<div>These days, the technology that has made Internet possible reminds me of the Coca-Cola bottle that was thrown out of an airplane in the South African movie "Gods Must Be Crazy".</div><div> </div><div><table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 200px;"><tbody><tr><td><img alt="" src="http://bw-image.s3.amazonaws.com/Joe-C-Mathew-mdm.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 200px;"></td></tr><tr><td><em>Joe C Mathew</em></td></tr></tbody></table>Well, the story goes like this: The empty bottle, which fell unbroken, opened up a world of possibilities to the tribal people who were living a contented life somewhere in the Kalahari Desert. They had never seen a bottle before. So, the foreign element, which came from the skies were looked at with suspicion to begin with, considered as God sent later, and became an essential part of anything and everything that they did - a toy, a musical instrument, a craft tool and whatnot, - in the days that followed.</div><div> </div><div>My first encounter with this technological "Coke bottle" happened some 20 years ago, when my neighbour aunt, who had a son based out of the United States of America, shared the thrill and bewilderment of sending "emails" at the click of a button and getting "instant" replies. Within no time, live online chats - written, voice and finally video- made emails look snail mails to her. </div><div> </div><div>Ever since the network of computer systems connected us across the world, the "God sent" technology has remained ubiquitous, tightening its grip, utility and control over our lives, thoughts and actions each passing day. From a society that got introduced to the utility of Internet, we are fast becoming an Internet society.</div><div> </div><div>And as the Kalahari tribe did in the movie, we are keen finding new uses for the technology every moment.</div><div> </div><div>The BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi rode to power on the back of technology. The ruling coalition intends to stay on power by introducing Internet-based systems to change the way Indian citizens live and work. Internet is the key to the government's electronic delivery of services like e-health, e-education, e-mandis, e-taxes, e-courts, e-jails and e-prosecution. The government's flagship programme Digital India talks about technology for farming, technology for security, financial inclusion, trade promotion, etc.</div><div> </div><div>Let me quote the official projection: By 2019, the government wants broadband connectivity in 250,000 villages, universal phone connectivity, 400,000 public Internet access points and 250,000 wi-fi enabled schools. It wants at least 10 crore jobs to be created through such technological interventions by this time and turn India as a leader in information technology use in services - health, education, banking, and wants its citizens to be digitally empowered through public cloud and internet access.</div><div> </div><div>In "Gods must be Crazy", its director Jamie Uys, wraps up the entire enthusiasm for the newly-discovered tool of universal utility in the initial few scenes itself. The movie begins to take a different path as the tribal leader Xi decides to get rid of the "Coke bottle", in spite of all its virtues, as it spoils the tranquillity that prevailed in his village.</div><div> </div><div>Like Uys' Coke bottle, Internet technology has also started creating troubles for our "tribal" chieftains. Terrorism has attained new dimensions during the Internet era. The Wikileaks episode has created headaches to national leaders in several countries. If Lalit Modi's tweets are giving sleepless nights to the political elite in India, call it a "Coke bottle" effect. The advantage, connectivity brings in, however, far exceeds, its problems, at least, for now.</div><div> </div><div>That's perhaps the only reason why I have just downloaded an android App to facilitate my movement in Nashik, the temple town, where hundreds of pilgrims are gathering who seek the God's blessings by being part of the ongoing Kumbh Mela.</div><div> </div><div>Whether technology is going to be the manna for all our governance bottlenecks or not, it's going to be a technology enabled holy dip for me this time, for sure.</div>
