Support to bridge the digital divide

T Radhakrishna
02 April 2003

You’ve had it. You scream at him, get back into the car and roll up the tinted glass, subconsciously shutting out the world of poverty, heat and dust. The boy moves back hurt by the insensitive behaviour. This is not the first time he is facing this wrath, yet he can’t stomach it.

It could be Dashrath. Dashrath couldn’t pursue his studies and had to work at car sheds on daily wages. When there is no work, he cleans cars at traffic junctions to feed his family. Unlike other boys of his age, Dashrath also nurtures a dream — he wants to play cricket like, well, Sachin Tendulkar, and attend high school to earn a respectable job. A dream that seemed impossible. Yet a deep fire continues to burn inside him — the fire of ambition.

Dashrath will never forget the day when some people came to his locality, and introduced him to Alambana. “I was cleaning cars after I failed my tenth class, but Alambana changed my life,” he beams. Alambana taught him to operate the computer. Armed with his new-found confidence and skill he could also work simultaneously on the data-entry jobs he got through Alambana.

Dashrath can now support his family and also fulfil his desire to learn. His hard work and commitment towards learning has helped him to get a full-time job of a data entry operator at an IT firm in Hyderabad. Now, he is content with his job and aspires to become a business baron like Ramalinga Raju.

Remember that old adage, ‘Where there is a will there is a way.’ It is applicable to almost everything, including education. Today, when education is more of a necessity, it is not difficult to get basic education. The problem lies with higher education. Those who can afford it do not think twice, but those who cannot need support — support to help make their dreams a reality. Satyam’s Alambana does just that.

Alambana (meaning support in Sanskrit) is a non-profit, fully volunteer-based social initiative run by the spouses of the employees of Satyam Computer Services. Alambana evolved with the objective of fulfilling Satyam’s corporate responsibility to society and to provide a platform for Satyam’s employees to bridge the digital divide across the social strata with a desire to do something more than just chequebook charity.