The employees at the Callus call centre in
Bangalore juggle false identities, abusive
customers, and the tugs of family and
community.
An Anglo-Indian trainer is aghast at the
overt Americanisms adopted by her eager
trainees.
A van driver who yearns for a son petitions
the god Ayyappan with rituals and daily
prayers and by playing devotional songs
inside the van. A brash, Jimi Hendrix-loving
agent tries to change the music and stokes
the driver’s deep and unexpressed
resentment. A young girl travels across the
great divide between the slum she lives in
and the shiny, glass complex where she works
as a toilet cleaner.
Through fifteen linked stories,
Bangalore
Calling explores the social costs of
outsourcing to the Indian community – the
erosion of cultures, the displacement of
vernacular languages and accents – in a
world that’s not yet flat.
