One Night at the Call Center: A Novel

Chetan Bhagat

Dec 2008 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

Press 1 for technical support.
Press 2 for broken hearts.
Press 3 if your life has totally crashed. . . .

Six friends work nights at a call center in India, providing technical support for a major U.S. appliance corporation. Skilled in patience–and accent management–they help American consumers keep their lives running. Yet behind the headsets, everybody’s heart is on the line.

Shyam (Sam to his callers) has lost his self-confidence after being dumped by the girl who just so happens to be sitting next to him. Priyanka’s domineering mother has arranged for her daughter’s upscale marriage to an Indian man in Seattle. Esha longs to be a model but discovers it’s a horizontal romp to the runway. Lost, dissatisfied Vroom has high ideals, but compromises them by talking on the phone to idiots each night. Traditional Radhika has just found out that her husband is sleeping with his secretary. And Military Uncle (nobody knows his real name) sits alone working the online chat.

They all try to make it through their shifts–and maintain their sanity–under the eagle eye of a boss whose ego rivals his incompetence. But tonight is no ordinary night. Tonight is Thanksgiving in America: Appliances are going haywire, and the phones are ringing off their hooks. Then one call, from one very special caller, changes everything.

Chetan Bhagat’s delicious romantic comedy takes us inside the world of the international call center, where cultural cross-wires come together with perfect pathos, hilarity, and spice.

Ratings and reviews

1) THE BOOK IS GOOD BECAUSE OF THE GOOD DRAFTING. 2) THE BOOK CONTAINS SITUATIONS THAT MAY NOT OCCUR IN EVERYBODY'S LIFE AND THEY ARE INTERESTING TO READ. 3) THE PERSONAL THOUGHTS OF THE AUTHOR MAKE THE BOOK A REMARKABLE ONE. 4) THE DIVIDED CHAPTERS MAKE THE READER EASY TO READ AND UNDERSTAND 5) THE LANGUAGE TO IS NOT DIFFICULT AND IS LUCID. 6) SOME THINGS ARE BASED ON INDIA , SO INDIANS WOULD FIND IT MORE FRIENDLY.

the book is simply amazing, i love the content and the way it has been presented! the way chetan bhagat has done it is terrific! i want to tell u sir that i am ur biggest biggest fan!! trust me! i want to meet you one day in my life...but in the whole book i hav just one doubt, who was the lady who told the story if it was neither priyanka, nor radhika, nor esha! was it God...as far as my understanding tells me?

A nice account of the way most middle class people live their life, fighting the odds but eventually succumbing to the inevitable despair. The author has smartly carved out the main protagonists of the novel in a way that any reader will connect to at least one of them based on their character. This makes the reader believe he is living the novel. This is how the man has bound the imagination of so many people. A good, motivational read, though sloppy at a few places due to over description of unnecessary circumstances.

About the author

Chetan Bhagat is the author of seven novels and two nonfiction books. The New York Times called him the “the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history” and Time magazine named him among the “100 most influential people in the world.” Chetan also writes about youth and national development issues in India. He lives in Mumbai with his wife and their twin boys.