Pubdate: Mon, 13 Nov 2006
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Copyright: 2006 The Scotsman Publications Ltd
Contact: http://members.scotsman.com/contact.cfm
Website: http://www.scotsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/406
Author: Jonathan Allen

SEX LIFE OF CALL CENTRE WORKERS FASCINATES INDIA

The archbishop of Bangalore does not think the city's legions of call 
centre workers are going straight to hell.

But he, like many in conservative India, is worried that the young 
men and women working the phones at night may be engaging in 
unsaintly bouts of sex and drug-taking.

While Westerners may vilify India's call centre workers for stealing 
their jobs, conservatives at home worry the young employees -- who 
mostly work overnight and earn far more than earlier generations -- 
are helping themselves to an alien set of Western values.

"Many have told me they have spiritual problems," said Bernard Moras, 
the most senior Catholic in a city of more than half a million Christians.

"Girls will come to me saying, 'I have been friends with a boy, I 
have misbehaved, I feel perturbed in heart and mind'," he delicately added.

The Indian media has helped fuel the call centres' "Sodom and 
Gomorrah" reputation with stories of used condoms blocking call 
centre toilet drains and drug taking during night-shifts.

It suggests this behaviour is the inevitable consequence of young 
people working the night-shift to deal with customers in the West, 
even if it's to discuss staid topics such as the customer's mortgage 
repayment or why the printer won't print.

Call centres have been a powerful catalyst for a blossoming youth 
culture in India by giving large numbers of young Indians the 
financial means to live away from the disapproving glares of their 
elders and to enjoy cafes, malls and bars that did not exist a generation ago.

Their paypackets of up to 20,000 rupees (234 pounds) a month are ten 
times higher than the national average monthly salary.

"Call centres are now seen as red-light districts," said 
anthropologist Shiv Visvanathan. "Even the name 'call centre' evokes 
call girls".

But despite their increasing independence, call-centre workers say 
media reports of the death of Indian conservative values in Bangalore 
may have been greatly exaggerated.

HEADBANGING

An almost impenetrable barricade of parked motorbikes blocks the 
entrance to Purple Haze, one of the many Bangalore bars brimming at 
the weekend with outsourcing and IT industry workers.

Inside young men in grungy clothes headbang to hard rock.

Vicky, whooping along to music videos blaring overhead, is one of an 
estimated 415,000 people working in call centres outsourced to India 
from the West to deal with mundane issues such as utility payments 
and credit card bills.

"Everything is exaggerated by the media," he said, sipping whisky. 
"In India, people still have respect for Indian values."

At 26, he is by no means the only guy in the bar who believes it is 
wrong to have sex before marriage -- certainly he says he held off 
until his wedding a couple of months back.

Friends Rizvan Khan, 28, and Kshama, 27, agree that though their 
parents are often out of sight, they are rarely out of mind.

"We do look up to our elders. They are the decision makers for us," 
said Rizvan, wearing a loose brown leather jacket.

Rizvan and Kshama, both journalism graduates, say their call centre 
- -- one of India's top five -- is a place of diligent career 
advancement, and hedonists would not like it.

"It's not partying all the time. I mean you're too tired after 
working all night," said Kshama.

They, like Vickram, believe it is their generation that has struck 
the perfect balance between the genteel values of Old India and the 
looser mores common in the West.

"India is about 50 years behind," said Rizvan, who admits the tide 
might be turning.

"In the U.S., kids have affairs before marrying but here it's seen as 
a sin. But that's changing now," he added ruefully.

ELDERS ARE JEALOUS

Some of his peers are already further along the road to becoming 
Westernised, preferring to keep their quasi-American accents and 
mannerisms after their shifts have ended.

Exact numbers are hard to get, but chats with call centre workers 
suggest a small minority swallow illegal Ecstasy pills and go out 
raving. Smoking cannabis during cigarette breaks is fairly common 
among male employees.

And, naturally, not everyone believes that abstaining from premarital 
sex is sacrosanct.

Still, Pradeep Narayanan, executive director at the hangar-sized 24/7 
Customer call centre, is proud of the role such companies are playing 
in India's liberalisation, even if he says the local press 
exaggerates worker antics.

He randomly tests his employees for drug use and has fired a few who 
tested positive. But many are more straight-laced. A group of workers 
even formed an in-house Christian gospel band.

"I think the people that complain are the older generation that 
missed out on this," Narayanan said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elaine