Press 1 to read another blog (of mine, because one's never enough)... Press 2 to close the blog (not mine, I'd never let you leave this easily)... Press 0 to continue reading (like a true loyal reader)... I hope you all pressed 0, and here you're.
Before sharing my experience, I'd like to ask you 3 questions; note it down on a piece of paper or just remember the answers. 1. One thing I fear. 2. One thing that makes me angry. 3. One thing I do not like about myself. Okay, now forget about this exercise and enjoy the blog.
Six friends work at a call center in Gurgaon, providing technical support for a major U.S. appliance corporation. All 6 being very skilled in patience, manage conversations in their accent, help American consumers run their life is a way to describe their job in an optimistic way. However, to spice things up, you can choose the way the author has described; Indian youths work at a call center being very skilled in patience, manages conversations in idiots' accent, helps idiot consumers run their life. Basically, author describes Americans as idiots. Which may be true, but you're not supposed to say it out loud. #makeamericagreatagain #trump
I recently finished reading Chetan Bhagat's 2nd novel; One Night @ the Call Center, on a serious note, the novel tries to bring to the front the problems faced by youths of our country who spend long hours serving at call centres to aid the people of U.S. and how they're exploited by other incorrigible bosses at work. Though this book is 20 years old, just replace call centre as IT service sector jobs and it holds good even today. The plight of youngsters in this country. Pity. (Including me though)
The story is simple, 6 work at a call centre, who deal with various personal and professional issues, from broken relationships and unfulfilled ambitions to familial pressures and self-doubts. One night, while dealing with a tyrannical boss, the group of 6 receives a phone call from God, who helps them to confront their problems (self-realisation) and make life-changing decisions.
Out of his 10 novels, this is the 5th one I’m reading, and since I’m quite familiar with his writing style by now, I have to say this is his weakest work. Perhaps the reason is that the other 4 novels I read were his latest ones, and going back to his earlier work has led to some disappointment. The character arc for the protagonist (the narrator, Shyam) being portrayed as a man struggling with low self-esteem and professional dissatisfaction. Struggles in personal life as well with relationship failures and heartbreaks. Despite a successful climax that the character received, and given the stage for a massive character transformation the character never had any emotional connection from the beginning. All the character sketches were relatable and reflected the aspirations and challenges yet they lacked depth, which led to an underdeveloped character arc.
One notable theme is the impact of globalisation and outsourcing of Indian youths, highlighting issues such as job dissatisfaction, identity crisis, and cultural dissonance. The author tried to juggle all these aspects while keeping the story moving, but he stumbled quite badly. Apart from a few satires and the non-linear narration, nothing worked in the author’s favour. However, given that this was his second novel, I would hesitate to complain too much.
Finally, if you want to badly read a Chetan Bhagat's novel, go and read One Indian Girl or The Girl in Room 105, I'd suggest you to skip this as it’s not worth the time. Going to take a long break from Chetan Bhagat's novels, however, his writings were the most comfortable for me to read. Well, time to say goodbye I guess, see you all next time. Until then, take care.
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