Najibabad. Internet. People.

Today, 4 pm, Bharat Complex Cyber Cafe, Najibabad.

It was not a new thing for me to go to the Bharat Complex. I have been there so many times for internet when I didn't have a broadband connection even though the Rs 30 per hour the guy there takes wasn't right from any standards, I thought.

Still, today I needed to go there as I needed the print out of my Dell Laptop quotation so that I could tell bank how much it cost me.

I went there and told him I needed to get a printout from my mail. After 5 mins he got me a system. I logged in. I got the mail, downloaded the PDF and said, let me check it. By the time I could complete my sentence, he had clicked sign out. Of course, he had no time to check it.

Well, he launched himself into the printer room with the PDF in his hand, in a pen drive. By the time I got in, he told me it was 8 pages long. Pretty fast, considering I'm not slow by any standards. I was sort of shocked and asked him not to print it all and just give one page when he told me he had already given the print command.

I thought it would not be much of a problem as it'd cost me Rs 16 at max and since I hadn't asked him to print, he might consider taking a bit less too.

Guess I was wrong. Not just wrong, but actually shocked when I asked him how much I had to pay and he said Rupees 40!

Rupees 40 for eight, black and white A4 pages' prints which actually I didn't want because I could fetch the price of my commodity on a single page. Seriously speaking, I had to control my anger and I was sort of showing my magnanimity when I handed him the money. The interesting thing is that when I asked him that I and he both knew how much these eight pages really cost, I got an answer that he only knew as he was the one earning. Well, the logic was quite okay but I still wonder how I could justify Rs 5 for a printout.

After half an hour when I was chatting with my dad about the printouts, for the first time it occured to me that buying a printer was a much better option as the guy could buy a printer with the margins he got on every pack of 500 A4 sheets. (500 pages x 5 Rs per page=Rs 2500, almost the cost of a printer) In fact cartridges too could be bought in that much.

I think Najibabad is a pretty self dependent place now, as far as internet is concerned as I can see many people with net connections now, but if you need to go for printouts, and the guy in your mind is the Bharat complex one (as it's one of the best running cyber cafes), consider buying a printer. The same thing as I am doing now.

Child labor: Solutions?

When I came to know about the child labor for the first time, I was a child myself and thought of child labor as one of the worst things. Even when I had not seen the worst face of it. But today, after having seen various facets of it, and after knowing probably all of them, I am more confused about the question that, "Can child labor be completely eradicated?"

There are a number of places where children are overtly exploited and certainly child labor in such places is against humanity. But is it that child labor, in all its forms and all the places, completely wrong?

There are a number of child laborers in my college mess and when I noticed that, I felt it was wrong. It was against the law. (not really as law checks births certificates which, I recently came to know, make all those children of 18+) But then, later I felt there was actually nothing wrong as these children were not doing something that exploits them. It was very normal work which any child could easily do.

But...

The big question is, they are not getting education. They are not getting what it takes to rise their standard of living, yet at the same time they are poor children who are rising their standard of living. That means, to rise their present standard of living, these children are losing their future too.

What is the solution?

Ironically, when asked, most of them are happy with their lives and do not want to study as they are 'already earning money and that is what is the motive of studying'. This was what these workers were reported saying when the college offered a work study program. (I was unable to get a further detail of this as I cannot talk to these guys myself cause of my own illiteracy in the local language)

So here is the problem to which we need to find the solution. If we really want to see our country progressing and people's living standard higher, we need to change this mentality. But I have no clue how to do that.

In fact sometimes when we see the immediate effects of this illiteracy, I feel really sad. It's strange when I see those mess workers with cellphones in their hands but they cannot operate them even at the basic level and come to us to ask how to operate them.

Is it that only institutions like Parikrma can make all the difference? In that case it will take really long to eradicate child labor from our country as there is an extremely small part of population in the reach of such institutions yet. (For details of Parikrma see post 'Thanks Shashi') Or is that we can also do something useful at our level? If yes, how? and if not, why?

Don't Message and Drive

Don't drink and derive is old. And though it has not lost its importance, there is a new thing that people need more.

It is: Don't Message/Call and Drive.

Yes. The biggest problem on roads today doesn't seem to be drunk driving. It seems to be driving while on mobile. People who drive with their cellphones in hand seem to be far bigger a danger compared to drunk drivers as they are everywhere.

We do not easily find drunk drivers everywhere but drivers busy with their phones can be seen anywhere, any time of the day. They are on empty roads, and busy ones, the most crowded ones with long jams. And they can be as bad as drunk drivers many a time even if they are in their senses. In fact the same has been established by studies also. That you can check here.

The ironic thing is that people who are considered to be good citizens are usually found driving while simultaneously on a call or messaging. But these good citizens can be very dangerous for others as well as themselves.

As we dial a number or type a message, we have to take our eyes off from the road that makes driving risky. Also, when we talk on phone, distraction certainly comes into the picture and the efficiency of driver goes down. I have seen many incidents where people talking on cellphones have bumped into other objects or people, resulting in little to fatal damages.

Therefore, it is important that if you intend to use your cellphone while driving, you take a headset or some such device which is suitable for talking while driving. And still, it is advisable not to get too involved in conversation when you're driving.

I think we need to understand this problem and make people aware of the dangers of using cellphones while driving. But the most important is to start with yourself.

Jaago India

India has over 180 million cellphone users and 200 million people without drinking water. We are a young nation with over 55% of the population under the age of 30, yet 49% of our children under the age of 5 are underweight. We produce the largest number of engineering graduates every year through over 2500 colleges; but over 3000 schools do not have teachers. And the list goes on...

These are the starting lines of the official website of 'Jaago India' that is a trust promoted by the tata tea. 'Jaago India' "intends to create an an online community for the awakening and empowerment of the youth." The site has its discussion board of a different type in which topics are already present there and anyone can go and post one's own views there. Of course there is a column where we can add new topics.

The site bosts of big names in its advisory panel and is probably a brainchild of Sheetal talwar and Bhavna Talwar, the producer-director duo who made the much acclaimed, thought provoking movie Dharm that reached even Cannes.

The site talks on topics like corruption, illiteracy, poverty, child labour and female infanticide and has a collection of figures that can force you to think about these problems but still finds itself unable to find solutions to many of these problems.

Basically the site seems to be having a small number of members yet and there are many things that need to be put into order to make the effort a success.

For now, all I can say is that the step of starting JaagoIndia has been taken with a good intention and it would be good if you look at the site once, and also do something positive if possible.

The link is: http://www.jaagoindia.org/