The recent incident of US RJs abusing a BPO girl in India and airing the tape on radio has sparked of the racism debate. But an often-ignored fact is that Indian BPO execs are frequently abused by none other than NRIs. New agents get the shock of their lives when they are bad-mouthed by an Indian. Says Amit, a new-BPO agent: “His name was Harminder Singh. I was relaxed. Atleast, after three hours of ‘th-alking’ in accent , I’ll get to speak in Hindi or Punjabi. May be, I would share a joke or two. But at 22, he had an accent thicker than the Scottish. And he was more rude. When I told his documents would be reaching in two days. He said, you Indians wouldn’t learn to do anything on time. And hung up.

I was shocked. And hurt. ” Moreover Indians settled in Britain or US are wary of sharing information if a BPO agent calls for a survey. Says Anurag Mishra, working with an outbound process in Noida: “Our job involves surveying people. We find whether they are using our product or not. The British just refuse politely if they don’t want to take the survey. But Indians, they are the most irate lot. They rebuke us. And dare us not to call again banging the phone down. “ The problem is worse with new generation British-Indians. They are more British than Indians. And sometimes confused of their identitiy. Many of the don’t have any regard for Indian customs and values. Many haven’t smelled the scent of Indian soil even. They regard India as a poor country plagued by problems of population and prejudice. And the dual conflict makes them irritable when they are asked to share their bank account numbers or credit card information. Say Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh, the twin sisters, who were recently in India for an art exhibition: “Indians born and brought up in UK do face this conflict.

They are bewildered whether to adopt the Indian way of living or western.” Amrit and Rabindra were born and brought up in UK. They have tried to portray the conflict through their paintings. Many IIM and IIT grads who go to settle abroad share a sense of guilt. And when they aren’t able to justify their decision of leaving India and settling abroad it amounts to frustration which comes in the form of bad mouthing Indians on calls. Says Harvinder Singh, an IIM grad now settled in Birmingham: “These Indians just want to cheat you. You land up at New Delhi Railway Station. And you find a whole bunch of crooks waiting to prowl on you. They find a girl alone at night and rape her. I can’t let my kids grow in an environment of insecurity and filth.” From pride to shame to be an Indian, the transition is gradual not sudden. Says Mark Kobayashi Hillary, Director, CBCTechnologies, London: “People who want to do something for India get arrested like the Bazee CEO. It gives a negative image to the business climate in India.“ Mark is also the author of ‘Outsourcing to India: The Offshore Advantage’. India should have a proper framework for data security laws. Many customers are wary of sharing information due to lack of knowledge about data security in India. The GenNow growing in UK, US very seldom has anything Indian in them.

They spee-kh in an akh-cent. They dress up like foreigners. But its more of a generation gap. Elderly Indians who went abroad are delighted to get calls from India. It gives them the fragrance of Indian soil. It reminds them of their village back home. Of it’s people. The colour . The food. The festivals. And they enjoy talking about it at length. But the situation is the opposite with the Gennext. And the most hurt our the new agents. “It was my third call. I expected some comfort, some relief when I got to know he was an Indian. But instead he was more curt than any of the Brits, I had talked to. He was irritated and furious. And banged down the phone in the end. My ego hurt. And my confidence gone to the dumps, ” says Manish Srivastava, an engineer who joined a BPO six months back, after failing to get a decent job in manufacturing sector. “But there is nothing you can do about it,” he adds with a glum face.