Mark Zuckerberg would be very glad if he visited the sole internet centre in Chandauli, a dusty village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, about 170 km northeast of Jaipur. A third of the 20-odd kids glued to their laptop screens are visibly excited by the world wide web, and all of them, without exception, are on Facebook. Thirteen-year-old Vishal Kumar rapidly scrolls down his timeline and stops at a photo posted by a friend.
Asked if his Facebook friends are all from his school, he says, “No, no, I have other friends, too.” He can type in English but does not understand much of it, but that is no impediment as he quickly shows us how Google Translate comes to his aid. He answers all our questions but never once takes his eyes off the screen.Read More