Recently, I was very excited to see a news item which proclaimed that Gurgaon had the highest internet penetration in India. Gurgaon beats Bangalore, declared the headlines. Over a 1,00,000 households have computers and most of them have internet connectivity. It was a pleasant change to see Gurgaon in the news for something other than gang rapes, road rage and suicides.. And this was a real achievement unlike other dubious distinctions like having the highest number of malls per sqkm. This is a sure sign of progress and an indicator of how connected we Gurgaonites are.
I decided to call up a friend who had recently returned from a short break in the hills. She would find this news interesting and I could find out about her vacation.
“ Can I call you back. I am trying to upload all the holiday photos on Picassa . You will see what an amazing time we had. But the connectivity seems slow and it is taking a long time.” She moaned and hung up.
I tried another friend who could at least be relied upon for some good gossip. I hadn’t spoken to her for a long time.
“ Hi, did you know that Gurgaon has the highest per capita internet connections in India?” I asked .
“ Did you know that M’s relationship has become complicated and R is no longer friends with T. And guess what, S threw a party and didn’t invite us?”
“ What? How? When did you meet them?” I asked feeling a little excluded from the circle.
“ I haven’t met them in a long time. Don’t you look at facebook? I am now going to go through their pages and seeing what I can find. Talk to you later” she hung up to pursue more interesting options.
In the evening, I shared the news with my daughter. “What do you think?” I asked wanting to engage her in a stimulating conversation which would help sharpen her intellectual acumen. The Gurgaon children would no doubt grow up to be smart intelligent citizens thanks to access to superior technology.
“ Cool.” she said as she picked up her ipad. “I am going to download some stuff from the app store.” That marked the end of our discussion.
“ Are you meeting your friends in the evening at the park after doing your homework?” I asked ,abandoning thoughts of sharpening her intellect.
“Naah.. We will just skype each other and maybe play Draw Something on the ipad.” The netizen wandered off to her room.
At night, we were having our family quality time together. At least my husband and I could have a talk.
“ So Gurgaon has more internet connections than any other city in India. What do think about that? I asked my spouse.
“ Uh…Uh..” he grunted barely looking up from his laptop.
“ I wonder how it will be 10 years from now, if everyone has instant internet connectivity. I mean now everyone including the maali and milkman have mobile phones. Soon, everyone will have smart phones and computers. Do you think this will significantly alter the way we think, work and relate with others?”I continued.
“Uh.. sorry. I have to send out this mail now. Some fire at work,” he mumbled.
“It is 9.45 p.m. Why are you still working?”
He surfaced for a minute and gave me a glazed look.
“My boss is still working. He just sent me a mail now. Sometimes I wish we didn’t have this 24/7 connectivity. The mails never stop.” He sank back into the swirling waters of the cyber sea.
I gave up trying to have any conversation . I went to my laptop and opened up my facebook page. Our
daughter was browsing for the lyrics of her favorite songs on youtube. The husband continued to plod
through his emails. The house hummed with the sound of a well connected family.
