They treat the Net as if it's a visit to the dentist. First they crib but then, once hooked, they are all smiles, and can't get enough of it. Yes, senior citizens are now finding the Internet an exciting way of spending some time.
For sixty-four-year-old Baldev Kohli, stationed at Delhi, his cousin brother who is the Professor of Physics at Roorkee University taught him the bare basics of logging on. "I mostly use the Help files to solve all my problems," he admits.
A chartered Engineer and Advocate, Kohli has found it easy to use the Internet to help him negotiate deals especially for his Indian clients and find them foreign counterparts. Pages and pages of legalese can be transferred easily and replied to. He adds, "I don't need a staff to deal with all the cumbersome paper work. I surf, browse and chat as well. But I chat only through Instant Messengers as I find chat rooms quite cumbersome and beyond a normal busy person."
An experience that he enjoys narrating, about his net savvy, is how he managed to sell his daughter-in-law's old car. He recalls: "She had just picked up a new car and was dying to sell the old one. All conventional methods through brokers, etc. failed. Finally, I tried Bidorbuy.com and was actually able to sell the car. Not just that, the guy who purchased it was also happy and the deal happened without any hassles. Both of us saved two thousand rupees each."
For 62-year-old Datta Parab in Mumbai, the Net is a functional tool. His answers in the email are short and crisp -- he hates having to look for type keys, he says, and so tries to convey his point across as crisply as possible. It has been two years since he was online courtesy his daughter's friends who taught him this cheaper way to communicate with his son and daughter who both live abroad.
More comfortable with chatting, we decided to set up our first meeting in a chat room and found a garrulous sixty-two-year old who talked about the vast amount of information the Net had to offer, especially on environment, appropriate technology, architecture and urban planning. Those, by the way, are some of his oft-searched topics. And no, like most others who find their info on the latest in the dot com industry through the newspaper or idiot box, he uses the Click online B.B.C programme.
"My favourite site is the BBC news site because I like reading up on intelligent news reports," he says. "I also chat very often with my son and daughter, and feel as if I'm actually talking to them." But he cannot stop cribbing about how he just cannot get connected using his VSNL connection.
Likewise, Arvind Lavakare is annoyed about having his privacy violated when we send him an email through a common friend's reference. In his email he makes his point clear. Getting logged on was not easy for him either. He did so after his son stationed in London nagged him to do that because he thought it would be the best way from them to keep in touch. "I enjoy that the gates to news and views are completely opened up because of the Net."
Though he is mostly an email junkie, he has interesting experiences of surfing online. "I was thrilled when I found out through a Website that the State Supreme Courts of the various States in the USA are actually no better than India's high courts. This was exciting to know," he says.
Like wise, 60-year-old Jayant adds, "I was quick to get on to the Net six or seven years ago. In fact, I even persuaded all my suppliers to get online and be connected so that we could discuss everyday issues." Fond of email and making pen pals online -- something he has not been very successful at yet -- he says he will chat or surf more only once he retires. "I am very impatient, and can't wait for a page to load on my machine."
The Navkals residing in Pune are a step ahead. Having taken classes to operate the Net, they still feel that they don't use it to its complete potential. "It was sitting in my house like a Ganpati so we had to make some use of it," say the two exasperatedly.
"It was time consuming to be able to understand how it functions, but the rewards are many. What I do online is send a lot of pictures and get involved with the day-to-day growing up of my grand children who are between the ages of 12-15, and who mail their reviews or class essays. So I use the Net to make sure they don't forget us."
But yes, it takes a long time to type a long letter to them, say the 60 plus husband and wife. "I wish there was an easier way instead of typing…" Though currently thinking of purchasing a microphone to receive and get voice email, they are still feeling their way around.
Anil Agarwal, a 65-year-old retired professor in Jodhpur, loves emailing his list of contacts a daily quota of jokes. "My grandchildren love it. They tell their friends in school how chilled their Dada is…I think it is an awesome way to tell my friends that I am thinking of them and, what more, to make them smile. At this age, not many things make you laugh!"
And so life goes on for these lovely people. Old, they may be physically. Online, they're forever young.
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