Watch: Chetan Bhagat Shares Video of Street Hawker Who Tried to Sell Him His Own Books

Indian author and public figure Chetan Bhagat stepped out in a face mask to check out the status of his own book sales recently. The author of Three Mistakes of My Life posted a video on Twitter on Saturday where he is seen in a face mask and buying his own book.

Taking advantage of the face mask that has been made compulsory to prevent the spread of coronavirus pandemic, Chetan checks out a hawker’s opinion on his books. In the one minute nine seconds-long video, Chetan can be seen in a cab that has stopped at a traffic signal. He is talking to a bookseller on the signal who is selling one of his recent books, One Arranged Murder. In the guise of his face mask, he pretends to be not the author of that book.

Bhagat asks the hawker if the author of the book is any good, to which the hawker assures him that the books are good. He then buys the book and reveals his identity as he takes off his mask. He takes a selfie with hawker as well and thanks him for selling his books on the traffic signals.

The video has received over 179.9K views and 7.6k likes on Twitter. He captioned the video, “Met this guy today who refused to agree that Chetan Bhagat is not good! I Heart him and admire his hard work and marketing! I am who I am because of these guys!”

Netizens have commented how an author’s mark of success in India is when their books are being sold on traffic signals. As one user commented, “India doesn't need NYT to tell top selling books, if the book is being sold on traffic signals then it’s a best seller.”

Met this guy today who refused to agree that Chetan Bhagat is not good! I ♥️ him and admire is hard work and marketing! I am who I am because of these guys! pic.twitter.com/pdFNTEtIVZ

— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) December 5, 2020

Another fan of the author commented, “The good part of your writing is it is simple to understand and easy to connect. That is why we like you.”

One of the fans of the 46-year-old author wrote, “Chetan sir your writing brought so many new readers to the reading platform.”

Some people commented how it is quite natural for a seller to praise the product they are selling to earn the money. One user commented, “As a sales guy, I obviously wouldn't say anything bad about the products I'm trying to sell! Winking face #sales101 That said, I admire your work!”