September 29: Welcome to the cybersuburbia of Goregaon, where everything from Vada Pav and Cake to Cobbler and Maid has been put up on the dot com map of the world. But try asking a maid servant or a `mochi' how they feel about being advertised on the Net, and the common refrain is: `Yeh Yeenternet (Internet) kya hota hai?' Qadir Yasim, an 18-year-old vada pav seller from Santosh Nagar in Goregaon (east), is one such typical case. ``Some time back two gentlemen had come to my vada pav stall and taken detailed personal information about me. It has something to do with computers but I really don't know how it will affect me and my business,'' remarks Qadir, swishing away the flies from his desi burgur food stall. The prospect of having his name and roadside business flashed across the five continents is rather daunting than pleasing for Qadir - never mind that vada pav is a personal favourite of the Hotmail pioneer, Sabeer Bhatia. He nervously blurts: ``Will this get me into trouble of any sorts?'' Kaamwali bai Mangala Chavan, though, is a wee bit more cyber savvy. ``Presently I'm working as a domestic servant at two households in Goregaon, earning Rs 700 per month; if this thing called Yeenternet can get me another job I'll be happy to work in one more house for more money,'' says Mangala, who is still waiting for that elusive job call. There are nearly 460 names and addresses of servants in Goregaon - most of whom are not even aware of the existence of Internet, leave alone the website. So is the Net revolution really reaching the grassroots, and is Goregaon on its way to become cyberland? Rajesh Gangar, the founder of CyberTownship.Com offers an answer. ``I started this website CyberTownship.Com with the intention of enhancing the income of every family in Goregaon. We will later branch out to other suburbs. The idea is to provide a marketing platform to all the citizens of the township, be it a maid servant, a housewife or a grocer,'' said the founder of CyberTownship, Rajesh Gangar. Showing off his extensive research data on Goregaon, Gangar informs, ``The total population of Goregaon is 4.86 lakh and its total economy is roughly worth Rs 660 crore. Keeping in mind that the average GDP of a family is Rs 1000, I definitely felt that Goregaon needed a cyber media.'' When asked if the cobbler and baker also felt the same, Gangar admits that presently his website is running at a loss. ``But once the critical mass is reached, our site will not only be popular but much needed too among the people, and we will earn the returns. At present, though, we are not after e-commerce, but merely providing information on Goregaon, our model cyber township,'' he reasons. The website was launched early this year, and has over 80,000 data on 2.76 lakh adult citizens of Goregaon. ``Most of the registrations on the site are free at the moment, which is why most of the citizens are unaware of its worth. But the kind of detailed information we are providing is certainly going to be useful, one way or the other,'' adds the customer relations manager of the site, Purvi Lalan, adding that their data also includes vegetable vendor, florist, laundry man, doodhwala, carpenter, plumber, tuition teachers and even a car pool to save on petrol. There are nearly 45 categories of domestic help, but if one clicks on the name of cobbler, Nagurav Pandurang Satpute, all you get is his address at Gokuldham Market, in Goregaon (east). So the only way one can contact Satpute is by personally visiting Gokuldham market and searching for his shop. `Net search' does not work here. The self styled Internet guru, Vijay Mukhi, also feels that data overload without any specific purpose will not really run for long. ``The main reason for the existence and survival of any dot com company is the profit margin. If the company is not able to break even at the end of the day then they have to look for better ideas,'' feels Mukhi.
