A TALE OF TWO INDIA'S

With the urban jungles close to saturation, industries and services alike seek a new lease of life, as rural areas rise to Internet freedom.

- Pancham Bhardwaj

Visiting your hometown is often one of the most awkward experiences everyone has to get through each year, perhaps exacerbated by the fact that most of us were quite eager to leave in the first place, and didn't expect or wish to go back and see what we left behind. It is quite a common reaction amongst people who have left their villages or towns and their old lives behind, who are often haunted with guilt over how many more options they have over their rural counterparts, and whether our apathy in this regard was responsible for keeping them deprived. Well, at least that used to be so, until our most recent foray into the rural heartlands, where we got exposed to a very different yet awfully familiar side of the country.

This was still rural India, with the same unexpected issues that received little to no attention from the government, yet we saw people from Swiggy, Zomato and Amazon flitting around, doing their duty as diligently as they would on the busiest streets of Mumbai and Delhi. The packages still got delivered, even if the addresses included landmarks made out of local trees, undiscovered roads and even roadside pets. The discounts were as disappointing as expected, even though this new audience showcased way more interest and clarity in saving money on deals than most casual impulse buyers in the metros.

Even though nothing else changed, the guilt still disappeared, perhaps with the knowledge that, now that these online entities have finally found their way into these small communities, there is a way bigger chance of them surviving the hardships of rural life. The negative feelings were soon replaced by a burning curiosity that leftus wondering what exactly did it take for Amazon and other companies to expand into these markets and demographic segments, and provide endless options to people who until now didn't even get a say in it.