be fulfilled by the finite", I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, You can view the original review on sitelinkGenuine Jenn

This was a totally different read for myself, I am not into business or Wall Street but I was really into this book, It really was a new story line for myself, with some ganja, sex and foul language, I have been fascinated by stories taking place in India lately and have enjoyed both books I have read by Karan Bajaj.
This is a book about Samrat who is wanting to find out more about himself by venturing to India where his parents left to set up a life in the US.
Samrat decides to head off to India on a whim to take courses at a business school where he meets some very interesting new friends.
Smoking pot, drinking and not sleeping is what Samrat and his two friends do during the two year program, I love how his one friend can smoke up all the time, skip classes and still ace everything, This journey takes so many turns and keeps you glued to the pages to see what else can possibly happen, Will Samrat find what he is looking for or will he float through two years in India lost, I really enjoyed the characters in this book and found the story line to have a steady flow to it, I'll admit to having a ah ha moment when I figured out the play on words with the title but closer to the end there is another ooh maybe that is what the author means.
The story is told by Samrat as a memory of his journey,

If you are looking for something different than the normal mystery, fantasy or contemporary romance this is a fun read about college life in India while just trying to find oneself and being truly happy.


I give this book aout ofstars, Read this one again. For some reason, I really liked this book and I will always be thankful because this book introduced me to Vipassana.
Overall, light book and it has its moments where the protagonist tries to find himself by quitting his job in a bank in Wall Street and coming to India for an MBA.
I have read other books from Karan Bajaj as well Johnny gone down, The Seeker and he is definitely one of the better Indian writers writing about Spirituality/big questions in modern context.