March 2, 1998

Internet cafes are the place to hang out at

Arun Katiyar

Politics is the flavour of the month, and this much must be said for India's netas: they are getting increasingly techno savvy. At the Delhi press conference where the Congress revealed their web site to journalists, chief honcho Jairam Ramesh flipped open a laptop that was slightly larger than a mouse pad and took those present on a cruise around the Congress web. The BJP, the AIADMK, the Shiv Sena, the RSS, and even a new party called the Ajeya Bharat Party (www.ajeyabharat.com) have all established their presence on the Internet. Reading magazine reports, listening to speeches at maidans or on television, and mulling over editorials in newspapers is one thing. Visiting a political party's website is quite another. Be prepared for the complete tamasha -- garish photos, hyped profiles of leaders, manifestos, audio and video of songs, speeches and yatras, glorious accounts of past performances and the most outlandish promises for the future.

The fun of checking out on the political scene only begins here and continues with numerous election sites that have come up over the last few weeks. In fact, some smart political parties are even advertising on the more popular election websites. Most of the dailies on the net have created the equivalent of "supplements" to deal with the elections, a few, like www.indiaelections98.com, have a very clear focus. You'll find that the site is meant to deal with the interests of the business community and how they are likely to be affected by the ultimate outcome of these elections.

If you don't have a computer or don't have internet access, visit a nearby internet café and log into the political websites. In fact, going to an internet café like Delhi's Café Wired Word (at the Leisure Bowl) can be quite a bit of fun. The atmosphere is just perfect, there's always a hot cup of coffee brewing and expert help by way of CyberHosts is never too far away. There's another reason to recommend internet cafes -- most of them have top-of-the-line computers and good connections to the net so you won't experience any downtime. Says R. Lal, vice-president, operations, Café Wired World, which has 15 multi-media terminals buzzing away 12 hour-a-day, "People in India need to discover the advantages of using an internet café, and now is the right time." If you live in Bangalore, pop over to Coffee Day on Brigade Road or if you live in Mumbai, drop in at the Indian Merchants Chambers, where you can surf the net at an affordable fee.

Remember the days when a coffee house was the place for a major political discussion? Those days may well be returning -- if only for the next month or so.

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