Chetan Bhagats One night@the call center:--an Urban legend

in Indian context.
Indranil Sarkar

India is really a mysterious country with lots of odds

coexisting harmoniously since time immemorial. Here, some people are living
like people of developed countries following western culture while a rather
larger section, is dogged in a yet to be rescued from a primitive mind-set and
life-style. There are different layers even in the same cultural groups under the
unified multi-cultural heritage of the country. As such it is a fertile soil for the
so called Urban legends or Contemporary legends. Even the so called
enlightened segment like scientists and academics are not free from a deep
regard for the unbelievable.

~1~

Published in 2005, Chetan Bhagats novel one night@ call center belongs to the
genre of Urban Legend in Indian context. Though presently it is not
considered a novel of any literary value, it is sure that in coming days its
significance will be realized and it will not be a surprise if some day it gets the
status of a literary masterpiece highlighting the feelings, sentiments and over
all outlooks of the whole of the younger generation suffering the vices of
corporate life. However, at present it is nothing more than a time-pass.
Here, Bhagat digs into the problems of the present generation

IT

and

BPO

youths both from their personal and entrepreneurial periphery. But, he makes
use of many modern and mythical ingredients to make his narrative an
attractive read. Like a traditional Bollywood Box-Office hit movie, there exists
a homogeneous assortment of so many heterogeneous ingredients from the very
Title to the ultimate conclusion.
The title of the novel is really innovative and unique. Probably it was for the
first time any IT term is used as the title of any literary text. But, though
following 17th century practice the author has chosen a subtitle of his book, the
significance of a sub-title is not at all respected. The sub-title of the book is
ON@CC. It is simply an abbreviated variation of the original one. It does not
convey anything about the theme of the novel, whatsoever. Similarly, the story
receives its final twist through the use of the comparatively newer literary
device lately used in contemporary Occidental theatre called duex ex machina
in the intervention of God through his Telephonic advice to the distressed.
However, it takes place rather late in the novel; on page no.241.
The narrative technique is also innovative if not completely unique or novel.
Both the beginning and the end remind us the narrative technique of Yann
~2~

Martel in his Life of Pi. It is really fascinating. The story begins with a
Prologue like Life of Pi and ends like the option given to chose between true
and false stories. In Yann Martels Life of Pi the Japanese investigating
officers did not like to believe Pis actual story but accepted the invented and
imaginary story as true. But neither of the stories said anything about the cause
of the ship-wreck. Similarly, when the author doubted about the reliability of
the telephonic call from God, the narrator girl asked him to change that aspect
and substitute the God episode by a more reliable Military-uncles heroic
pursuit in the total rescue operation. But the author felt that the God episode is
far more acceptable.
So, you choose whichever version you want in the main story. It will, after all,
be your story.
I nodded.
But can I ask you one question?
Sure, I said.
Which of the two is a better story?
I thought for a second.
The one with God in it, I said.
Just like life. Rational or not, it just gets better with God in it. I reflected on
her words for a few minutes. She became silent. I looked at her face she looked
even better in the light of dawn.
Again, when the author wanted to know the identity of the narrator girl, she
mysteriously evades the question. But the apparent simple contextual reference
receives the dignity of a highly suspense-packed thriller when in the last
paragraph of the novel the identity of the story-teller girl is revealed. She turns
out to be the goddess sakti. ---~3~

Well, looks like Delhi is coming son, she said and looked out. The fields had
ended, and we could see the houses of Delhis border villages.
Yeah, the trip is over, I said. Thanks for everythingerr, let me guess, Esha
right? I stood up to shake her hand.
Esha? Why did you think I was her?
Because you are so goodlooking.
Thanks, she laughed, but sorry, I am not Esha.
So? Priyanka? I said.
No.
Dont tell meRadhika?
No, I am not Radhika either, she said.
Well thenwho are you?
She just smiled.
That is when it struck me. She was a girl, she knew the full story, but she was
not Esha, Priyanka or Radhika. Which meant there was only one alternative
left?
Sothat meansoh my My whole body shook as I found it difficult to
balance. I felt down on my knees. Her face shone, and bright sunlight entered
our compartment in one stroke.
I looked up at her as she smiled. She had an open book next to her. It was the
English translation of a holy text. My eyes focused on a few lines on the page
that lay open:
Always think of Me, become My devotes, worship Me and offer your homage
unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I Promise you this because
you are My very dear friend.

