Abbas Mastan is better. Review on One Night at the Call Centre - Chetan Bhagat

If it was a one line review, I would have said that the book was not even worth a Rupee and I feel that the entire 95 bucks I spent to procure this book has been a big time waste. I have been working in this industry for more than 18 months and I guess that qualifies me to comment on the life in there.

Someone who has fancy degrees to speak of and knows crap about a Rs 3,500 a month job can easily say things that he has tried to convey through the book. It is a blatant misuse of the popularity the author gained by selling the name of his alma matter. To quote a very competent author I know, it is a shame to even speak of literature and Chetan Bhagat in the same line.

There are macro and micro level flaws and the entire plot speaks of an aim to sell, book and name. First of all, unlike the rest of the corporate sector, this industry does not have bosses that can gobble up your work. Every level has a massive check and balance in place and skip level meets are a reality in this industry. If it was a catharsis to his miserable experience with a bad boss, then guess he should have chosen a 3000 word column that I am sure Times of India would have been happy to publish. It is not a good idea to exploit the platform of literature as a ground to expend your subjective experience. That too with an industry as a backdrop where something like this is minimal.

On a macro level, the author needs to go back to his IIM-A that he liberally flaunts and learn a few things about globalisation and the contribution that this industry is making to the entire structure. I train people to assist them to get a job at a BPO and I can see there are so many people who are willing to slog their nights out and straighten their lives.

Agreed that there are high stress levels, but that is not because of the nature of work, but because of the fact that the average age of the crowd in there is low and the average professional maturity is low. And how is an IT industry different. Just because the clients are companies and not individual global customers.

Lets not promote crass like this and lets stop passing such things off as literature. If you are someone who loves Bollywood potboilers, feel free to read through. But as far as your beliefs in the book are concerned, please pay as much attention you would to a typical front stall bollywood film.