When Grandma logs on, you know things are changing

PUNE, JULY 18: Back to school at 79. In search of khana khazana on the world wibe web or the right way to post that remarkable electronic ...

PUNE, JULY 18: Back to school at 79. In search of khana khazana on the world wibe web or the right way to post that remarkable electronic letter that grandkids call e-mail, finally account for family expenses in Excel or peruse bbc.com. Just who are these people?

In this city often dismissively called the 8220;pensioners8217; paradise,8221; a former Cabinet Secretary, curious housewives and determined senior citizens from 60 to 79 years are attending class to take copious notes for 50-mark tests, on their first discovery of a strange planet of computer jargon from Yahoo! to Windows, folders and recycled bins.

Inspired by his own pep-talk to senior citizens at the inauguration of the Pune-Penn Bandhan computer technology centre, former Cabinet Secretary Ram Pradhan and wife Lopa took a study break from Mumbai for 10 days, because it was 8220;time to start learning.8221; A total of four hours a day, with two classes on Microsoft Word, Windows and EasySurf, an eight-hour Internet course.

8220;I had to know something about what it is that my grandsons keep talking about,8221; says Lopa, who is candid that she did not even know how to switch on a computer or all its specific purposes a few days ago. Now, she bends over her husband8217;s screen to remark that he has created only two files, while she already has six!

8220;My children and grandchildren have no time to teach me what is what in a computer. I was reluctant and nervous to handle a computer at home,8221; says A. Yogananda, a 79-year-old student aiming at mastering the elusive art of sending and receiving e-mails to family friends in USA, Mumbai and Bangalore.

Books wouldn8217;t have taught me much, he admits, at the solemn senior citizens class on computer basics in progress at the centre at Shivajinagar.

Technical advisor Shashi Nayak skilfully spins yarns in Hindi, Marathi and English about badawala VSNL pipes with a corollary of smaller ETH and Satyam pipes to drive home the idea of ISD lines and Internet bandwidth to a reverent audience that had 8220;never touched a keyboard or mouse in their lives.8221; Housewife Sangeeta Bora cannot wait for her first excited glimpse of Khana Khazana, Bawarchi.com and Saroj500 recipes online.

Story continues below this ad

After six days at the computer, Sangeeta, who has swept away initial doubts that fluency in English was a must to dump and retrieve information from files and folders, hopes to try her hand at family accounts. 8220;I saw my children learn how to handle computers, I wanted to try it too.8221;

Lopa looks forward to poetry on the PC, and Ram Pradhan is striving to capture the finer details of word-processing to pen or rather, type, his future books and articles on the computer they now look forward to buying.

And who said computer basics were only about the history and mechanics of computers 8212; or keyboards, mouse and cursors? They learn to open files, create e-mail identities, and play games on Yahoo!. Of course, 8220;Teaching computers to senior citizens needs an entirely different approach and pace. You have to repeat the same concept over and over, or create real-life examples,8221; says Nayak.

This is where a special curriculum for Elders steps in. So the case studies and assignments range from the benefits of exercise and increasing intake of fresh fruits and vegetables to how to measure and maintain heart rates and prepare folders for pensions, investments and weekly household provisions.