Was this the right attitude?

While coming to office today we visited Varenyam Motors as Rajeev had to do correct some bug in their software. When he went inside the showroom, I and Satish were standing outside, beside the road. It was hardly two minutes, a woman (beggar) came to us with her daughter and asked both of us for some money. I was the first who denied any sort of help, Satish did the same. She walked away...

After a little while a gentleman in his mid-fifties came to us. He addressed Satish first and asked for some help. He begged us for 5 rupees so that he can have some food. He said "5 rupaye kam pad rahe hain khane main. Please help kijiye. Aap log engineering ke students lagte ho." He wore a light-coloured shirt and dark pants, shirt was in. Overall he looked like a descent human being in need of some money.

5 rupees is not a thing to think twice, still I saw Satish and waited for a couple of seconds. He gave me a blank look, without any further delay, I pulled out my wallet and drew a 10-rupee-note and handed over to the gentleman. He thanked me and walked over.


Just before he left us, I smelled something! He was drunk! Okay, so he has just begged for 5 rupees to take another drink. He seemed a gentleman and I donated him 10 rupees while I didn't have a single rupee for that lady who wasn't wearing a good dress. I didn't give her a rupee because I knew, she will misuse my money! What the worse misuse could be other than drinking. She had a daughter and they really seemed in need while that rascal came to me in good dress and I gave him 10 rupees happily. I know there are lakhs of beggars in India and I am not a king who can donate every one of them but I didn't do the right thing to the woman in the morning.

Was this the right attitude? Should I have given that woman 1 rupee or shouldn't I have given that moron a 10-rupee-note? I am really confused and hurt.

One Night @ The Call Center by Chetan Bhagat

I have read 'Five Point Someone' of Mr. Bhagat too, I liked the book. I don't say Five Point was a great book but it was above average effort from a debut author. I was expecting 'One Night @ The Call Center' something better from Chetan Bhagat but what all I got was disappointment. Sorry, its not Chetan's better work.

When I started reading the book, I was taken aback by the prologue only, what a drama! However epilogue was even more dramatic than the prologue and the story itself. In first 50 pages or so, I started to think it might be my third book that I am not going to finish (first was 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' and second 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari'). But since the book started to evolve as a bollywood drama and some characters started to seem interesting, I could finish it comfortably at last.

At times Chetan gives a feeling of very professional, researched writing, and at other times, he hasn't given a thought on what he is writing! For example, Chetan thanks Bill Gates for the wonderful software MS Word in the acknowledgements. He tells he is fond of this MS Word, and we will know the reason in the book. I was so curious, what the hell is special in MS Word. In the story, Chetan points to rand() function and calls it as a bug. I am not a supporter of Microsoft but Mr. Bhagat it isn't a bug at all, its a function provided by Word to insert random text in the document.

Chetan Bhagat tells, he is writing this book to depict the life of youths at Call Center, but in essence I find it a life of maximum Indian youth and none at the same time. It has nothing to do with Call Center! 'What genre in fiction this book is?' was the question I was unable to answer until I finished the book. Even after finishing the book, I couldn't find the answer but was sure that book will be a success due to its low price and the hot content. Hot! Yes, he has presented the complete 'masala' for youths. Lead characters drink, undergo sex and use abuses extensively. I was considering 'Pulp Fiction' as movies with most abuses, this book is no less.

I liked few things about book. Agent Vroom was very good. Priyanka was good at a few times especially her restaurant-CBI-lady scene was too good. 'Military uncle' character was good as well. I liked the speech Vroom made at loud-speaker very much. And last but not least, Vroom's hatred for advertisements. I almost laugh whenever I see some person smiling or laughing in a hoarding advertisement. I liked the term 'black piss' for cold-drinks. ;-)

Overall, a below average book. 2/5.

Book Details:
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One Night @ The Call Center by Chetan Bhagat,
ISBN: 8129108186
Publisher: Rupa and Co.
Pages: 280 odd
Price: Rs.95/-