A Blackberry addict discovers grassroots enterprise in India

A greater ‘hole in the wall’ you cannot imagine. A small fading sign on the top saying “Cellphoon reapars” barely visible through the street vendors crowding the Juhu Market in Mumbai. On my way to buy a new Blackberry, my innate sense of adventure (foolishness) made me stop my car and investigate. A shop not more than 6 feet by 6 feet. Grimy and uncleaned.

‘Can you fix a blackberry ?”

‘ Of course , show me”

” How old are you”

‘Sixteen’

Bullshit. He was no more than 10. Not handing my precious blackberry to a 10 year old in unwashed and torn T shirt and pyjama’s ! At least if I buy a new one, they would extract the data for me. Something I have been meaning to do for a year now.

‘What’s wrong with it ?”

‘Well, the roller track ball does not respond. It’s kind of stuck and I cannot operate it”

He grabs it from my hand and looks at it

“You should wash your hands. Many customers have same problem. Roller ball get greasy and dirty, then no working’

Look who was telling me to wash my hands. He probably has not bathed for 10 days, I leaned out to snatch my useless blackberry back.

” you come back in one hour and I fix it’

I am not leaving all my precious data in this unwashed kid’s hands for an hour. No way.

“who will fix it ?”

‘Big brother’

‘ How big is ‘big brother?’

‘big …. umm ..thirty’

Then suddenly big brother walks in. 30 ??? He is no more than 19.

‘What problem ?’ He says grabbing the phone from my greasy hand into his greasier hand. Obviously not trained in etiquette by an upmarket retail store manager.

‘Normal blackberry problem. I replace with original part now. You must wash your hand before you use this’

What is this about me washing my hands suddenly ?? 19 year old big brother rummages through a dubious drawer full of junk and fishes out a spare roller ball packed in cheap cellophane wrapper. Original part ? I doubt it.

But by now I am in the lap of the real India and there is no escape as he fishes out a couple of screwdrivers and sets about opening my Blackberry.

“How long will this take ?”

” Six minutes ”

This I have to see. After spending the whole morning trying to find a Blackberry service centre and getting vague answers about sending the phone in for an assessment that might take a week, I settle down next to his grubby cramped work space. At least I am going to be able to watch all my stored data vanish into virtual space. People crowd around to see what’s happening. I am not breathing easy anyway. I tell myself this is an adventure and literally have to stop myself grabbing my precious blackberry back and making a quick escape.

But in exactly six minutes this kid handed my blackberry back. He had changed the part and cleaned and serviced the the whole phone. Taken it apart, and put it together. As I turned the phone on there was a horrific 2 minutes where the phone would not come on. I looked at him with such hostility that he stepped back.

‘you have more than thousand phone numbers ?”

‘yes’.

‘backed up ?’

‘no’

‘Must back up. I do it for you. Never open phone before backing up’

‘You tell me that now ?’

But then the phone came on and my data was still there. Everyone watching laughed and clapped. This was becoming a show. A six minute show.

I asked him how much.

‘ 500 rupees’ He ventured uncertainly . People around watched in glee expecting a negotiation. Thats $ 10 dollars as against the Rs 30,000 ($ 600) I was a about to spend on a new blackberry or a couple of weeks without my phone. I looked suitably shocked at his ‘high price ‘ but calmly paid him. Much to the disapointment of the expectant crowd.

‘do you have an Iphone ? Even the new ‘4′ one ?

‘no, why”

‘I break the code for you and load any ‘app’ or film you want. I give you 10 film on your memory stick on this one, and change every week for small fee’

I went home having discovered the true entreprenuership that lies at what we call the ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Some may call it piracy, which of course it is, but what can you say about a two uneducated and untrained brothers aged 10 and 19 that set up a ‘hole in the wall’ shop and can fix any technology that the greatest technologists in the world can throw at them.

I smiled at the future of our country. If only we could learn to harness this potential.

‘Please wash your hands before use’ were his last words to me. Now I am feeling seriously unclean.