~4~

What, I said as I felt my head spin. Maybe the sleepless night was catching up.
But she just smiled and smiled. She raised her hand and kept in on my head.
I dont know that to say, I said in the blinding light.
A sense of tiredness engulfed me as the sleepless night took its toll. I closed my
eyes.
When I opened them, the train had stopped, and I knelt on the floor with my
head down. The train was at Delhi Station. The cacophony of porters, tea
sellers and passenger movement rang in my ears. I slowly looked up at her
seatbut she was gone.
Both the mythical characters, God and goddess Sakti and their role in the story
have made the novel a perfect Urban Legend in Indian context.
The beginning of the story reminds us of the narrative technique of magicrealism invented by the Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez and
Sir i,e Sir Salmon Rushdie. The story begins as a tell-tale heart.
The idea of goddess Sakti narrating the story of a Call- Center is really a
reflector of the social paradoxes that characterizes the contemporary India. It is
a conscious effort to bridge the gap between the legendary India when gods and
goddesses frequently intervened in human life and activities and contemporary
India where man has been lost in the rat-race or mad-race for material pursuit
forgetting the very exisistences of Divine powers. Thus, by making the bridge
between the two extremes, the author furnishes a magical reality of the
legendary India which always dwells in the sub-conscious Indian mind.
Now a day, through news media and news papers most of the educated youths
are familiar with the term of Call-center.It is reported that more than 300000
youths are working in Indian Call-centres at present. But it is not at all a dare
~5~

say that very few people possesses a clear idea about it or its functioning.
Bhagat has not only given a vivid picture of Indian Call centers but also
explored the life of the people working there. The differences between the
traditional village-centric mind-set and the newly emerged westernized cityethos form the body of the novel. Bhagats credit is this regard, is his alembic
talent for making a perfect blending of the odds.
The story: - The novel is of 289 pages. It begins as a frame story. In the
Prologue, the writer meets an attractive girl in his compartment of a Delhi
bound special train. The author gets on board in IIT Kanpur station. After
initial formal greetings, the girl wants to narrate a story on condition that the
novelist will have to make it his second novel. The novelist initially refuses but
finally agrees. And the story begins.
The story takes us to a Call center named Connexions at Gurgaon, Haryana.
The Call Centre is run by Mr.Bakshi and there are altogether six workers; three
young girls and three men. One of them was elderly ex-defence personnel.
They are Shyam, Priyanka, Vroom, Esha, Radhika and Military Uncle. The
necessity for earning their livelihood has brought them together from different
semi-urban localities of India.
An unfaithful husband, a scheming boss, apathetic grandchildren and a forced
engagement are just some of their collective problems and the basis of the
conflict.

~6~

An Indian call center

But, it will be difficult to understand the story if we, the village-centric people
do not know what a Call center in reality is? So, lets first see what is it? A call
centre or call center is the latest business equipment for international activities.
It a centralized office used for either of receiving or for transmitting a large
volume of requests by telephone. An inbound call centre is operated by a
company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from
consumers. Outbound call centers are operated for telemarketing, solicitation of
charitable or political donations, debt collection, and market research and credit
card activities. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of letter, fax, live
support, e-chat, and e-mail at one location is known as a contact centre. The
workers have to perform round the clock duties. Night shifts are busier than
Day shifts because of our geographical location. Night shifts are also better
remunerative.
Mr. Subhash Bakshi is the owner of Connexions. He is a person who would
always like to cash on others credit. The story is narrated by Shyam Mehra,
the team leader of the workers at the Connexions. Although he begins as a
character of the call centre, he rises to the status of an omniscient narrator
occasionally. Here, like a traditional Call centre, Indians man the phones all
~7~

night, fielding calls from American consumers who are having troubles with
their electronic goods. The company is kept afloat by its account with Western
Computers and Appliances, but isn't doing spectacularly well ("call volumes are
at an all-time low -- Connections is doomed") and there's talk of "rightsizing"
(meaning downsizing). Shyam works in the

