One Night @ the Call Center By Chetan Bhagat
Introduction about Writer :-
Chetan
Bhagat is one of the great Indian writers. Chetan Bhagat in his books
always writes about the young India. In his books he always writes
about the problem in Indian society. Chetan Bhagat also who is a best
seller of his books.
Bhagat
is also columnist for newspaper such as “The Times of India” and
“Dainik Bhaskar”, where he writes about the youth career
development and current affairs. “The New York” times called him
as “The biggest selling English language novelist in India’s
history”.
Time
magazine named him amongst the 100 most influential people in the
world and fast company, U. S. A. listed him as one of the world’s
100 most creative people in business. In the novels he uses very
simple language so that reader can easily understand and prefers to
read more.
Bhagat’s
novels have been adapted into Bollywood films like, 2 States, 3
idiots, Kai po che!, Hello, etc.
His Works:
1. Five
point some one
2. The 3
mistakes of my life
3. 2 states
4. One
Night @ the Call Center
5.
Revolution 2020
6 . What
young India Wants
7. Half
girlfriend
Introduction: One Night @ the Call center
One
Night @ the Call Center is one of the novel written by Chetan Bhagat.
The novel published in 2005. In this novel Bhagat talks about the
call center where there are six character are working, Gurgaon,
Haryana in the novel.
The
characters of the novel are : Shyam, Varun, Esha, Priyanka, Radhika
and Military Uncle. They are working in call center which is
“Connexion call center”. All the character faces the problems in
their family. One night they get call from God and God said them to
listen your inner voice of your heart. All the characters inspired by
the call of God.
The
story takes a dramatic and decisive turn through a literal Deux ex
Machina, when the character receives a phone call from God.
Major Themes in the novel One Night @ the Call Center:
1. Nationalism:
In
the novel One Night @ the Call Center writer introduces a young India
and their problems like six characters, shyam, Radhika, Esha,
Priyanka, Vroom, and Military uncle of the novel they facing problems
because they working in the call center. Once they get call from God
to solve problem and the novel also about to call to alarm to India
to the young people within it.
“Nationalism
involves national identity, by contrast with the related construct of
patriotism, which involves the social conditioning and personal
behaviors that support a state’s decisions and actions”
Having had to suffer the country being screwed up by politicians for
so years, the potential of the nation and its people is finally being
allowed to flourish. In call center most of the people work in a
night shift and get many calls from the America and solve their
problems.
In
the novel characters working in the call center and their bay’s
name is “Western Appliances Strategic Group” or WASG. They deal
with the customers of home appliances such as refrigerator, oven and
vacuum cleaners. These strategic customers call a lot and are too
difficult to figure out things. So they thinks that they dealing with
on the lines from America and even bigger up the management pecking
order.
When Vroom talks to
God, Vroom says,
“I should not have
taken up a job just for money. Call center pays more, but only
because the exchange rate is in the favor Americans. They toss their
loose change at us. It seems like a lot of rupees but jobs that pay
less could be better there could be jobs that define me, make me
learn or help my country”
Vroom’s ideas are
very anti American so he says that,
“Americans suck
the life blood out of our country’s most productive generation”
The
implication is that Indian too must develop a greater sense of itself
and reject the easy path of playing second fiddle to the U. S.
2. Phone call from God:
The
phone call from God is one of the major theme and the salient feature
in the novel. In the novel writer has presented God as a friendly
figure rather than a boss. God is presented in a modern way and shown
as speaking in modern modern rather than the stereo-typical pure
English or Latin that one usually encounter God saying.
In
the novel each characters suffers from their personal problems and
when they are in difficult situation they get phone call from God.
When they all go outside from call center at the night to go to club.
After enjoying they coming back to the call center at that time their
car Qualis crashes into a construction site hanging over a mesh of
iron construction roads.
They are unable to call for as there is no mobile phone network at
that place. In that circumstances shyam’s mobile phone starts up
ringing. The phone call is from God. God talks with everyone and
listen their problems and gives them suggestions and to improve their
life.
The conversation with God motivates the characters to such an extent
that they get ready to face their problems with utmost determination
and motivation. The story takes a dramatic and decisive turn through
a deux ex machina when the characters receive a phone call from God.
“Deux ex machina
is a calque from Greek meaning “God from the machina”
Deux
ex machina is term which has evolved to mean a plot device whereby a
seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the
contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character,
ability or subject. It can be intended to move the story forward when
the writer has “painted himself into a corner” and sees no other
way out, to surprise the audience.
In
same way Chetan Bhagat has also used deux ex machina in this novel.
Where he finds that the all characters are in trouble situation he
uses a call from God to resolve a plot.
3. Human relations, Love, sex and Marriage:
Chetan Bhagat in his novel trying to say about the young India. In
the novel One Night @ the Call center Bhagat talks about the love
story of Shyam and Priyanka and shyam’s dates with Priyanka. They
both are not just friends but they have physical relationship with
each other.
