Melvin is part of a class of eight at the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, who are learning Desktop Publishing (DTP). Another batch of 12 learn the basics of Information Technology. The students are admitted to the Institute after completing their SSC and are given a thorough education, of which computer skills forms one part. In a typical session, students are split into groups of three or four, and each group is assigned an instructor who teaches them the basics of computers, including Internet access.

Sonal, a DTP and IT instructor, who was trained at the same institute, has been teaching students for the past year. She finds that most use the Net to email and chat with friends, both deaf and others. Sonal also trains her students in Photoshop and teaches them to edit images they have downloaded from the Net.

She finds that her greatest challenge lies in teaching pupils from Marathi medium schools to use the Internet. Web pages with commands and tags in English are incomprehensible to them. But they have found a way to overcome the problem by visualising Web pages so they know where to click.

Meanwhile, Melvin is engrossed in a chat session with a friend. "I can't chat on the phone like you do, so I chat on the Internet," he signs. "It's great!" He regularly visits Yahoo, Yahoo Greetings and Hotmail. Being a cricket fan, he also keeps himself updated on scores during matches. Melvin finds security in communicating through the Net. "I cannot interact with 'normal' people in the real world, but it's so easy over the Internet," he signs.

22-year-old Prakash is a lot more tech-savvy. Naturally curious, he learned to use the Internet on his own two years ago when his brother got a Net connection, but refused to teach him. The first Web site he remembers visiting is Hotmail, but he names Rediffmail and Indiatimes as current favourites.

Like Melvin, Prakash is an avid chatter. He's constantly in touch with a close friend who recently moved to Orissa, and has also made several new acquaintances online. His choice of messenger services: Yahoo and MSN. Prakash also uses search engines to research information on hearing disabilities.

In the near future, he plans to study computer engineering and also learn Web design and DTP. He has a PC at home, which he regularly practices on. "I can express myself so much better through the Internet," he says. "The Net is the best thing to happen to me!"

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