In Bangalore, a call centre hub, the rising number of abortions – up 50 per cent in two years – is blamed on the licentious lifestyles of the call centre workers. 

During the day, workers fill the shopping malls for a dose of instant gratification unknown to their traditionally abstemious parents, for whom saving was a religion. After working in US-style environments and speaking to Americans for hours each day, some are aping the American behaviour they see on cable television. 

Ashok Rau, the chief executive of the Freedom Foundation, an Aids counselling centre in Bangalore, said: “A call centre office that was visited as part of the survey reported that its drains had been found choked with condoms”. 

These are snatches of text from a Telegraph, London, article , sent to us by a London-based Mysorean.  His e-mail read: “ I knew about what the reporter is writing in respect of call centres in Bangalore. Some activities - 'binge drinking of alcohol', illicit liaisons etc.. are  noticed among the so called IT professionals. As a computer science professional with 30 years’ experience, I reckon these so-called IT pros. are no more than program writers working in IT sweat shops, and paid well by Indian standards. They do not contribute to knowledge base, as a scientist or an artist does.