In
the novel the characters of Esha who wants to become a model and for
that she sleep with designer after that she cheated by him and said
that she has not enough height for the ramp model. Here Bhagat
present the dark side of the India.
4. Cognizance:
In this novel the theme of cognizance play very important role in
every characters. Chetan Bhagat’s intention was to convey the self
defeating nature of blaming complaining and not taking
responsibility. All the characters that always feel problems by
showing the character’s hypocrisy that how they suffered from an
inferiority complex and psychologically projected their self loathing
into America.
After a get call from God, they improve their selves and listen their
inner voice that’s what it says to do where Radhika decides to
divorce her cheating husband and leave from her mother in laws
critical clutches. Shyam rather to criticize himself, he implementing
his ideas into practice and started new web design company with
Vroom. Military uncle realized his mistake and wants to go America to
live with his son and grandson. Esha quit her modeling aspirations
and continued to work at the call center and also work with NGO.
Priyanka also work in call center but after that she will go to
college for an accelerated one year B. Ed.
After receiving a call from God the characters use their newfound
self confidence and perspective on life. All the characters get
awareness after solved problems by God.
The
book also point out at valuable life lessons that take responsibility
for your own lives, stop blaming others, stop making excuses and be
your own. It also shown that as a citizen of India, instead of
blaming others we need to do introspection that makes the better
society to live in.
5. Modernization:
One Night @ the Call Center deals with issues of young people,
including questions about career, inadequacy, marriage, family
conflicts in a changing India, and the relationship of the young
Indian middle class to both executive and ordinary clients whom they
serve in the United States.
In
this novel Bhagat’s aim is to convey a message to the people of
India from the situation of the characters like the harshness of the
situation of women in India. Esha who wants to become a model for
that she forced to slept with 40 years old designer and it represents
the dark side of the India.
Throughout the novel
Bhagat presents modernity like smoking is the contemporary metaphore
of melancholic state of being depression, stress, feel bad. Bhagat
also talks about the Indian family like the situation of Radhika in
her in law’s house. Like on day she do house hold works and in
night she works in call center.
6. Globalization :
“Globalization is
a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies,
and governments of different nations, a process driven by
international trade and investment and aided by information
technology”
"Globalization
is no longer a theoretical concept; it is a glaring reality,
impinging upon almost every aspect of human existence"
The
title of the novel it self tells about the effect of globalization in
call center. In this novel writer wants to give message to the
Indians that who working in call center they just get good salary
but it not give it a opportunity to do something else or for their
skills and creativity Americanized form of English in the Call
Centers.
In this
novel we Workers forced to change their names to Western one e.g.
like,
Shyam Mehra – Sam Mercy
Varun Malhotra - Victor
Radhika Jha – Regima Jones
Esha singh – Elina
Chetan
Bhagat thinks that “On a different level, I began to think about
the number individuals who sacrifice their creativity and skills and
join call center merely because of the fact pay packet on offer.”
Vroom cannot stand
two things: the Racists and the Americans. Vroom thinks Americans get
to act superior to us “not because they are better people. But
because their country is rich and ours is poor. That is the only damn
reason. Because the losers who have run our country for the last
fifty year couldn’t do better than make India one of the poorest
countries on the earth”
In
this novel we find rising anxieties, fear and stress in these six
characters in call center are constantly under pressure. They
themselves are to be blamed for it but one can not deny that
globalization is also responsible for it. Due to slack in software
industry the call center wanted to cut down the number of employees
in its main bay and that brings all the people under pressure.
Actually this book talks about the anxieties, fears, and stress of
call center employees.
Eroding values means compromising attitude .in the novel charcter of
Esha who getting modelling assignments, gets ready to sleep with an
influential person in the concerned field. When even after this
compromise she doesn't get a way-in, she realises the horrible
mistake she made. This example of hers reveals a disgusting reality
in the world of modelling and fashion. At the same time it shows us a
limitlessly compromising attitude that has come over today's youth
Thomas friedman
gives definition about Globalization
“Globalization is
the integration of capital,
technology and
information across national borders, in a way that is creating a
single global
market, and to some degree, a global market”
In this book he gives three eras of Globalization
1.
Globalization 1.0
2.
Globalization 2.0
3.
Globalization 3.0
The
novel One Night @ the Call Center we can connect with the Friedman’s
idea of flatteners. One Night @ the Call Center connect with 3rd
flattener “Workflow software” where he talks about the
technology and tells that world is become flat. In this book he talks
about a new era of 21st century, world become very small.
In
one Night @ the Call Center we see some positive and negative effect
of the Globalization. So here we can see the novel deals with the
theme of globalization with the example of “The World is flat” by
Thomas Friedman and connect the novel with his idea.
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