Finally,
finished 3rd book of Chetan Bhagat in a row and this one became the
one that I could co-relate (big time) in reality as I actually worked inside a
call center for couple of months that too in Gurgaon. We had a fantastic time working
inside a call center about a decade back when I joined a US based consulting
firm then which didn’t have an office in Gurgaon – we tied up with a call
center for only two seats and had a blast working in the night. Even today I
work with a US based consulting firm, not in a call centre but it’s a graveyard
shift that ends precisely at 3 AM IST. The story may be a little over the top,
farfetched especially for people who have no experience working in a call
centre or who have no friends from that sector. But not for me as I have fairly
good idea of how life goes inside one and we actually used to walkout to take brisk
walks after dinner, even had couple of drinks (not regularly) but at times and even
went on long drives (all in working hours). The fun didn’t end there – if I am
not wrong, a couple of my friends actually learnt driving with the help of
those cab drivers and the vehicle that’s most used were Toyota Qualis, so it
didn’t actually sound like something impossible in the story to me. One more
thing which I should mention and love doing even today is whenever I hang up a
call with any vendor / client or consultant – it ends with a biggg byyyyeeee
that I learnt from a friend who used to sit right behind me – although he was
from a different company and process but I loved the way he used to say bye as
if bidding bye to his girl friend – it used to go like “Alright Mr. Samson it
was great talking to you, looking forward to your order, you have a good day! Byyyyyeeeeeee”.
The
Book: The story of this one starts in a train journey between Kanpur and Delhi
as Chetan Bhagat is travelling after the success of his first book “Five Point
Someone”. He meets a beautiful girl while travelling in almost an empty train
and she offers to tell him a story with a condition that he is going to make it
his second book. It is almost based on the real characters and what they go
through during the course of a night in Connexions call center where they all
work. The story is written from the point of view of its protagonist Shyam who
is an employee of Connexions with his five colleagues and each of them too have
their own stories to tell. It keeps going into the flashbacks too and makes up
for a very interesting read – no doubt about that – just like Chetan Bhagat’s
other books. Unfortunately I have seen the movie based on this one so had a
rough idea as how and where it’s going to go but the movie sucked big time, it
was awful and I remember somehow I finished it. But the book is again very
engaging and it was very tough for me to put it down, had to finish it in flat
two days, and I just couldn’t resist the suspense. Shyam the protagonist is
about to lose his long time girl friend Priyanka (another character) who is
about to get married to Mr. Right working with Microsoft in US of A. Vroom is
his colleague who gets cheated by their boss Bakshi – while he and Shyam work
on a project and the boss takes the credit. Esha is another of their colleague
from Chandigarh who wants to become a model and is struggling for the same,
while Vroom has a crush on her. Radhika is married and has her own story of
uncaring husband with troublesome mother in law. Plus there is this Sr Citizen -
Military Uncle too – whose son and daughter in law have thrown him out of the
house – who indeed wants to unite with them again and live with his Grandson
(Shifted to USA). What happens with all of them in one troublesome night in the
call center is the rest of the story – quite convincingly told, superbly
engaging. If you are from up north or specifically Delhi / Gurgaon – it will
take you on a visual journey back to the city, I could actually visualize almost
all the roads, malls and places they go through and it was a kind of movie
running inside my head as the story progresses.
The
characters are all almost real and you will have no issues in associating with any
or one of them for sure. The best part of the whole book is what the author
tells you to do right at the start – I totally liked that, you’ve got to read
the book to know what I am talking about here. I wonder how and what would be
the reaction of a typical American be – if in case they read this book, I am
sure they will be furious to read this one. The way they have openly screwed
and criticized the Americans, but somehow I do not disagree with all that after
working in the US Consulting Industry for almost a decade and a half myself. It
is another of his book which I will highly recommend to all and will rate it
very high myself – not that it’s a best seller hence we have to but even
otherwise – it makes up for a superb read. If you haven’t read it – I will say
go ahead and pick it up. You should know what a generation of young Indians goes
through while working in a call center - day in - day out for their foreign
clients.
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