The World Wide (and Village Wide) Web

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I can see the Bollywood movie now. It would be like Swades, but instead of SRK bringing electricity into the village it would be installing an internet connection. Instead of an NRI romance, it would be internet love. What exactly am I talking about? Why, you didn’t hear?

An Indian village has uploaded itself onto the Internet, giving the outside world a glimpse of life in rural India.Visitors to Hansdehar village’s Web site (http://www.smartvillages.org/) can see the names, jobs and other details of its 1,753 residents, browse photographs of their shops and read detailed specifications about their drainage and electricity facilities.

Most of the residents can’t yet surf the Hansdehar Web site as the village is not yet connected to the Internet. [link]

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p>It’s cute. These villagers have ideas on how to use the internet- to get better prices for crops by trading online, job hunting, and even, wife searching. The website itself has pictures of the village, tourist attractions, and even a voter list. I think there is great potential with getting Indian villages connected to the web. I really started thinking about this when I bumped into Nipun from Charity Focus, when he was walking across India in an attempt to tie in service with internet in the villages (yes, he blogged his trip). The internet does have it’s advantages in connecting villages with the rest of the world, and I see a lot of potential with this.

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p>But what about the privilege associated with getting accessing an internet connection? Seems like an MIT grad at United Villages is trying to take care of that with the advent of ‘drive-by Wi-Fi.’

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United Villages …is working with Indian nongovernmental organization Drishtee to network 50 villages in Orissa’s Cuttack district, where bus-powered Wi-Fi service begins this month… “You have drive-by McDonald’s, and we have drive-by Wi-Fi,” says Mr. Hasson. The buses will use short-range radio to pick up electronic messages three or more times per day from Wi-Fi-enabled computers placed in kiosks. Hubs near bus stations will handle traffic via a connection that can be as slow as dial-up.

UV will sell pre-paid cards, with phone number and email address assigned to them, in different denominations (up to 100 rupees, roughly $2.20).[link]

Interesting- so it seems like even though people with television sets won’t be able to watch Paris Hilton’s too-racy-for-India banned music video, it looks like people in buses with Wi-Fi connections will still be able to download and watch the video. Indian villages online, drive-by wi-fi at bus kiosks, and a banned Hilton video; I can see the Bollywood script now…

This entry was posted in Film, Science and Technology, Travel by Taz. Bookmark the permalink.

About Taz

Taz is an activist, organizer and writer based in California. She is the founder of South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), curates MutinousMindState.tumblr.com and blogs at TazzyStar.blogspot.com. Follow her at twitter.com/tazzystar

35 thoughts on “The World Wide (and Village Wide) Web”

  2. Indian villages online, drive-by wi-fi at bus kiosks, and a banned Hilton video; I can see the Bollywood script now…

    So the whole Paris censorship thing made me go on youtube and watch that human abomination prance around to her shitty music. I dared to read one of the comments and guess what the first one I saw said? “it’s stupid dancing around a tree”

    ROFL… I couldn’t have made that up 🙂

  3. that human abomination prance around to her..

    F’ shiz..I solidly agree. She is quite the abomination. Mad ugly. There should be immediate abrogation of right to IT access for such uses as viewing “paris”. Paris[france] is a different matter. Why not agree? We don’t need our energy wasted on that nonsense. There’s enormous potential to educate India here. What we want is to isolate it from the worst the western net has to offer (e.g., “Paris”). This can be done by limiting search results like Google Pakistan or Google Bangladesh and by other measures. Then it’s all good.

    -MirRajshah K

  4. Ummm, did you even read the linked article? The Paris Hilton video is not banned in India; it merely has an A certification. Might not be immediately apparent to you folks, but there’s a world of a difference between both.

