I read 'Two States,’ in a single session. I admit, it was witty and intelligent. The north-south angle touched a raw nerve. More than once, I felt a lump in my throat.

My literary friends wouldn’t be caught admitting that. I don’t mind. Chetan Bhagat writes very simply and he connects with the distracted, young reader (I’m just 44 too!) better than most. It isn’t hard to figure why he sells more books than any other writer in his niche, why his books have inspired blockbuster movies like 'Three Idiots.’

It is also true that Mr Bhagat has quite a life beyond writing books. He writes a fortnightly column for TOI, he has to tweet for over 5 lakh followers, and he needs to show up on primetime on anything ranging from curry to sex. Internet entrepreneur Sanjeev Bhikchandani was at a television show with him and found school children shower Mr Bhagat with a reception befitting Shahrukh Khan!

The above-stated activities feed a lucrative speaking career. As the 36-year-old IIT, IIM type quite directly pitched before Sagarika Ghose on CNN-IBN, he’s already gone past 100 motivational seminars in 50 cities. Then there’re also ribbons he has to cut and as his website, www.chetanbhagat.com, claims a little too baldly, "on topics such as leadership, passion, values, team building, motivation, achieving goals etc", his speaking sessions have already helped organizations such as Airtel, Aricent, Armed Forces Medical College, Birla Sun Life, BOC, Bosch, Career Launcher, Citibank, Dainik Bhaskar, Dell, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Eveready, Fortinet, HCL, Hindustan Times, HSBC, Hyundai, IBM, ICICI, Johnson & Johnson, Kotak, Maruti, Nasscom, National Defence Academy, Nokia, Reliance, Telegraph, US Embassy, Zoom and many more.’’ Wow! Do notice that Infosys is missing (Sorry, I’m being mean!).

I know some CEOs who’ve considered paying Mr Bhagat a lot more than they wanted to. Their younger folks wanted him to come what may!

Having noted these nice things about Mr Bhagat, may I say he’s stretching himself now. The case in point is the vulgarity with which he took on Infosys founder NR Narayanamurthy, just because he stated the truth and questioned the quality of present-day IITians. Now, NRN doesn’t have books to sell or seminar hosts to court. But Mr Bhagat does that for a living. So, what does he do? Riding on his sparkling intellect, he tweets some inanity against NRM and calls Infosys a body shop. NRN obviously doesn’t react, but by then Mr Bhagat is unstoppable. His preferred newspaper plays up his twitter profundity and, voila, our wonderful English news channels have a breaking story on their hands!

Now, what is Mr Bhagat crying about as he hops from studio to studio:

a)NRN is criticizing young IITians; how dare he! b) NRN is criticizing the way they are getting in these schools via coaching classes; why blame the kids! c) NRN is hinting that IITians don’t do research or entrepreneurship; they don’t…but don’t blame them for that d) NRN is criticizing and not giving out a solution; my solution is, go buy my new book, Revolution 2020, which I’m releasing on October 7 alongside Sonam Kapoor, India’s answer to Madame Curie (Sorry, I rejected Sonakshki Sinha for that task)!

I am struck by the crassness Mr Bhagat is betraying in his interviews. NRN is just an excuse for him to address the Nation. NRN’s naiveté  isn’t confronted with a single compelling argument on why the IITs are nowhere on global listings, why the coaching industry to get in them is a cruel and crass embodiment of parental overkill, and why but for a handful, no self-respecting young IITian stays back to teach at his alma mater, beyond the waiting period involved for a US institution to grant them admission. We shouldn’t forget a breed which prefers a sarkari job over vicissitudes of enterprise, and, of course, those like Mr Bhagat, who have the prowess in math (and, typically, zero work ex to back) to move straight into IIM. (ISB tries to go beyond IITs and insists on work ex).

Surely, it isn’t for Mr Bhagat to worry about these dull and boring issues. Today, he’s like a Bollywood film maker a week before her new film. If she can ignite a non existing romance between the leading pair, or get a few states to ban the movie, just to have the ban revoked just in time, why can’t Mr Bhagat go to ballistic over poor NRM, wowing innocent kids building castles in the air with his pulpy ketchup.

It’s a free country, Mr Bhagat. So, do what you like, but then don’t claim too much difference from education mafias your book apparently demolishes.

Finally, some pro bono advice. The next time Ms Ghose politely announces you as "arguably, the most famous graduate of IIT," have the grace not to acquiesce so cutely. Abhi ghar ke buzurg zinda hain, dost!