Hi folks,
This is my first contribution to MS.
I am sucker for novels of firang novelists but never could like Indian authors. When a colleague loaned me ON@TCC I thought well here goes another Indian author that I would end up returning back without reading.
But since I was doing nothing last weekend I just thought I might pick up this book and give it a browse through. What started at 12:30 PM ended at 5:30 PM - a non-stop read with no lunch in between!!!
Well here goes my review:
The first thing I noticed about this novel is it’s price. Just Rs.95/-. Wow thatz good value for money.
The tempo of the book is very fast which is something I like. Slow meandering tales with a lot of descriptions are not my type.
The language is kept simple and font-face is large. I love that, especially the large font-face. It makes for easier and quicker reading.
The book is very topical and does indeed look into the shallow world of call-centers and how event intelligent people are hooked into mindless drudgery of attending ’calls’ and ’chats’.
The relationships among the protagonists are well developed and explained.
The anecdotes of everyday Delhi-life are well brought out.
The start to the novel is extremely boring. I hope CB comes up with a better opening in his next book.
The most interesting part in the whole book was the ’Mobile Conversation With God’. It is a tale guys so don’t criticize this as being shallow and improbable. I believe every book should convey a message and this chapter does it admirably.
The epilogue of the conversation between CB & the belle femme was thought provoking but a little more could have been left to imagination. There has been an attempt to plug all loopholes and that shows through with excessive editing and filling-the-gaps.
I am sure a lot of people would identify with Shyam and would have had bosses like Bakshi making conversations between both of them so everyday-like.
I did not like the Bollywood-style ending of the getting back together of Shyam & Priyanka. The end at the water-cooler would have been superb.
Finally, I would recommend this book to Indian Software & ITES employess(me being one of the multitude) to really open their eyes to the pitfalls of the big-money with no self-initiative would make ‘em so American-like. We don’t want to be duds, right? We ARE the brains of the world. I love AMERICA-bashing but that would just make them even more proud ’coz they are in the news!!!
For all those who have not tried it - go on, go get it. It’s COOL.
I am onto the CB’s FPS now and its funny as far as I have got. Shall write something on that soon.