information? Well, may be. Let you buy stuff? Umm, yes. Send e-mail?
Sure, but what’s it really meant to do? Make Our Lives Better.
That’s all? Millions of dollars of the dotcom boom, bust and partial
revival later, is that all I can come up
with–Make Our Lives Better?
The truth is, that’s about the only real
reason for the IE to exist and evolve (just
you wait for Web 2.0). And sorry to burst
your re-emerging dotcom bubble, but
my humble opinion is that India is way
behind the West in creating services over
the Web—to Make Our Lives Better.
I moved to Arlington (close to Washington,
DC) recently, and realized that
the Americans have only one reason
to build websites: How to—and this is
becoming a cliché now—Make Our
Lives Better. Great websites on the Internet
may sound a simplistic solution to
resolve the chaos in Mumbai or Bangalore,
but here are a few examples of
how settling down in the US became a
breeze for me, even if I still have to get
used to the street nomenclature.
Take public transportation. Three
days after I landed here, I began doing
the rounds of meeting key people. I
can’t afford a car yet, but I needed
accurate directions to reach every
offi ce on time (the Americans hate
it if you’re even a minute late). I
was anxious. I need not have been.
I was introduced to WMATA.com,
the public transportation website.
It is a simple site, bereft any
frills. But here is what it really
has—customer service. It doesn’t
just give you the vanilla stuff like
bus routes and train maps, it also
plans your itinerary and gives you
directions. Accurately, to a tenth of
a mile. All I had to do was entermy departure times and destinations.
For every journey, I had at least three
itineraries to help me reach on time.
So, here’s the deal. I don’t leave 30
minutes early, nor do I reach home 30
minutes late like I did in Mumbai (during
the rains make that 60 minutes). It
even gives me a map of nearby areas
that I can explore once I exit the metro
station. And I can order a SmartTrip
card, that can be used on both buses and
trains. No queues, no hassles.
This gives me enough time in the
evening with my wife who has also
returned from work in exactly the same
manner. On her way back she’s borrowed
a Hercule Poirot DVD from the local
public library, which has a constantly
updated website that lets you choose your
books online, and even tells you where to
fi nd it once you reach the library.
Back home, if we need a sofa to sit
and watch TV, we browse Craigslist.org,
easily the most amazing classifieds
site, and one that even beats Google for
simplicity. We have TV schedules online,
our grocer’s sale coupon online, our car
rental online, our apartment’s lease documents
online, our immigration documentation
is online. In fact, just about everything
you need to lead a comfortable life
without anxiety attacks, is online. My
melting into the pot called Washington,
DC, was done online, and it didn’t
even burn the 8 Mbps Internet
connection at home.
My wife is happy because I spend more
time with her, my parents are delighted
because I can now have a webcam chat
almost everyday, and my friends are
happy because I talk with them more
than I used to in Mumbai.
When we compare this with the services
that are online in India, we come
a cropper. Ironically though, much of
the software for these US sites may have
been written by Indians in the US, or
perhaps in Bangalore or Gurgaon.
This is not the rant of someonewho
is enamored of the US, but
a genuine question from a hardened
Mumbai guy—If the Americans
can, why can’t we? It is not a
tough one to answer. Just ask yourself
this when you build your next
website: How Can I Make Lives
Better? That’s it. (And that’s the
last time I am using that phrase
in this piece).
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