Rang De Basanti & One Night @ The Call Cantre

This is a very impromptu posting so please excuse any glaring typos and grammatical errors. Alright, I saw RANG DE BASANTI and was mostly swept away. I say mostly because the only bone I have to pick with the makers of the film is that, hey, the Indian youth is not going to reach anywhere by opting for the guns. Otherwise, it's a superb film, great music that simply lands you into a dreamy reverie (think thats redundant : ) . I particularly like 'Tu bin bataye' and 'luka chuppi', Lata Mangeshkar rocks even today.

Talking about Indian youth, I was recently convinced into reading a book called 'One night @ the call centre'. I am so glad I did, it is a very nice read, Chetan Bhagat is not only clever in his style of narration but also has a great story to tell. It is about six people who work in a call centre and one night they receive a call from...God!!

Among other things, what I really liked was how he drives home the point that an entire generation of Indian youth is being sacrificed for taking crap from callers all around the world, mostly America. I can tell from personal experience that it is not worth it. Yes the money is good, but what is the reason for that. Have you ever thought about that?

Ever wondered how America got where it is today? Certainly not by taking calls in the middle of the night from crazy, dim-witted, lonely, frustrated insomniacs. This is not an attempt at American bashing. Granted that it is a super power. But I hate to see hundreds and thousands of Indian groggy-eyed kids, who are barely out of their teens, sacrificing their crucial years taking calls. Years thay could otherwise spend either getting a higher education or gaining some valulable skills and experiance at a 'real' job. Who convinced them that the American way is the right way? That it is alright to earn money now and perhaps get an education later?

I think it's high time someone told them to take their business elsewhere. That's an extreme thought I know because a lot of money is at stake here. But the least that our leaders and so-called bureaucrats can do is ensure better working facilities or criterias. For instance, why the hell shoud we talk in an American accent. Like *#$@ those Americans don't know that their calls are being taken in India, they know alright. One can almost hear them chuckle at the other end when some poor soul in the Indian sub-continent is desperately trying to get his/her T's and R's in place.

So I say, no more American accent, yes train us alright so we can follow them but don't expect us to talk yankee.