Hey, wasn't this a TV show first?

Every so often, I manage to watch 30 Rock on TV (instead of later on the DVR). When that happens, I sometimes keep watching the show that follows, Outsourced. Truthfully, I haven't seen enough episodes to really know the full plot, but it's basically the story of a call center manager from the States who is sent to India to improve a call center there. Between the tired jokes that befit the stereotypical male from the Midwest and the haven't-we-moved-beyond-these jokes about Indians, the plot twists around the challenges of adjusting to a new culture, the view of the United States from abroad, life in a call center, and office romance.

I picked up "One Night @ the Call Center" as a little reward for completing "Dark Places". According to the back cover blurb, it's the story of six (mostly 20 something) call center coworkers (in India, for a small appliance manufacturer in the States) and the changes that take place in both their personal and professional lives during their night shift one (American) Thanksgiving Day. Written by Chetan Bhagat (one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in 2010 for his ability to portray youth in present day India), I've since learned that several of his books have been remade for the Bollywood screen.

Perhaps that is the reason the book read like a movie or, in my mind, a television show. I couldn't help but picture characters from "Outsourced" as Shyam, Priyanka, Esha, Vroom, Radhika, and Military Uncle. I completely confused myself at times when the book plot mirrored themes from "Outsourced", and I couldn't remember which happened where (this may be due more to the fact that I read the book while sleeping in a tent with the kids, one of whom kept waking up from nightmares). In any case, the book had moments of fun, was decently written, and helped to pass a long night in the backyard.

Here's where the book took a weird twist, and I'm still not sure what to think of it. Sandwiched between the dedication page and the prologue is a page of three questions: name one thing you fear; one thing that makes you angry; one thing you do not like about yourself. Then follows 300 pages of story, until God calls the call center folks and has a little chat with them...and asks each employee to answer those questions. From there, each makes dramatic changes in life and the final chapter informs us of how profound those changes are (especially within Indian culture). After reading more about the author and his reputation in India of motivating and influencing younger people, I get why the self help/improve yourself vibe was there...but it struck me as over-the-top and Oprah-like.