Write Things

My thoughts on India: Part 1

I recently read Chetan Bhagat's second book. This one is called One Night at the Call Centre. I had read his first offering. That one was called 5 Point Someone. The title is an allusion to the IIT' method of ranking students in the form of a Cumulative Point Index(CPI).

5 Point... was a really nice book. Very funny, and really un-put-downable. But it did not address any issues as such. With the possible exception of, well, 'what not to do at IIT' as its cover page declared. That was fine since it was meant to be a novel.

His new book, however, talks about a bunch of people working in a call centre. I won't delve into the story - its great and you should read it for yourself. But I'll talk about one of the things this book addresses. One of the characters, Vroom, hates the fact that he has to answer calls about repairing microwaves, ACs and the like all night. And all these calls are from some guy halfway across the globe. He believes that him working in a BPO isn't doing his country any good at all. This is also a somewhat recurring thought in the book.
Now, the writer got his share of brickbats for badmouthing what is, without doubt the current blue eyed boy of the Indian Industry right now - the Service Sector. But it got me thinking - is the service sector really going to help us get what we really want - a first world status? Which leads us to the question, what is it exactly that a first world country has that we need to get.
1. Good Infrastructure as against Bad infrastructure(I know, *doh!*)
2. Products as against Services

And I know one thing for sure. There is only one section of our society that can help our country get both of these. Technically Educated Youth*.

I will be delving into this issue in the days to come. I have quite a bit to say about this. Any suggestions are more than welcome.

*Technically Educated Youth: Technically does not mean people from professional colleges alone; Educated does not mean formally educated; youth means anyone (cliche alert) young at heart!

Also please read this article by Chidanand Rajghatta. He is a columnist in the Times of India. His Column, Indiaspora can be found on the edit page every Sunday.

posted by karkaremtg @ 10:44 PM