Bangalore Calling

Brinda S. Narayan

'In this lively and deeply telling collection, the author transports us into an Alice in Wonderland Bangalore call centre training session in which students learn broad-'a' American English, imagine American cities and don take-home American names. They create an offshore piece of America. Bangalore Calling is more than a book; it is a powerful wake-up call to look sharp at the cultural core of global capitalism.' Arlie Hochschild, Professor Emeritus at U.C. Berkeley, author of The Managed Heart: The Commercialization of Human Feeling and co-editor of Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy

'Entertaining and humane, Bangalore Calling is very much a book of our times. It is both a moving introduction to the strange world of the Bangalore call centre, and a reminder of the human and cultural costs of globalization.' Sam Miller, author of Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity and former BBC correspondent in India

The employees at the Callus call centre in Bangalore juggle false identities, abusive customers and the tugs of family and community. An Anglo-Indian trainer is aghast at the overt Americanisms adopted by her eager trainees. A van driver who yearns for a son petitions the god Ayyappan by playing devotional songs inside the van. A brash Jimi Hendrix-loving agent tries to change the music and stokes the driver's deep resentment. A young girl travels across the great divide between the slum she lives in and the shiny glass complex where she works as a toilet cleaner. Through fifteen linked stories Bangalore Calling explores the social costs of outsourcing – the erosion of cultures, the displacement of vernacular languages and accents – in a world that's not yet flat.