One Night @ The Call Centre

by Chetan Bhagat

Book Overview

'One Night at the Call Centre' focuses on the story of one night's happening with 6 people working together at a call centre in Gurgaon, India. At this particular call centre, the employees are focused on giving technical support to American clients. The 6 characters, Shyam, Priyanka, Esha, Vroom, Radhika and Military Uncle are friends, who are all working on this particular night shift together. In America, it is the THANKSGIVING time and the phone...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 8129135507
• ISBN13: 9788129135506
• Release Date: December 2014
• Publisher: Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Very Good

I am not sure why this book receieved some of the crticism it has, to me it was a work of fiction and the statements, to the extent they are racist on their face, were not intended to be racist as oppossed to working in the context of the story (at least the way I read the book.) The book starts off with the author on a train when he meets a woman who has a story to tell, with the caveat that if she tells the storry the author must write it. During this time he makes it clear in many ways that he is parodying himself at the same time to the extent that she was not in awe off his prior success of his first book and how he sets that up. To me that set the tone for what followed. We then get into each of the charactors and personalities. What they want to eat or wear, or whether it is worthile to carpool on a given day. Some of it is mundane, and perhaps the charactors are not fully developed, but each of them have their place in their personalities. As to the issue regarding how Americans appear, it is not that far from what people should expect. Not saying that all Americans are warmongering lazy people, but once again in context - this is a call center to answer questions and address problems. Needless to say people calling in will often be rude or short because they are having issues and problems. They are frustrated. And people on the receiving end will then develop impressions based on that. It seemed to convey to me in fact the charactors were limited by theeir preconceptions and devloping predjudice. How they react to the message given to them by God also is telling in the context of everything else that had gone on up to the point. The book is a quick and easy read and good general fiction with some good funny lines. I guess it depends on how you approach the book. I do not think the author was trying to write something as a political statement, instead he was juxtaposing things in the context of fiction and often the actions taken by the charactors to not mesh up with their words. Which seemed to be the point of it all. Of course if the author is in fact anti-American and was just trying to make an anti-American humor writing, then in that case I am giving him too much credit. 4-5 stars, and I think 5 is worthwhile based on what I thought the book was trying to accomplish.

A fresh piece of work that finally makes "self help" entertaining and engaging

This a a great book all around, a total surprise and a delightful read. I think the "anti american" feel is contextual and does not represent the author's attitudes.

one night at the call centre

i picked up this book in Hong Kong, i had time and wanted to read something different. I could not put it down! It was very funny and filled with great conversations between the characters. It was a great read. I enjoyed the author so much i just bought another book by him. this is a fun book to read.

Interesting to read for its "view from the inside"

I read this book with great curiosity because I'd heard about this novel for a long time (while it was unavailable in the USA) and I thought it would be interesting to read the perspective of some call center workers in India. I wasn't disappointed. Their awareness of their low salaries (as compared to their American counterparts), the social differences between their culture and the USA, and the often-poor treatment they received from many of their customers (and their manager) was no surprise. Their day-to-day work issues were not unlike may others: fear of layoffs, incompetent managers taking credit for their work, pressure to increase their productivity, and technology breakdowns. And their struggles with some old-culture traditions -- like arranged marriages -- made the story more interesting. I could have done without the intro and the ending to this novel -- which is an additional storyline that takes place in a conversation between the author and a female passenger. In my opinion, these intro and outro parts added nothing to the story and even made it a bit cheesy at the end. All in all, I recommend it...it's a fast and entertaining read.

Fast and fun read, will be great as a movie

The author worked for a horrible boss and cited him as an inspiration for this book. If only all bad working experiences could be translated into bestsellers. I was surprised this was getting an American release, as Americans aren't exactly shown in a flattering light here. The 35=10 rule just about made me spit up. The Indian call center teaches all call agents that a 35-year-old American is as intelligent as a 10-year-old Indian. I wonder how Americans will take this saying. I suppose you sort of have to insult the people who call all night long to complain about idiotic problems now and then to stay sane and not end up screaming at them after one stupid question too many. The author does acknowledge that inspite of the vast intelligence Indians have, the country is plagued by corruption and thus very behind America. The call center narrative is woven into the flashbacks the protagonist has of his past dates with his dream girl, now about to be whisked away by an Indian-American suitor to an American life. I didn't get too attached to the romance aspect of it, mostly I liked the insight into the life of the average 20-something Indian, trying to make a good living but not selling out.