Cantor's son at the Call Centre

Gideon, Ephriam Moses, Nissim, and other 20-something Bene Israel friends of mine here work at various itnernational Call Centers . It's a respecatble job, with highly lucrative pay, and semi-reasonable hours. Callcenter employees often go to work at the earluiest by 4 in the afternoon, and leaving work in early morning hours.

The Call Centre mentaity has in effect created a culture and lifestyle in various parts of India. The southern Indian city of Bangalore, for example, houses the largest amount of calling centres, and thus also supposedly has the high amount of young people, coffee shops, and cigarette smokers, as well as no night life during traditional party hours. Shops and bars close by 9 PM, as no one is on the streets at that point.

In Bombay I have gotten to know the other side of the ( often Indian) accented voice on the 1-800 customer serivce line. Gideon tells me stories of people calling in with whom he ends up having 15 minute conversations, and how the hours he is on the phone fly by. I find it incredible how interlinked ( and dependet?) american consumersim has beocme on the (low labor costs) of the east, and how this capitalist endovor has ended up connecting people in more lasting ways.

Effie, for example, has told me of more than one conversation he has had with customers regarding Indian Jews. When speaking to people from the States who tell him they cannot speak too long on a friday afternoon, and also cannot call him back the next day, he will baffle them by wishing them Shabbat Shalom. He practices his Hebrew with clients, tells them about the synagogues he goes to in Mumbai, how his father is teaching him to read the Torah. In this medium, the average Jew who calls regarding any given problem or question with software or a credit card, becomes much more informed- about a familiar way of life halfway around the world.