___________________________________________________________
A
Blackberry addict discovers grassroots enterprise in
India
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 (foolishness) 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 10 days, 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. Original
part ? 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 literally
have to stop myself grabbing my precious
Blackberry back and making a quick escape.
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 a 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 ‘4′ 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.
