How can I help you?. Review on One Night at the Call Centre - Chetan Bhagat

My 2nd book review..SO..Read on.. A standard monotonous pre scripted greeting is toned by an agent who is helplessly eager to help you out. Being a call center agent, your job is to help nut-balls. Nut-balls, who don’t know how to switch on a TV, nut-balls who don’t read the basic manual before using anything and the nut-balls who derive an extra pleasure calling people and the nut-balls who just call for whiling away their time. So handle them and get paid in large chunks. One night @ call centeris a 289 pager from Chetan Bhagat who shot his way up by Five Point Someone. This book is more close to me since I work in somewhat similar environment and hence it came naturally as compared to the author’s previous work. Something about the book, just something. The books peeps into lives of six individuals working in call center. Their problems, attitudes, interaction and their view towards LIFE form the crux of the narrative. It unfolds in a night span and the same night amongst plethora of the calls they are worked to entertain, they receive a call from the GOD.Q- What happens next? Ans- Spend Rs.95 (It’s catchy :D) and take out sometime to read this to find out. The book unfolds in a train and involves a pretty girl and the author himself. Hence it is more an open ended beginning involving an anchored approach to story telling. The approach is good because it raises the curiosity level of the story to be told. Following Five Point Someone the writing style of the author light, witty and natural. Not clutching to mumbo jumbos of words and phrases he uses more relative style of narration. The fun is about interaction between the protagonists and that’s where it scores in the same manner of the previous book. The Agents Fortunately for the six, they are the part of the same call handling team for Connexions a call center company based in Gurgaon (Haryana). The co. handles the process for an electronic company i.e. Western Appliances and these six forms the strategic group somewhat more elite. Shyam Mehra or sam marcy:: He is the host n dost of this story. He has given to the fate that it will be his life that will be calling shots and taking him to his destiny. How does the call from god transfer his attitude remains to be seen. Varun Malhotra or victor mell:: Vroom as they call him is a dude and a something of an outlaw. His catch phrase is ”Slowdown and Vroom cannot be used in one sentence”. Military Uncle:: He is ex military official in a call center. So read the book to know more about him, which you won’t be able to as he has been kept deliberately blank as a character. Radhika Jha or Regina Jones:: A housewife working or should I say slogging it out between home and this job. She never leaves her wool and knits. Esha Singh or Eliza Singer:: A wannabe model towing between being one and this job. Priyanka:: Less said is better about her because she is the heroine of the book. Plus there is Mr.Bakshi who deliversmanagese(a term for deliverance of management fundas) and cute Shefali as for a special appearance. The book looks well into the call center modus hence informs. The light style of narrative is something that will be helpful for a non reader as well. The irrational aspect of god’s involvement is dealt well and somehow finds a flavor with me. Despite the fun it delves with real issues that can be issues of you and me in real life and hence you find it relative. I found relativity with Shyam’s character and hence what he decides finally influenced me in one way or the other. The similarity in both the books is fun and wit and the simple style of writing but that ends there. Weak links of the book… Well the book has its share of flaws especially the writer’s mind of going superfluous with the fact with the way the protagonist have a free hand in working and moving in and out especially with the cabs. I just talked to my call center friend about the same and she said that cabs cannot be freely put to use. Plus I felt the narrative became filmy and was somehow written with a view of a celluloid possibility in near future and that’s where I felt it dents. The ending is stretched and looked melodramatic something which was ripped off straight from a bollywood movie. Also the date sequence of Shyam and Priyanka test the reader’s patience sometimes because the grip of the call center confined space and the main narration is lost due to that. All said and done… I read it and liked it. On an out n out literary basis I feel this book might not go well with purists but for normal readers like me it was good. At Rs.95 this 289 pager book was done with in 4 hours flat. Closer to life compared to previous book but perhaps a bit filmy. Cticize’s Quote:: “If Five Point Someone was alright for me this one is better, thanks to some issues about way of life that were dealt in the book. So that along with fun, jokes and interactions between the characters it is a good book read.” Rate the review and comment me what you doing this diwali and something about the review. PS:: H-A-P-P-Y: D-I-W-A-L-I