Books are my own Reflection
Introduction: Puja Goyal caught up with Chetan Bhagat to find out more about the driving force behind his book, One Night @ The Call Center.
Source: Vijay Times, Life : CenterStage- 3.
Copyright © 2005 Puja Goyal.
CHETAN BHAGAT could be more than driven, after his studies at IIT-Delhi (1995), and IIM-Ahmedabad (1997), he joined a firm as an investment banker, but that was not enough. As mundane job schedules provided no escape from a lousy boss, Chetan was depressed and was forced to question his beliefs and the worth of the degrees he had earned over the years. This is where his writing career began and his bestselling book Five Point Someone stayed on the Crossword Top 10 Bestsellers for the past one-and-a-half-years.
After the brilliant success of Five Point Someone, Chetan Bhagat is back with One Night @ The Call Center (ON@TCC). ON@TCC explores issues faced by call centre employees. An unmanageable relationship, a bad boss and a phone call from God, ON@TCC has all this and more. It explores a diverse set of characters, the self-doubting Shyam; his exgirlfriend, Priyanka, whose mother would do anything to see her married to a rich NRI; the brash and impulsive Vroom; Esha, who is desperate to make it big in the world of fashion; and Radhika, a dutiful wife whose relationship with her husband takes a disastrous turn.
What made you write ON@TCC, apart from the young lady in the compartment who asked you to?
There are many things that made me pursue what I am doing today. I had a terrible boss, and I have used him in ON@TCC. My first book, Five Point Someone deals with IITians. I want parents to know that being in IIT is not as flowery as it sounds. Everyone wants the best and it has created a sort of class system where if you are not a part of the esteemed institutions then you're nothing. In the same way, in ON@TCC, I wanted people to see what call centres are all about. Youngsters may think twice after reading ON@TCC; if they're hoping of joining a call centre.
How would you define your genre?
Humour, dark humour, some say thriller because my books are fast moving, modern fiction, and relationship based... you can take your pick. But the books are my own reflection.
What are the key elements that attract the reader to the book?
Firstly, the characters are ordinary people, you see them everyday, you know them and sometimes you find them in your reflection. Secondly, the book is very entertaining.
Your thoughts on today's youth working in call centers...
Itís not right to judge youngsters. But come on! There should be better things in life than a Call Centre. The Government has not created real jobs for people even though people pay for it through taxes. No one questions them... we go on and say, atleast they are doing somethingí. We have a strange Indian culture where we respect elders... its not a bad thing, its a good thing. But it is because of this very culture that some people lax out and do not do what they are supposed to do. Our Government is handled by 70-year-olds who can't even walk properly, and the bottom of the food chain is the youth who are affected. By the time the youngsters come to a position where they can hold office, it will be the same vicious circle again. Call Centre is being served as a main stream employment solution; it is not a mainstream solution. Soon India will be one big call centre. Do we want India to be one big call center? I am not here to win votes, I want to write about it and let people know.
Source: Vijay Times, Life : CenterStage- 3.
Copyright © 2005 Puja Goyal.
CHETAN BHAGAT could be more than driven, after his studies at IIT-Delhi (1995), and IIM-Ahmedabad (1997), he joined a firm as an investment banker, but that was not enough. As mundane job schedules provided no escape from a lousy boss, Chetan was depressed and was forced to question his beliefs and the worth of the degrees he had earned over the years. This is where his writing career began and his bestselling book Five Point Someone stayed on the Crossword Top 10 Bestsellers for the past one-and-a-half-years.
After the brilliant success of Five Point Someone, Chetan Bhagat is back with One Night @ The Call Center (ON@TCC). ON@TCC explores issues faced by call centre employees. An unmanageable relationship, a bad boss and a phone call from God, ON@TCC has all this and more. It explores a diverse set of characters, the self-doubting Shyam; his exgirlfriend, Priyanka, whose mother would do anything to see her married to a rich NRI; the brash and impulsive Vroom; Esha, who is desperate to make it big in the world of fashion; and Radhika, a dutiful wife whose relationship with her husband takes a disastrous turn.
What made you write ON@TCC, apart from the young lady in the compartment who asked you to?
There are many things that made me pursue what I am doing today. I had a terrible boss, and I have used him in ON@TCC. My first book, Five Point Someone deals with IITians. I want parents to know that being in IIT is not as flowery as it sounds. Everyone wants the best and it has created a sort of class system where if you are not a part of the esteemed institutions then you're nothing. In the same way, in ON@TCC, I wanted people to see what call centres are all about. Youngsters may think twice after reading ON@TCC; if they're hoping of joining a call centre.
How would you define your genre?
Humour, dark humour, some say thriller because my books are fast moving, modern fiction, and relationship based... you can take your pick. But the books are my own reflection.
What are the key elements that attract the reader to the book?
Firstly, the characters are ordinary people, you see them everyday, you know them and sometimes you find them in your reflection. Secondly, the book is very entertaining.
Your thoughts on today's youth working in call centers...
Itís not right to judge youngsters. But come on! There should be better things in life than a Call Centre. The Government has not created real jobs for people even though people pay for it through taxes. No one questions them... we go on and say, atleast they are doing somethingí. We have a strange Indian culture where we respect elders... its not a bad thing, its a good thing. But it is because of this very culture that some people lax out and do not do what they are supposed to do. Our Government is handled by 70-year-olds who can't even walk properly, and the bottom of the food chain is the youth who are affected. By the time the youngsters come to a position where they can hold office, it will be the same vicious circle again. Call Centre is being served as a main stream employment solution; it is not a mainstream solution. Soon India will be one big call centre. Do we want India to be one big call center? I am not here to win votes, I want to write about it and let people know.
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