The café, a well-lit, air-conditioned room, holds five computers, including a server. Each computer is fitted with screen reading software called JAWS, or Job Access With Speech, and a scanning software called Kuzweil. These are specially created for visually impaired users and speak out anything that appears on the monitor.

"Our idea is to provide facilities for the blind, where they can get information," says Wg Cdr C M Jaywant (Retd), executive director, NAB. "We believe that information is the basis of empowerment and it is only when a person is empowered that he can be included in society."

The launch of the café opens up Internet access to visually impaired people from a variety of backgrounds. The software used is expensive and would be inaccessible to most people. "Also, if you consider that a lot of cases of blindness are caused by vitamin deficiency which is prevalent in the lower middle classes those people would never be able to access such machines," explains Jaywant.

"This is the first cyber café of its kind in Asia," claims Ketan Kothari, manager of the Braille Press at NAB and the force behind the project. Kothari is blind himself and is very comfortable using the computer and accessing the Internet. He uses the Internet to email and surf. His favourite sites are the BBC, cricket sites and the sites of the Royal National Institute of the Blind, American Foundation for the Blind, National Federation of the Blind and American Council of the Blind, which he regularly visits for information and updates on his disability.

"At our café, blind people can surf the Web, download information and scan picture," he says. When a Web page is opened, the JAWS software converts print into speech and speaks out all the information on the page from top to bottom, including the links. Users navigate the computer screen using a keyboard, aided by the speech software. If an image has a label or tag, the software reads that information out as well, including scrolling options. In order to overcome the problem of graphics, blind surfers use a 'text only' option when downloading information. They can also download text and print it out in Braille.

Typing documents is also made easy with JAWS as every time a key is pressed, the computer speaks out the letter and word, with different tones for upper and lower cases.

Walking through the café, I notice that the keyboards do not have Braille lettering on them. "We are actively discouraging the use of Braille on keyboards," Kothari explains. "We live in a normal world, so we have to be as normal as we can. Besides, the computer speaks out the letter typed, so there's no need to use Braille."

The café will operate between 10 am and 7 pm, Monday through Saturday. Initially a fee of Rs 10 an hour or Rs 1,000 per year will be charged with 2 hours allotted per person.

"We're expecting the café to pick up after about six months," says Kothari. "The way I describe it to people is that it is a library with unlimited access to information."

May 2 will also mark the launch of NAB's Web site (www.nabindia.org). The site has been categorised so that the blind can access it from anywhere. "All they have to do is take the help of someone to get to the site and from there on, they're on their own," says Jaywant. All links and tags on the site are voice enabled. "It includes information on blindness, activities for the blind, concessions and benefits as well as a special email system and chat rooms for them to share their views and opinions on their disability and other aspects of life," he says.

Arti Bubna, founder of Voice Vision, a computer-training institute for the blind, is looking forward to the opening of the café. "I think it's a great idea!" she says, enthusiastically. "My students would be very interested in visiting the café."

Bubna's classes teach the blind how to use the computer from the basics of Microsoft Office to navigating the Internet. "We use JAWS, the same software being used at the cyber café," she says. "We teach our students to use the Internet like sighted people do. Only, our PC speaks out everything. That's the difference."

Kothari sums up the essence of the cyber café succinctly: "Whatever you can do, I can do."

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