Call Center Mumbai in the news
Call Centers in Mumbai vs. Rat Catchers
The Chicago Sun Times stated in November 2010 that a rat killer in Mumbai makes $271 while a Mumbai Call Center employee makes $338 as an entry level employee and claims that the competition for rat killing jobs is tough. Indian call center jobs are now being outsourced to the Philippines, but there is no way to outsource rat catching jobs. So, unless there is an influx of foreign born cats coming to Mumbai, the rat catchers are safe… for now.
“Outsourced” and real Mumbai Call Centers
The TV show Outsourced is really funny. I watch each episode at least four times on hulu.com and love each and ever character. Each persona is loveable, interesting, and hillarious. But a real life Mumbai Call Center would be dull and boring in comparison. I remember visiting a Vashi call center in Navi Mumbai (over the bridge from the Bombay peninsula). There would be the bored looking security guard in a dull uniform, the gray concrete buildings, the endless honking, unhappy people in a hurry to come to work. I wish that real call center employees could be as delightful as on Outsourced! The one call center employee I remember from real life was a girl in the Philippines who was entralled by the fact that I “Flew over her” on my way to India. She asked me to wave hi next time I fly over the Philippines. I promised that I would! I think this sort of charm should be integrated into the job. Adding humor and personality makes a wonderful bridge between far away people.
Spiegel online’s article about India by day America by night discusses issues inside a Mumbai Call Center. Call Center employees are encouraged to develop American accents and personalities. These employees live as Indians by day, and Americans by night. The article claims that eligible English speaking call center call center employees are in shorter and shorter supply and that Mumbai call centers and Delhi Call Centers are trying to attract Europeans who are recent college grads to work overseas with them for a year.
In the film “John & Jane”, a lady named Naomi is in her final state of Westernization. She had bleached hair and bleached skin and spoke with an accent that somewhat resembled a Texan accent. My point is that if you don’t live in a particular culture, then you are not part of it. I can fake an accent from any part of the world, but I am only part of the cultures that I spend time in, and I spend more time in some and less time in others.
What disturbed me is on domestic flights in India, I am always bumping into these falsely Westernized girls. There is the fake sounding British accent, and the unwillingness to acknowledge Indian tradition. Real Westerners who go to India know Indian tradition. We don’t always relate to it or like it, but we don’t pretend not to know what Chai is, and we don’t bleach our skin if we have a dark complexion — except for certain pop singer(s) who recently passed away who do the moon walk. We don’t pretend that no Indians have arranged marriages anymore. There is a subculture of Indians with foreign samskaras who feel they are “too good to be Indian.” They love the airline, film, and bar industry. Their attitude is completely un-Indian, but equally un-Western and is often stuck-up. They are in a neither here neither there sort of a cultural niche — the antithesis of being bi-cultural. If they really want to be American, they should live with us, and become Westernerized in a real way, and stop pretending.
You might also like: