The great equalizer!!
In modern India, the great equalizer is the mobile phone!! Surprised?? Well...dont be!! In a country that has been plagued and defined by its many class systems...based on region, religion, creed, caste and economic levels...mobile technology has emerged as the equalizer!! It might not make sense to a lot of people...but in India, what you do for a living has a lot to do with your 'station' in life....archaic huh??
This man is a migrant construction worker. One of the millions of struggling hordes dreaming the 'Indian Dream'. He does not speak the local language Kannada and communication is difficult. He hardly knows to read. His children dont go to school and run around freely. Some day he hopes to enroll them in the 'English School'. His wife, pregnant with another child, works on the construction site as well, carrying loads of concrete and brick on her head. And yet...he has the same mobile device as the Medical college students down the road and the MNC bank officer in the pink house and the just-returned-from-america-software-pro whose house he is building. In fact his device is way better than the one I carried while I was in India during this vacation!! :-))))
Mobile users are estimated to be at 80 Million users....no one has the exact count. The number apparently grows by 5 million users a month!! It turns out that India is the hottest market for Mo-tech today....
interesting article - www.emergic.org/archives/2006/02/08/index.html#tech_talk_...
Comments and faves
LovemaX [deleted] (70 months ago | reply)
This picture really shows that how fast is the technology changing the face of the country. Its really moved so fast that the barriers seems to have been broken in terms of distance all across within the coountry.
Perfectly, caught :)
-M-
Arpana Sanjay (70 months ago | reply)
Thanks Lovemax
...meh... (70 months ago | reply)
That's really fascinating - thanks ChayaLife. The relationship of the childern to their father in the photo reminds me of Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother, and your description adds fuel to that.
Nadodi added this photo to their favorites. (61 months ago)
steffi_venro (56 months ago | reply)
I am working for a development NGO and we would like to publish this photo in one of our publications. Could you be so kind and contact me under s.vanbremen@venro.org. ! Best regards Steffi
nitinpai and kohl added this photo to their favorites.