One night @ the call center

I recently finished reading this book by Chetan Bhagat and just loved it! I highly recommend it to all - those who love to spend time with books and even those for whom the word "reading" is synonymos with "sleeping" :-)

I was fishing about in the library for some book other than mystery, adventure or biography when I chanced upon this one. I had read an earlier book by Chetan Bhagat - Five Point Someone. So I picked it up and turned it over to read the synopsis on the back cover. The sentences "It was the night they got a phone call. That phone call was from God" and "Are you ready to take the Call?" got my attention and I checked the book out.

I can say that I finished the book in 2 sittings. It took 2 because unfortunately I had to go to the office :-)

I don't want to spoil the fun for those of you haven't read the book so I won't reveal the story line. But I would like to say that I just loved the character of Vroom - and yes, the name too. I agreed wholeheartedly with him when he talked about how just when life seems all happiness and security it can pull the rug right out from under your feet. What was that line Amitabh Bachhan had sung in "Muqaddar ka Sikandar"?

Jindagi toh bewafa hai, ek din thukarayegi
Maut mehbooba hai apane saath lekar jaayegi

Life practices this deception not only at the end but at many points in between too. The sooner we learn, the better....

I also said "Atta Boy Vroom" when he said that even though India is poor he couldn't stop loving it. My "grammatical" antenne was screaming at me - "countries are referred to as 'she' - not as 'it' " but I ignored it for once. Vroom said it for me when he said "It is mine".

I have read many articles about the BPO industry but this book opened my eyes to a wholly different side of it. Ok, the trick used to jack up the call volumes to save the call center seemed rather childish but it was funny too :-)

And Vroom asked the question that nags many of us - across different industries, in different job profiles - in our (increasingly rare) moments of peace - are we doing anything concrete to build the India of our dreams?