Calling India

Well it was a typical quiet wednesday night. Then the phone rang. As I picked the phone up, the static and noise on the other side indicated, yup, this was another call from India and its growing call centers.

So I was prepared for the typical run drum routine.

Caller: "Are you Mr. []."
Me: "yes I am."
Caller: "I am calling from StarTech [or whatever the 'star' name is] and I want to ask you first if you are Indian.."
Me: "Actually I am not interested. I have got calls from you guys before."
Caller: "That's fine, I am not asking anything. I just want to know how much you pay for your long distance calls to India."
Me: "I don't call India [which is the damn truth]"
Caller: "What! You are an Indian and you don't call India?"
At this point I could have said a number of things but I have wanted to hang up on these guys for the longest time and that's what I did.

A much better answer would have been:

Me: "Do you call Spain?"
Caller: "Why would I want to call Spain?"
Me: "Exactly." At this point I should have hung up.

So this new kid was clearly not trained about the proper sales technique. But what can you expect? These new generation of kids might live in India but they are not Indian. Their lives revolve around everything American -- from the multiplex movies to eating out at Mc D's, Pizza Hut, TGIF's, etc, shopping at the brand name stores, etc. Oh yeah, let's not forget the fancy happenning cell phone. For some reason, this Indian kid was not talking in the fake American accent these guys are trained for. Maybe he thought since he was calling an Indian, there was no need to fake it up.

Just because someone has a last name of India, does he mean that person is expected to call India? Maybe this is why Gustad's 'Bombay Boys' hit more of a chord with Indians living outside of India than in India.

I have met people whose 2-3 generations have never been to India. Is there anything wrong with that? In this day and age, we are still stuck on traditional identities. A sad fact.

Oh well. Much ado about nothing. East is East, West is West. The two shall meet but apparently not via a phone line.