I bought a copy of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life by Kaavya Viswanathan much before the recent controversy surrounding its author, who is accused of plagiarism. Sad to hear that many passages were lifted from other books and that the book will not be continued, also her second book will not be published and the movie plans are also cancelled. Read more at the Harvard Crimson and also read this post in defence of Kaavya and this one saying she should be supported and her true talent should be encouraged. Anyway, I wonder how the author and publishers could have been so careless and how such a situation came to be.

The book itself was a nice light read and was good time pass. The book does talk of a rather serious issue of how children are forced into being someone they aren’t. It is very common here in India to see most students under enormous parental pressure. Parents force the children to take up various classes and never let the children decide their own future and course of life. Courses, colleges, friends, and even spouses are choosen by parents - because (supposedly) parents know best - and parents are only doing it for the child’s welfare - blah blah crap. I think parents should let their children just be themselves and make their own decisions.

And parents should stop comparing their children with others. I hear it so often (even now) - “oh you got 70%?”, “How much did so-and-so get?”, “If he can then why can’t you?”, etc! I hate being compared to anybody else and I don’t live my life based on what others are doing.

Hmmm a little digression there, but back to the book - some of the incidents described in the book can now be compared with Kaavya’s own life - especially the part about getting caught and being embarrased in front of school friends. Opal Mehta goes through a lot in the book and ultimately realises that she needn’t try to imitate anyone or be something that she is not. Just chill and be yourself! I guess that now applies to Kaavya herself! She probably needs to look beyond this disaster and move on and user her talent to continue writing.