Rekha Malhotra (extreme left) is tall, slim and extremely self-assured. She has never been to America. Yet for the last five months, she has spent 10 hours every day as ‘Candy,' a resident of Orange County, California, talking about the weather there and selling satellite television packages to North Americans.

She works at Infowavz, a call center in Mumbai that is among the hundreds that have mushroomed in India in the last three years.

In her first two months as a sales agent, as ‘Candy’ she made 300 calls a day. Now as the team coach she has moved from selling packages herself to monitoring calls, motivating and disciplining her eight-member team.

Living as Candy -- her ‘floor name’ -- at work does not bother her.

"At work I am Candy. Outside I am Rekha. That’s how I see it. There’s nothing more to it, It is like with actors. They play a part every time. They don’t have problems because they are acting out a new identity every few months," she says.

At 23, yet to graduate, Rekha started working at 16, first in public relations, then in an event management company, now in a call center. She says there is nothing more challenging than her current job.

Words: Priya Ganapati. Photograph: Jewella C Miranda

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