OUTSOURCING SPAWNS A ROMANTIC COMEDY

Outsourcing spawns a romantic comedy

New Delhi, Aug. 21 (PTI): Outsourcing, one of India's great success stories in recent years, has now spawned yet another story--a romantic comedy.

Publishers HarperCollins India today announced the forthcoming release of a "romantic comedy about outsourced love" called "Once Upon a Timezone......" by Neelesh Misra, a journalist and Bollywood songwriter.

The novel will be available in bookstores in October, after its first formal release at the Frankfurt Book Fair-where India is the guest of honour this year.

"Once Upon a Timezone..." is a story about a middle-class youth, who dreams of his first love America, but settles for the second best--a job at a call centre--after he fails to get a job in the US. He assumes an American identity and soon tumbles into a faraway romance that will transform his life.

Lucknow-born Misra, 33, who had worked for major Indian and foreign news agencies, had previously written two non-fiction books--The Hijacking of IC 814 and End of the Line: The Story of The Killing of The Royals in Nepal.

He is also a songwriter for Bollywood and has written songs for films including Jism, Rog, Holiday, Gangster and Woh Lamhe.