Alpanadi, I almost assumed there was a hidden meaning in that harmless question, given the propensity of BPO business in India these days. Perhaps not.
BPO means Business Process Outsourcing. It includes all those calls that get replied to in the case of a Dell computer support call, American Express call regading the card etc. While you dial your 1-800 number, the call reaches some part of India and is responded to by an enthusiastic young Indian voice going by the name of Becky or Bob. It also includes a whole load of back office processing functions in financial services, mortgage applications etc. American companies ship these jobs overseas (India being a most favored destination) and save costs. Consequently, young Indians pick up these jobs at far lower costs. Used to be that the guys studying in Commerce or Arts, getting out of DU or someplace else, would be sweating at the thought of looking for a career. No longer - if you are English speaking. Young 21 year olds earn Rs, 10,000 or 20,000 right out of college. They change jobs 1 or 2 times a year because there is so much demand. Companies scout around for young english speaking talent around the country - when they have exhausted New Delhi and Mumbai and Pune and Bangalore and so on, they go to smaller towns. Imagine having a recruitment goal of 20,000 new people in a year. To get an idea of how big it is - it is already a million workforce strong in India in just a few years. And taking over the role of the world's back office has not yet scratched the surface. As Swapnali points out, it probably could shape up as one of the most important cultural phenomena to hit a very young India. Thanks to Swapnali for bringing this account out. Are there many young Indians from the northeast in the BPO business? Rajib --- "Alpana B. Sarangapani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: --------------------------------- What is a BPO? --------------------------------- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Assam] "Boga Baduli" and BPO Boom--Part 1 Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 04:38:54 +0530 Hi Everybody, My association with this group isnt very old. It started 2 and half years back when my previous company sent a group of 30 people to Texas for training. And the plethora of information given by this group helped the entire group tremendously. After that I have been a sporadic visitor of this group. The other day I was reading the Prime Ministers speech in Oxford where he mentioned about the most important British legacy, the English language and about their modern school systems. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/nic/0046/pmspeech.htm. A Times of India columnist once wrote that its only for the Tamil crusaders that English stayed in India despite the onslaught of Hindi Imperialism that started right after Independence. Hence all the kudos for the Indian BPO success should go to the Tamilians ! Another article that re-shaped my thinking process was the one I read (rather my mother read it aloud to me and my sister) in Prantik (an Assmese magazine) almost 16/17 years back, where a well settled NRA called the Assamese families who sent their kids to English medium schools as boga baduli (white bat) which is a bizarre epiphany. (Though I am not very certain about the writers name, the Prantik edition with that article still could be found in my book shelf back home provided my mother hasnt sold those old copies) This was said having found by the NRA writer that certain English medium educated Guwahati kids spoke worse Assamese than his own USA born and brought up kids. The article highly influenced my mother who is a teacher in a school named after the great martyr of baxa andulon Anil Bora. Once mother also told us how the Assamese had to fight to have Assamese as the official language of the state. The memory of that cataclysmic event was still fresh among the elders then. It was our father who put all our three kids in that English medium school in our town which was another legacy left by the colonial Brits and he expected us to imbibe some of their qualities like discipline, time management etc and definitely to learn English better. The following year my mother re-enrolled all her three kids in local vernacular school. While my siblings continued, I was not able to cope up with the difference, not for a single day and went back to my alma mater the very next day. However through out my student life I made sure I am equally proficient in Oxomiya like my siblings and many a times outdid them Years later when I was in Delhi pursuing my post- graduation, the BPO boom started first in Delhi. Though I was over qualified for those jobs, I thought of joining the bandwagon rather going back home and being jobless like my batch mates. Another reason for choosing the BPO was to avoid jostling with the rowdy and vulgar north Indian crowd. All BPOs have their private cabs for employees.Last month I completed my 4th year in BPO. This Group would be surprised to know that BPO is the one of the best thing that has happened to India. No Industry can offer anything better to thousands of mediocre like us and I am sure the industry will stay here for ever. And parents who opt for English medium schools are not necessarily boga baduli. All that matters is the attitude the parents groom in their kids towards ones culture and language Never for a moment can I convince myself that with my family background I could have managed with vernacular education whatever I have achieved so far. My personal experience says the number of English speaking people/youth is quite less in Assam when compared to some other Indian states. A few BPOs in our state would have tackled the abysmal employment problem to certain extent. In other indian cities the BPO success has ushered in the birth of dozens of english training center along with special voice and accent courses, american accent being the first in demand. I would also like to share my advantages/disadvangtages as a native Assamese speaker in BPO industry in another mail. Swapnali Saikia Bangalore India >_______________________________________________ >Assam mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam > >Mailing list FAQ: >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html >To unsubscribe or change options: >http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam > _______________________________________________ > Assam mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam > > Mailing list FAQ: > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html > To unsubscribe or change options: > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam Mailing list FAQ: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html To unsubscribe or change options: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam
