One Night at the Call Center - Worksheet

 Welcome readers! 

John Robert Colombo in his article titled Popular Literature in English writes on the meaning of the genre called popular literature as,

"Popular literature in English is writing which has shown wide and continued acceptance, measured by sales, frequent imitation, adaptation to other cultural forms and general commercial success. The word "popular" is meant as a synonym for "successful," not as an antonym for "serious."

    Popular literature can also be known as Pulp Fiction or dramedy. Times have witnessed a quirky boundary between what we study as 'high brow literature' with elevated style and form and what we consider as market-driven that clearly demarks two genres of literature. One can be classified as serious and implicit literature whereas the other lacks assumed seriousness and are explicit - popular literature. Bhagat's 2005 novel deals with contemporary issues and problems of today's youth. This blog is designed as a worksheet which attempts to discuss some worthy points assigned by our professor under the course of 'The New Literature'. Click here to navigate to Sir's blog titled- Chetan Bhagat's 'one night @ the call centre': Worksheet for Literary Analysis.

ONE NIGHT AT THE CALL CENTER

CHETAN BHAGAT 

Title- Globalization and ‘One Night at the Call Center’

    The literature of any age can be a reflective and self-critical discourse of any one or more era. In this sense, ‘One Night at the Call Center’ authored by Chetan Bhagat is one such literature roughly presenting some aspects of globalization and in a more particular manner, it focuses on the first decade of the twenty-first century India. It becomes evident to point out the genre of the text ‘One Night at the Call Center’ as a perfect illustration of Popular Literature.  

    As a genre of Popular Literature, the text deals with the issues of youth, their problems and their routine lives at their workplace. To examine and evaluate the text as literature having the element of globalization, some seminal works can be taken into consideration. 

Here is the list of some worth considering works on 'Globalization'-

1. Globalization: A Critical Introduction by Jan Aart Scholte

2. Social Dimension of Globalization by Bernhard G. Gunter and. Rolph van der Hoeven

3. The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman

The youth of India craves to be independent. Chetan Bhagat became a mouthpiece of young India in terms of jobs and employment in call centres. 

    To quote Jan Aart Scholte, "One common notion has conceived of globalization in terms of internationalization. From this perspective, ‘global’ is simply another adjective to describe cross-border relations between countries, and ‘globalization’ designates a growth of international exchange and interdependence. In this vein, Paul Hirst and Grahame Thompson have identified globalization in terms of ‘large and growing flows of trade and capital investment between countries’ (1996: 48)"

            Similarly, the text ‘One Night at the Call Center’ deals with outsourcing. There are six prime characters representing people who work in the call centres. They try to help foreign customers with their needs while utilizing some products. They basically assist their clients in fixing some home appliances. Hence, with the idea of internationalization and the cross-border phone relations in the call centre, they try to increase international exchange and maintain their independence. Call Centers, in the very first decade of the twenty-first century, was a medium of capital investment between countries. 

    The aspirations of youth and the outsourcing seemed to be represented in Bhagat's text. To apply one of the nomenclatures of globalization in Bhagat's text, among Scholte's liberalization, universalization, westernization or modernization, deterritorialization and internationalization, gives five different ways to look at literature. 

                Some notable observers like Bernhard G. Gunter and. Rolph van der Hoeven remarks, 

"The social dimension of globalization relates to the impact of globalization on the life and work of people, their families, and their societies. The concern is often raised about the impact of globalization on employment, working conditions, income and social protection. Beyond the world of work, the social dimension includes security, culture and identity, inclusion or exclusion from society and the cohesiveness of families and communities."

               Bhagat's text deals with this aspect of globalization. The agents working in the call centres are forced to change their names to appear as American citizens. They speak in an American accent and are addressed by their global names-

Shyam Mehra becomes Sam Marcy

Varun Malhotra is called Victor Mell

Esha Singh is called Eliza Singer

Radhika Jha becomes Regina Jones

            All the individuals working in call centre face exploitation from westerners and Chetan Bhagat has beautifully tried to portray it in his novel. The characters in the novel are compelled to use their western names rather than their Indian names and are treated as 'resources' in the call canter. The Boss 'Bakshi'of the call centre consistently disrespects the workers and never notices their grievances against the technical assistance.