211 thoughts on “A Blackberry addict discovers grassroots enterprise in India

  1. Hello sir,
    This is a brilliantly told story of youth enterprise and shows a way in which unharnessed potential of our youth can be utilized. I am a MBA student and me and my friend are interested in writing a case study on similar lines. We request your permission (for use of this article) as well as support for gaining a proper perspective on this issue. Please reply so that we can take this forward.
    Thanks 🙂

  2. Mr.Kapur

    I REALISED ! —– THIS AFTER I WENT THROUGH THE ARTICLE—— YOU HAVE INADVERTANTLY SPARKED MY DESIRE TO HARNESS A MINISCULE PART OF THIS VAST POTENTIAL.

    THANKS A LOT ———- WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON DEVELOPMENTS.

  3. Thanks Mr Shekhar Kapur – Your story is very encouraging – I was sent the above connection by an NRI friend in the UK who had visited us last year! The below response is a bit belated – but I am posting it in case somebodya else can benefit by it.

    In the small NGO that I work in we have 37 out of work young men (including 2 disabled) trained in mobile repairing – This is certified by the local government rural education plan the Jan Shikshan Sanstan- http://www.nlm.nic.in/jss_nlm.htm.

    JSS is a scheme by the Government of India – focusing on the poor and other under-privileged. As I understand it every district has one (our district – Mirzapur -has a very enterprising person Mr Shukla) JSS works with NGOs like us – we have had only had to provide a room 15 feet by 12 feet, and some capital for equipment – Mr Shukla sends the instructor. Those getting the training pay for the training. So it can potentially break even.

    3 of the men trained have opened their own shops. Our NGO does other trainings as well with JSS.
    With the proliferation of mobile phones – we who are middle class can help the poor with a little capital investment and space and thy can get jobs!!

    Dr M A Raju– Yuva Vikas Trust

  4. Well said Mr.Kapoor. But should we be proud about this ? What’s the use of the potential which can’t be brought into action. I feel pity for those poor souls nothing much.

    Regards,
    Saurabh

  5. Good morning, Shakhar Kapur and others (well, it is morning here in New Zealand, anyway as I type this).

    This is a very moving story. It reminded me of an interview I heard on Radio New Zealand recently with Bunker Roy (http://goo.gl/glp0l). He talked about The Barefoot College (http://www.barefootcollege.org/), a non government organization in India that works to develop the capacities of people and their communities in remote villages.

    I see that, although it has lost none of its potency, this post is now two years old. I will investigate what you have written since then. I think it will take me more than six minutes!

    Best regards,

    Mark McGuire
    Blog: http://markmcguire.net/
    Twitter: @mark_mcguire

  6. Hello Sir
    I came across your recent comment on FDIs named Wallahs. Immediately I recollected about this mail I read and thought it improper to have remained silent on such a fine piece of writing.Thank you for the creations and forthe simple way it was presented .Surely I have made it a point not to miss any interesting piece from You
    With regards
    Sudhakaran Nair

  7. Shekhar ji

    You are a magician with words. You are the most amazing writers and storyteller. Thanks for sharing something that’s you may or may not be experienced but so beautifully you painted the entire scene.What ever you have narrated that is a fact also. Thanks Shekharji for allowing us to express our thoughts in your own space-website.
    Regards

    Surabhi

  8. Shekhar ji

    🙂 You are a magician with words. Thanks for sharing something that’s you may or may not be experienced but so beautifully you painted the entire scene.What ever you have narrated that is a fact also. Thanks Shekharji for allowing us to express our thoughts in your own space-website.
    Regards

    Surabhi

  9. I came a across a similiar situation in ofall places Periyapatna – a samll , non descripit village/town in South interior Karnataka . My Samsung S3 phone had suddenly stopped working and I was desperately trying to arrange an important rendevouz to tie up our labour, spare parts etc with another agency . Everything depended on me being contacted
    Like Shekhar Kapur I was non plussed but reluctantly went to a small shop where i saw number of youngsters.
    Someone directed me to the local JOBS and within a jiffy he got the phone going, gave me a sermon on presaving data and charged me Rs 100.
    I kept my rendevouz thanks to Periiyapatna JOBS

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