30 days

During my usual nocturnal prowl I found a very interesting TV program called 30 days.

(This is taken by the same guy who took "Super Size me" documentary. For those who have not seen that, for 30 days he ate nothing but from Mc Donalds.And in that process he documented his health etc. McDonald stopped serving SuperSize a month after this documentary was released and they claim it has nothing to do with that.)

Now he has this program where he makes people try different things for 30 days. It is a documentary and has some elements of a reality show.

In this episode, an American software programmer, Chris, looses his job to outsourcing. (TCS) And he follows his job to India. He lands in an sponsor's family who work in Call center in Bangalore and lives with them for 30 days.

Here are some of the excerpts from the show,

- Chris goes and gets a job with a call center in Bangalore and takes the "American accent" training And he notes how serious the people are about taking up the jobs which are looked down upon in US

- The host family is typical middle class joint family. The guy expects his wife (arranged marriage) to take care of his family first. And his wife is stuck between taking care of family and trying to pursue her dreams of becoming an "independent woman". Chris comments that Indian women are like 50-60s American women (going through liberation movement)

- Some Indians mentions that they are getting the jobs because either Americans are not talented or not enough Americans are there to fill the jobs. One dude points out that it never crossed his mind that he is stealing/taking some Americans job. They think of as new job opportunities. At one point he mentions, you are an American! How can you not have a job?

- Chris wants to find out the quality of life of facilities people in Call center (non English speakers). He comments, "these guys lives in what looks like a modern day cave and they put up a smile when they come to work. And I crib about moving to an apartment".

- He lives through the panicky time of Rajkumar's death in Bangalore. He observes that poor people are discontent with the new found money around them and that could explain the way they react.

- Small domestic fight/issue breaks out between Ravi (Chris's host) and his wife Sonny, over her ambition. Ravi wonders whether Sonny will have time to "press his clothes" etc. She says that she will find time for him on Saturdays and Sundays :)

- Chris, who has a 3 month old baby, was upset over the state of small children in slums.
( When I see those kids through his eyes, I felt sad! )

- Overall he comes home after living in the other side (literally)

It is a honest and unbiased (as much as possible) look at the issue. Since we lived in both sides, it is very interesting for us.

Try catching this program in FX. I already got it second time today. (re-runs)