         Chetan Bhagat is the follower of change who believes in the transformation of society. This Globalization and modernization play an important role and India can not shy away from this change. As a balanced observer, he has highlighted both the negative and positive impacts of globalization on the people of India. (Tantry) 

                Moreover, these six people despite having a different cultural background, share the same level of agony and personal crises because of their metro life in the call centre. Hence, it can be said that Chetan Bhagat has presented both the negative and positive aspects of globalization in his work. On one side the characters are in a progressive way of making themselves a global citizen by participating in the international market while on the other hand, they are screwed away by the Americans and by their policy of cutting down the jobs. They are made helpless which urges them to be nationalist. Vroom becomes a perfect example of his ideal (local) voice of India. According to Varun, Indians, if given the chance to work in India, will not at all desire to work in America. His voice becomes an important parameter to observe how the process of globalization shapes nationalism. 

"For Bhagat, it turns out, doesn’t like call centres. He sees them as soul-destroying sweatshops, soaking up the talents and energies of young Indians who could and should be doing better for themselves and their country. The book’s denouement inveighs against young Indians wasting their time catering to the unreasonable and petty demands of American customers" - Shashi Tharoor

Title- Self-Help and ‘One Night at the Call Center’

Bhagat begins his novel with three questions and urges the readers to focus on them and answer the questions most honestly. The questions are-

                        It seems that the author is helping us to allow ourselves to know our fears and to overcome it. He is insisting us to share discuss our private and difficult problems. It provides us with a sense of community. Self-help can mean two different things. On the one hand, it’s simply a way of reading, a deliberately unsystematic pursuit of life lessons: The reader might glean wisdom from any kind of book, dipping in and casting aside according to her own preferences and needs. Or, as most of us use it today, “self-help” can refer to a particular kind of book intended to make the reader’s life better — those innumerable how-to guides. (Scutts)

            Aristotle believed that reading had healing capabilities. While self-help book buyers may not be cured of whatever ails them, feeling better is not to be entirely discounted. (Lamb-Shapiro) All human beings, at some moment in their lives, need healing, be it physical wound or psychological instability. There are certain problems in life of the youth which Bhagat's book tries to solve.

The problems (of youth) displayed in the book are-

The narrative technique in Bhagat's text move in such a way that first it asks some questions which makes it a directly a self-help book. The structural design of the book also gives a self-help furnishing. From three questions the idea of god also develops and is connected in the narrative - the call from god episode. As a true literature, this book also tells a story and weaves the self-help elements in such a way that it rarely fails to amaze it's readers. The tendency to tell the story emerges from his good reading and understanding the human psyche. He understands the psycho realism. After the questions, Bhagat writes,

Do not think too much

Hence, it does not challenge the readers to think too much, it fails to move the readers, it just provides a plesantness at the end. This book can be consider a self-help fiction mainly because it presents a realistic picture of same message with newness. Either the self-help genre takes the readers to spirituality or it build a kind of self-confidence among its readers. This book tries to present intuitive elements and god as the ultimate solution of all problems. 

Self-help in some way, can be said as phony literature. It cliams that by reading the selp-help book people will discover the secrets of life but  Micki McGee rightly observes, "No one, try as they may, can invent themselves".

References-

Colombo, John Robert. "Popular Literature in English".  The Canadian Encyclopedia, 16 December 2013, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/popular-literature-in-english. Accessed 12 February 2021.

Lamb-Shapiro, Jessica. "A Short History Of Self-Help, The World’S Bestselling Genre". Publishing Perspectives, 2013, https://publishingperspectives.com/2013/11/a-short-history-of-self-help-the-worlds-bestselling-genre/. Accessed 12 Feb 2021.

"Popular Art". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2021, https://www.britannica.com/art/popular-art#ref5876. Accessed 12 Feb 2021.

Scutts, Joanna. "‘Self-Help’ And ‘Literature’ Serve The Same Purpose". Forge, 2020, https://forge.medium.com/self-help-and-literature-serve-the-same-purpose-d2f31d191449. Accessed 12 Feb 2021.

Tantry, J. A., and D. V. Jaoolkar. “Globalization: Exploring Its Implication in Chetan Bhagat’s One Night @ the Call Centre”. SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH, vol. 5, no. 12, Dec. 2017, p. 6, https://ijellh.com/OJS/index.php/OJS/article/view/2730.

Tharoor, Shashi. “India Finds Its Calling.” Foreign Policy, no. 153, 2006, pp. 78–80. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25462017. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.

"What Is Pulp Fiction? And We Don't Mean The Movie!". Vintagelibrary.Com, 2021, https://www.vintagelibrary.com/pulpfiction/introduction/What-Is-Pulp-Fiction.php. Accessed 12 Feb 2021.

Wikipedia contributors. "Comedy-drama." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 6 Feb. 2021. Web. 12 Feb. 2021.