  5. did look at the website for the village a few weeks ago, and was quite impressed…

    and as for the hilton video, it should be banned…. i mean for a gal ‘who cries when she hears it, it is that good’ sort of crap… just because she was born with a diamond spoon is she anywhere on the pop charts… what producers can come up with these days is simply amazing..hell we can all become rockstars today…no talent needed… come on SM, put out an album…

    vinod/anna: lead vocals abhi: drummer ennis: bass amardeep: keyboard neha/sid/sajit: guitar guest bloggers: special vocalists desidancer: choreographer osman: promoter/tshirt designer pied piper: legal aid me: medical aid/run bone marrow drives at our shows

    any takers? 🙂

    i swear to a higher being if she didn’t have that hilton $$$ up to her yin yang, she’d be some gum smacking, trailor living, daisy duke wearing, dollar store shopper in the middle of some god awful suburb… but alas this was not to occur and the world is now plastered with this talentess ‘thats hot’ freak.

  6. Hi Taz, Nice one. You need to ask Abhi to get his next haircut at “Suresh Hair Dresser” or “Prakash Hair Dresser”; there is enormous potential for yet another interesting story! Peace.

  8. I can see the Bollywood script now.

    ..

    I hope we all can see it soon!..This idea(mobile Wi-Fi) of enabling villages to access Internet is not something new. Back in 2003,the initiative had started in two villages..one in Hariyana and second one in Karnataka.

    http://www.emergic.org/archives/indi/007583.php

    We, the netizens of “Soverign Nation of WWW Brown Community” took three years to recognize and post such an innovative business model in the backwaters of our own sub-continent??…(i hope there were posts on this topic)…Yes, we all do hope, the Bollywood script does not take another three years. That’s the only hope, the brown community is “enlightened” on this topic on a MASS scale.

  9. I think it’s a really good idea but it’s a bit early to tell. I don’t think the program will be successful unless they can make sure that the residents themselves have access to the technology.

  10. badmash: you are officially annoited spotboy.

    mean ‘masala’ chai, eh?
    i hear a chai war coming up :). bean vs badmash… round 1….

  11. Great idea!

    Anyone notice that HALF the members of the village panchayat are women and the sarpanch is actually a young woman! Go Hansdehar Gaon!

    At first my “male dominated village and project” radar went up when I clicked on items and all I saw were men, men, men in the photos.

    But I then I clicked on “panchayat” and was made happy.

    I wish the very best for this KBV (knowledge based village). Love that term!

    On a side note – Anyone ever go into a public cyber cafe in India to be confronted with the sight of mastabatory young men all surfing porn and touching themselves at the same time? This was quite a common experience for me and I definetly feel it’s a downside to the emergence of IT.

    Another side note –

    Chick pea; “i swear to a higher being if she didn’t have that hilton $$$ up to her yin yang, she’d be some gum smacking, trailor living, daisy duke wearing, dollar store shopper in the middle of some god awful suburb… but alas this was not to occur and the world is now plastered with this talentess ‘thats hot’ freak.”

    I’m no fan of Paris but why the disdain for people who live in trailor homes and shop at dollar stores? Is there anything wrong with either? Not everyone can afford what perhaps you can.

  12. Pardesi Gori said:

    I’m no fan of Paris but why the disdain for people who live in trailor homes and shop at dollar stores? Is there anything wrong with either? Not everyone can afford what perhaps you can.

    Well put, PG. I’m always somewhat taken aback that folks who get super roiled up at derogatory terms applicable to them are quite cool with utilizing pejoratives that do not apply to them. It’s a sad double standard.

    I especially dislike the term “redneck” when used disparagingly–it sees unfair to belittle someone for the sunburn they acquire through hard work. And to my ears “White Trash” is a double-edged sword–true, it implies that the target of the term is trash, but also that there is something unanticipated about them being “white”–the secondary implication being that all (not just a select few) members of other ethnicities are trash.

  13. Ummm, did you even read the linked article? The Paris Hilton video is not banned in India; it merely has an A certification. Might not be immediately apparent to you folks, but there’s a world of a difference between both.

