It looks exactly the same. The stately school building on the left. The open ground on the right abutted by a raggedy row of shops. The fleeting skirmish of the bus stand. Green railings. Hot sun. And the silence of a small Indian town. I get off the bus and walk a few paces aware that every pair of eyes within a half- kilometre radius is watching me. I take my time secure in the knowledge that when I am ready to make inquiries, 20 hands will rise to point me the way.I am in Gondal, a town of about one lakh people in the middle of Saurashtra. It is a pretty town as far as small dusty towns go. But despite a few distinguishing features - a maharaja who collects antique cars and a fort where the romantic hit Hum Dil De Chukke Sanam was shot - it does not attract the attention of the outsider much. In 1994 I had picked it at random for a study on the impact of television. Six years later I am back propelled by curiosity and a need to know how much had changed.I ask about a local advocate cum politician, a man I had met in his dingy office. I am directed to a new, large house in a quiet lane. Govindbhai, it seems, has flourished. He has little to say about politics apart from muttering darkly about the BJP's waning popularity. About the town, he says nothing has altered. There are no opportunities for the young. Those who can, still leave. They go to the neighbouring city, to Dubai and Muscat and Mumbai.NRIs are clearly commonplace. Looking for an address among a cluster of houses, I notice a difference. The old rambling houses with verandahs running down the side have been transformed into sharp angled boxes with low ceilings. "You want the people from London" I am told when I stop to ask. I wander around a bit. The town seems to have expanded, I have to take a rickshaw when earlier I could walk all over. The large temple, something of a local attraction, appears to have grown larger still and sprouted high marble walls. The boys who used to hang around the precincts in long, baggy shorts are not to be seen.I spot a gleaming LG van standing in the open triangular spot in the centre of town and walk towards it. On my last trip to Gondal I had stopped for tea at a local farmer's house. It was, as befitted a prosperous agriculturist, a house with chairs and marble steps. I asked his wife if her neighbours had access to modern conveniences. There was television, of course, I was told, some had refrigerators and washing machines were not unheard of, though the scarcity of water made them somewhat irrelevant. The mobile showroom that I see before me however is stocked with every variety of modern convenience. There are washing machines with fabricare systems, punch wash and spin tubs. There are stereos with remote swing systems and refrigerators with door cooling facilities and even micro wave ovens. Is there a market for all this sophisticated gadgetry, I ask the salesman standing by. He nods vigorously. The van will move around booking orders all day, he informs me.I make my way to College Chowk. Colleges are closed but I run into a couple of girls returning from vacation classes. On my last trip a conversation with a lecturer led me to believe that conservative attitudes and local thugs had some effect in hampering women's education and ability to work in the town. The two girls I meet claim their parents pose no objections to their keenness to study or indeed to their desire for a career. The semi-circular building in College Chowk is, in fact, filled with the latest thing: Computer Classes.Khyati Joshi, a pleasant faced woman runs the local branch of Aptech. In 1998 she decided to move from Rajkot to set it up, a decision she claims that has reaped rich rewards. A school run by a local philanthropist has engaged its services for Classes four to ten. And about 500 other students have picked up the basics of Excel, Powerpoint, Word, Oracle and so on. Computer awareness is clearly high. There are a number of other institutes and a recent Information Technology Expo drew people even from outlying villages. Youngsters use the Net routinely to check out the news (popular sites include those of Gujarati newspapers, Yahoo, Bollywood sites and so on) and more, importantly for jobs. "Most people try to source jobs outside Gondal" Joshi says, "there is little opportunity here." Computers, she is certain, are about to usher in a revolution, particularly with women for whom it can open up a world in the safety of their homes.I go down to the street and look around me realising I have to make a call. Through a half open door, someone waves to me. It is the man running a public phone booth. He has seen me walk around. He knows I have to make a call. It is after all, a small town and there is little to do.There are no opportunities for the young. Those who can, still leave
