An old narrative, but will be useful for someone!!!
*Why India Works -*
*(Written by internationally acclaimed film director Shekhar Kapoor.*)
A greater ‘hole in the wall’ you cannot imagine. A small fading sign on the
top saying “Cellphoon reapars” barely visible through the street vendors
crowding the Juhu Market in Mumbai. On my way to buy a new Blackberry, my
innate sense of adventure made me stop my car and investigate. A shop not
more than 6 feet by 6 feet. Grimy and uncleaned.
*‘Can you fix a Blackberry ?”‘Of course, show me””How old are you” *
*‘Sixteen’*
*Bullshit. He was no more than 10. Not handing my precious blackberry to a
10 year old in unwashed and torn T-shirt and pyjamas! At least if I buy a
new one, they would extract the data for me. Something I have been meaning
to do for a year now.*
*‘What’s wrong with it?”‘Well, the roller track ball does not respond. It’s
kind of stuck and I cannot operate it”*
*He grabs it from my hand and looks at it.*
*'You should wash your hands. Many customers have same problem. Roller
ball get greasy and dirty, then no working’*
*Look who was telling me to wash my hands. He probably has not bathed for
10days, I leaned out to snatch my useless blackberry back..” You come back
in one hour and I fix it’.I am not leaving all my precious data in this
unwashed kid’s hands for an hour. No way.“Who will fix it?”‘Big
brother’‘How big is ‘big brother?’‘big …. Umm ..thirty’Then suddenly big
brother walks in. 30 ??? He is no more than 19. ‘What problem?’ He says
grabbing the phone from my greasy hand into his greasier hand. Obviously
not trained in etiquette by an upmarket retail store manager.‘Normal
blackberry problem. I replace with original part now. You must wash your
hand before you use this’.*
*What is this about me washing my hands suddenly?? 19 year old big brother
rummages through a dubious drawer full of junk and fishes out a spare
roller ball packed in cheap cellophane wrapper. Originalpart? I doubt it.
But by now I am in the lap of the real India and there is no escape as he
fishes out a couple of screwdrivers and sets about opening my Blackberry.*
*“How long will this take?””Six minutes”*
*This I have to see. After spending the whole morning trying to find a
Blackberry service centre and getting vague answers about sending the phone
in for an assessment that might take a week, I settle down next to his
grubby cramped work space. At least I am going to be able to watch all my
stored data vanish into virtual space. People crowd around to see what’s
happening. I am not breathing easy anyway. I tell myself this is an
adventure and literallyhave to stop myself grabbing my precious Blackberry
back and making a quickescape. But in exactly six minutes this kid handed
my Blackberry back. He had changed the part and cleaned and serviced the
whole phone. Taken it apart, and put it together. As I turned the phone on
there was a horrific 2 minutes where the phone would not come on. I looked
at him with such hostility that he stepped back.*
*‘you have more than thousand phone numbers ?”‘yes’.‘backed up?’‘no’‘Must
back up. I do it for you. Never open phone before backing up’‘You tell me
that now?’*
*But then the phone came on and my data was still there. Everyone watching
laughed and clapped. This was becoming a show. A six minute show. I asked
him how much.‘500 rupees’ He ventured uncertainly. People around watched in
glee expecting a negotiation. That’s $10 dollars as against the Rs 30,000
($ 600) I was about to spend on new Blackberry or a couple of weeks without
my phone. I looked suitably shocked at his ‘high price’ but calmly paid
him. Much to the disappointment of the expectant crowd.‘do you have an
I-Phone ? Even the new ‘4D one ?'‘no, why”‘I break the code for you and
load any ‘app’ or film you want. I give you 10 film on your memory stick on
this one, and change every week for small fee’*
*I went home having discovered the true entrepreneurship that lies at what
we call the ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Some may call it piracy, which of
course it is, but what can you say about two uneducated and untrained
brothers aged 10 and 19 that set up a ‘hole in the wall’ shop and can fix
any technology that the greatest technologists in the world can throw at
them. I smiled at the future of our country. If only we could learn to
harness this potential.‘Please wash your hands before use’ were his last
words to me. Now I am feeling seriously unclean.*
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