    Oh my god, I like totally read the article and it said that because it had “merely an A certification” meaning that the video was adult, and that like totally means it can’t be broadcast on any TV channels in India. And like in my world, ‘can’t be broadcast in an entire country’ and ‘being banned in a country’ is like, totally the same thing.

    😉

  14. I’m no fan of Paris but why the disdain for people who live in trailor homes and shop at dollar stores? Is there anything wrong with either? Not everyone can afford what perhaps you can

    excuse me, but this is the antithesis of what she is. not knocking that down at all.
    just making a point, after she flaunts those diamonds and all those 1000 dollar shoes she wears…

    come on now.

  15. Ya know about Paris, I don’t understand why all the animosity toward her, and none toward her douche-bag BF who was a dickhead on that video tape that launched her into infamy. If anything I feel bad for Paris but I don’t understand the hate that seems directed to her. Apart from making insensitive comments, like to Lindsey Lohan (from what i gather from the trashy TV shows), I haven’t really seen anything where she does anyone any harm. Most of the bad stuff she does probably hurts her more than it does anyone else. I don’t get it….why hate her???? because she’s spoiled and rich?? wouldn’t it be more effective to direct a critique of the priviledge of money at someone else rather than Paris Hilton….who seems to be more of someone taking what life is giving her then anything else. A lot of people seem to think she’s a mindless, spoiled bimbo, but if you look at it, she’s blond, and fairly pretty, and from a hyper-rich family. Even if at one time she wanted to take herself more seriously, like if she was a young kid and thought one day, in some vague way….wouldn’t it be cool if i was respected for my personality and intellect, she’s probably been bombarded with expectation that as a rich, blond, pretty heiress, she was going to be not respected and treated like a sex object. So maybe she’s giving people the one finger salute for all the low expectations they likely had of her anyway. Its not a pretty blond girls fault that the world pushes them towards sex object status, and if thats why people diss Paris, thats not cool

  16. Chick Pea,

    No problem.

    I thought you meant to say that w/o moolah Paris Hilton would be “low class”–and I was offended that you chose to illustrate an already odious concept by scornfully invoking “trailer trash” trappings to describe it.

    If you didnÂ’t, my apologies.

    Or if you did but are now conscious of how hateful your statement sounded, and are uncomfortable with it–well, i’d have no problems there either.

  17. damn..i’ve been gone a long time lol…

    hell yeah!

    I solidly agree. She is quite the abomination. Mad ugly.

    count me in! damn right! anyhoo….at least the post pic is cute……

  18. taz: Nope. VCD’s (and net streaming?) of the said video are still legal. Banning is a freedom-of-speech thing, while certification is more of a taste thing, two totally different scales. One is not acceptable, while the other is.

    I also should probably lighten up more, but given the recent ruckus over blogs and stuff, just thought it was important to highlight the distinction.

  19. The internet does have it’s advantages in connecting villages with the rest of the world, and I see a lot of potential with this.

    i agree with the potential – but knowing a little bit about this part of the country – popular newspaper in these rural parts is “sher-e-haryana” or “punjab kesri” – i am not sure who the web is for – except for madam honorable chairperson’s shahi pleasures.

    i really believe in the potential – but the premise of the internet is that it makes information access and dissemination available to everyone .. but this does not pass the smell test … does not seem to be BY the people FOR the people .

  20. does not seem to be BY the people FOR the people .

    i take that back. having it is definitely better than not having it. so it is a step in the right direction. probably provides folks an email channel to interface with the world outside – apply for jobs etc. so it is a tool with immense potential.

    next time i go to india, i may even take a bus over. i’m sure it’s on the map somewhere..

  21. Anyone ever go into a public cyber cafe in India to be confronted with the sight of mastabatory young men all surfing porn and touching themselves at the same time?

    Yes, I’ve heard such stories. It sounds disgusting…kind of of like rap artists and young urban kids in US who “touch” themselves every 5 seconds! How is tht supposed to be cool ?