WASG

bay -- the Western

Appliances Strategic Group, handling home appliance issues -- people having

trouble with their refrigerators, ovens, and vacuum cleaners. Mr.Bakshis evil
design of cheating the customers; his cheating of Vrooms newly invented wave
design and to sell it a foreign agency in Boston; his secret plan to sell the Call
Centre and a tendency to dominate his employees even in their private life
causes anxiety and frustration among all the six employees.
However, in order to overcome boredom and anxiety they hire a taxi-cab and
undertake a pleasure trip to a Disco in the market which has become a very
common activity in the e-hubs of contemporary India. At about 2 a.m they start
for their return journey. All on a sudden they face a life and death situation
while their Taxi-cab jammed into a pit. They experience imminent death. Their
phones also become irresponsive. In the face of imminent death, they all start
unlocking the secrets of their hearts; their hopes, their frustrations etc. Just at
that time, quite unexpectedly Shyams mobile rings and he hears the voice of
God from the other end. God wants to help them on condition that they will
have to follow His words. Everybody agrees. Then miraculously the Taxi-cab
starts and they find themselves out of danger.
But the incident shakes the very sensitivity of all these demoralized youths.
They become resolute to fight against the injustice and corruption of Mr.Bakshi
and save their cherished Call-centre. They plan their future actions and proceed
accordingly.
~8~

The rest of the story is similar to that of any Bollywood movie. They succeed
ultimately. The corrupt Mr.Bakshi is exposed. He suffers humiliation and
punishment. Vroom gets back his invention. Along with Shyam he markets it
and their financial condition becomes good.
In matters of love and relationship also there is magical change. In the
beginning it was a story of almost lost love, thwarted ambitions, absence of
family affection, pressures of a patriarchal set up, and the work environment of
a globalized office. But at the end, logical solutions to all the problems are
furnished.
At the beginning, Vroom in the call centre loved Esha, and proposed her three
to four times, and she kept rejecting him all these times. Even though it is so,
they work together and maintain quite a healthy friendship. Shyam and
Priyanka had been in relation ever since their college time. When they thought
that they should break up, they formally come together and put a break to their
relationship. Ultimately after all said and done they come together, and decide
to marry but the things that happen in between show us the changed relation
equations of our time. Shyam as he says wanted to 'move on', a new terminology
in the subject 'Love', develops a casual love relationship with another girl at the
call center. A marriage proposal of an

NRI

working in Microsoft, entertains

Priyanka's fancy for the time being but when she learns about the baldness of
the guy and his dubious life-style, her affection turns once again towards
Shyam.
Finally, all these young workers start their life afresh with a determination of
never to yield before vice. It has already been made a Bollywood movie named
Hallo in 2008.
~9~

Finally, we can close the book with a smile, a smile in realizing how shrewdly
the author has stolen our mind. Chetan Bhagat is not only enchanting but also
mischievously endearing. We feel Life is like a sweet melody, only lyrics are
messed up!

Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat, the Author:
Chetan Bhagat is a popular Indian speaker, columnist in major news dailies,
and a new generation author. He performs a good thematic research before
writing any novel. When he is not busy writing novels, he serves as a
motivational speaker. His famous writings are:
Revolution 2020
Five Point Someone
Three Mistakes of My Life
Two States

~ 10 ~

Bhagat has a very keen idea about the currently emerged corporate life in Indian
metropolis and e-hubs. His writing style is light-hearted and lucid. Chetan
Bhagat is a graduate from IIT-New Delhi and a post graduate from IIM
Ahmadabad.

****
Links, References & acknowledgements:i. Official website of Chetan Bhagat (Pictures)
ii.onenight@call center by Chetan Bhagat
iii. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Night_@_the_Call_Center
iv. www.chetanbhagat.com
v. www.goodreads.com
vi. www.complete-review.com

.
~ 11 ~