Amitabha Bagchi’s Above Average— a no-fuss, understated take on life in an IIT and after— is a default candidate for comparisons.

Bagchi’s lead man Arindam (Rindu, for friends) doesn’t fit the goofy, bashful youngster staple from recent works by Indian writers, set in similar premises. He has a quiet, composed air about him that plays along fine with the averageness of his life.

But that little stroke of defiance apart, Above Average falls in line with the many extended blog-diaries that are being churned out from what looks like a cottage publishing industry.

Rindu’s growing-up years— with happy family drives, beautiful Delhi sundowns and adventures by been-there-laid-them friends— are rather shakily blended with his time in the IIT. Though the people are quaintly interesting, they delay the point of this story, that’s essentially about a young man who would soon embrace his averageness as his “most intimate friend.”

The IIT portions come with their share of stereotypes. Buddy banter, marijuana, Slayer and sundry rockstar cool take most of the pages here. Fitting into this pattern of predictability are the Siri Fort film festivals and a lefty, fiercely independent girlfriend who gets kicked on Derrida coming to town.

For effect, she also looks like Smita Patil. They, however, work better than the long-drawn parts on cracking problems and tutorial notes.

The book picks pace through Rindu’s time with Neeraj, who is torn between an abusive family and an intense love for his little niece, Chanda.

They are no Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, ready to smoke up and hit the road. For Neeraj, friendship is unconditional and comes with all the trappings of a heavy-duty Hindi cinema dosti. Their lives— as Rindu realises later— are ineluctably entwined and they are destined to suffer at the other’s suffering.

But Neeraj is still not the player who takes the plot forward. His is another part that fades in and out of a series of situations that don’t quite form the whole.

Bagchi doesn’t seem to be aspiring much above a slice-of-life rendition of an extremely personal story about growing up. The everyman ordinariness of the protagonist— and the people around him— makes Above Average interesting in bits. Beyond the algorithms, grades and peer pressure, this is also a story about aspirations for a life less ordinary. But just.