  22. This story made me think more about Loretta Lynn than Paris Hilton…

    /In a cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler

  23. Anyone ever go into a public cyber cafe in India to be confronted with the sight of mastabatory young men all surfing porn and touching themselves at the same time? This was quite a common experience for me and I definetly feel it’s a downside to the emergence of IT.

    Sure, I have been quite a few internet cafes and sutdent/ young crowd internet kisoks in India. They are littered with porn but it no different what you would even see here.

    Fairly well known Universities in US have to put download locks and safety measures to control their computers.

    About touching and all – I did not see anything out of the way. I am not discounting your observations but you seem to be making it as a “first order” effect of IT.

  24. Wow, Pattie Kaur’s back (after a long and unexplained hiatus) and we’re not even honored with an obligatory “beards are beautiful, Sikh’s are sexy” comment? @=) I guess I’ll have to do it then: “OMGWTFLOLBBQ B3ards r teh hawtness!”

    Just giving you a hard time, welcome back.

  25. I agree with Sahej’s comment #15 regarding the somewhat distasteful animosity towards Paris Hilton here. It’s worth bearing in mind that, in some quarters, it is believed that the whole “spoilt heiress/party girl” persona may well be a carefully-constructed deliberate media image on her part. Even if it wasn’t, her conduct does not warrant such viciousness. Self-righteousness sadism is a nasty habit to fall into, and there is already too much “cyberlynching” on this blog and, indeed, scapegoating of suitable “deserving victims” (both in the private and public spheres) within the global South Asian diaspora as a whole. There is much which is admirable within South Asian culture, but there are also some very nasty traits, and this is one of them.

    Regarding the video, the rating/effectual “banning” in India does surprise me. I’ve seen the video concerned and much more explicit/suggestive material is regularly displayed in Indian “pop” videos and songs from Hindi films these days.

    I’d also like to welcome my enthusiastically Sikh “sister” Pattie Kaur back to SM. Nice to have you here again, bahenji 😉

  26. Anyone ever go into a public cyber cafe in India to be confronted with the sight of mastabatory young men all surfing porn and touching themselves at the same time? This was quite a common experience for me and I definetly feel it’s a downside to the emergence of IT.

    I worked in a library in the college here in the US. Same thing happens here after 7 PM till morning 5 PM. Never mind these computers are for “research” purposes. I have to make rounds every hour to make sure nobody is…. err making the keyboards sticky. If they did I have to call the janitor. Hmmm. Never thought i would end up doing this job, but thankfully not anymore.

    I don’t think its unique to India. Its the same story here. You guys just give a special name to these guys. FREAKS. Here is a very interesting journal http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/tpcs1.php

  28. SIDG –

    It happens here too? I’ve used computers in libraries and a few other public places in USA, but never universities.

    I’ve also never been exposed to anyone touching themselves in public here, whereas in North India it was almost a daily sight.

  29. I’ve also never been exposed to anyone touching themselves in public here, whereas in North India it was almost a daily sight.

    what’s your point with this thread? frig man – if you think the natives are beneath you – get the heck out of there – or roll with it – why keep posting odd snippets of off-color behavior that arent central to the topic at hand but seem to go a long way to relieving your pent-up frustrations. sounds like you’re the one scratching the pudendal itch in public. your commentary would be valid if it sounded like you were planning to live there for a while and be a part of society. but you dont sound like you are – or your experiences would reflect some of the positive societal interactions as well – and are just an idle observer sniggering into her sleeve.

  30. Hairy-D – After ten years of living mostly in India, I do feel that it is “my country” in a sense and thus as you said above, “your commentary would be valid if it sounded like you were planning to live there for a while and be a part of society”, my commentary is valid.

  31. Anyone ever go into a public cyber cafe in India to be confronted with the sight of mastabatory young men all surfing porn and touching themselves at the same time? This was quite a common experience for me and I definetly feel it’s a downside to the emergence of IT

    Technological cure for total sexual denial! If you can’t afford a computer of your own, i guess you go to a cyber cafe(in north india only).