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FOR people who loved the Enid Blyton stories set in the residential schools, Mallory Towers and St Claire’s, this book would be an indigenous, more modern version of the same and, therefore, rather enjoyable. Arjun Rao’s debut novel, Third Best, is set in a boarding school located in the hills. Arjun Rao studied at Lawrence School, Lovedale, and now teaches history at Doon School, Dehradun. Thus, he is sufficiently familiar with the setting, and the plot comes easily enough to him. The story is about the life of a school and its students, of teachers, games, studies, plays and concerts — all the myriad activities that are carried on at schools, which are, in fact, microcosms of the world.
Arjun Rao explains that Third Best is not a children’s book but a book for young adults. Certainly, it’s treated in an adult enough way because the worries and the traumas that beset adults are the same that occupy growing up boys and girls — romance and heartbreak, stress to perform, unrequited love, unreasonable hate, passions and pretences. It’s all there. Nirvan belongs to a family that has its roots in Shore Mount. Almost all of Nirvan’s family — his grandfather, father, mother, brother — have not just passed out but have excelled at the school, so young Nirvan is expected to live up to the Srivastava precedence. In addition, he has his own battles to fight. Adolescence is tough, growing up even tougher. We first meet Nirvan as a young fellow in the 7th grade, who is just an ordinary chap at the school, one of the many "juniors" hastening to do the seniors’ bidding. His brother, Moksh, is passing out that year. Nirvan is an under confident sort of a guy with an intimidating legacy to live up to. His two friends, Gautam and Faraz, both from rich, privileged families, have their own growing up to do. The story is about their parallel lives that touch each other on many levels, their bonding, their food sharing, their secrets and their support of each other in subtle and apparent ways. The book is an easy read, though some of the characters are rather stereotyped. The "cool" Mr Gomez, the literature teacher who seems to be a big part of Nirvan’s life is the popular guy, the sports in charge, the housemaster, the good sport, the understanding teacher and the one whose class kids never want to miss. He has a romance with one of the women teachers, an aspect that is totally unnecessary to the book because neither does it further the plot nor it leads anywhere at all. (Or could it just be that Rao sees himself as Gomez?) The Principal, Mr Jones, is also typical and seems unreasonable in the stand he has taken for years against the star footballer, Nirvan. Then, there is the sexy but married teacher with a husband-in-absentia, who decides to have an affair with the suave but very young Faraz. That episode kind of peters out too, without being convincingly concluded, though it’s supposed to mark Faraz’s welcome to the world of grown-ups. The great motive that drives Nirvan from being just one of the "juniors" to a boy who is an achiever and a leader is a rather gruesome episode of bullying. Combating this episode, with some help from empathic seniors, sets him on the path that will eventually make him the school captain. On his way, of course, he acquires a girlfriend Ruma, a feisty, tough girl, who, after he manages to confess his love, is firmly there for him. Thus, among studying and
sports and romancing the girls, competing for scores and goals and
jostling for positions, the kids grow up. The years pass by quickly and
it’s time to go out of school into the real world. The school has done
its job to prepare the boys; the world will now take over.
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Third
Best is the story of a
residential school called Shore Mount. The hero of the tale is a boy,
Nirvan Shrivastav, and the story is about his coming of age. Although
Nirvan is the writer’s main concern, there are two other boys, Gautam
and Faraz, Nirvan’s friends and classmates, who feature prominently in
his life. The author has tried to make them as separate as possible,
though his preoccupation is obviously with Nirvan.