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Digital TV: Broadband for All
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The tragic death of Mehmood Ali did not make any headlines. An
11 year old dying in some remote corner of Charsadda hardly
deserved such attention. Still, the single column, 2-inch account of
his passing away gave more sleepless nights to one than the
screaming, run-of-the-mill headlines splashed across national
dailies. The few silent words of that disturbing account, going
round and round in the head and gathering momentum, explode
into a thunderous crescendo leaving a deafening, nerve shattering
silence in the wake. You have to be on guard to ward off the next
round.
Death came to Mehmood Ali in a deceptively beautiful garb. His
innocent, playful mind could never have suspected that the
exuberant act of passing the class II exam would be his undoing.
His vision of new class, new books, continued company of class-
mates and other joyful fantasies of childhood were shattered when
his poor parents expressed their helplessness in providing books
for yet another year. The shock was too much for this exceptionally
sensitive boy burning with the desire to learn. It was the end of the
world for him. Mehmood Ali died the moment his dream crumbled
around him. Putting his father’s gun to head and pressing the
trigger was only the formal finishing touch to his epitaph.
You are so at ease and peaceful, feeling superior to be writing
about Internet Connectivity, Broadband, eLearning and 3G,
marveling all the time at the wonders of modern technology. What
for instance, could be more exciting than MIT offering 2000 of its
courses on Web for free? Or more than 6000 institutions of repute
offering thousands of online courses to students anywhere around
the globe? You join the institute you like, select the course of your
choice, learn at your own pace in the comfort of your home, take
an online exam when you are ready, and earn a world class
certification. Then there is the Virtual University Project of Dr. Atta-
ur-Rehman getting ever more real with Internet Connectivity
extending to more cities. Could learning be any easier if you had a
craving for it? Safe in the digital cocoon of your virtual reality, you
are far away from the real world out there.
Then something happens in Charsadda to shake you rudely out of
your hi-tech reveries. A small boy shatters your digital world with
the same bullet that blew his tiny brain to pieces. Suddenly
everything is so senseless, so hopelessly meaningless and
deceitful. You are standing in the middle of nowhere staring at the
stark glare of a vast, monotonous desolation stretching from
horizon to horizon. Never have you known such utter helplessness,
nor the white rage that threatens to consume your entire being. A
colossal, putrid vacuum engulfs you.
Intense though it is, but you know this pain won’t last. Soon,
Mehmood Ali would be another statistical anonymity. A distant
specter to appear briefly, if ever. Even so, he would only be the
faded memory of this pain rather than the pain itself. So you allow
Mehmood Ali the liberty of giving you a few sleepless nights and
an ashtray full of stubs. And when you sleep you dream of an
enormous wall splattered with a whitish grey matter that once was
the pulsating brain of Mehmood Ali, now infested with fat, hideous
flies, crawling all over it.
You are again writing about Internet Connectivity, Broadband,
eLearning, Online Certifications and 3G. But your heart is not in it.
The fragility of your conviction has left you dazed, bitter and
unsure. Is the eLearning yet another hi-tech gimmick to keep the
already privileged in good humor? Another mark of distinction at
the cost of the down trodden? Would the eLearning and Virtual
University projects also skip the teeming millions out there? Or is it
really the break, the long-awaited relief to that godforsaken land
the time forgot? So that dreams of Mehmood Alis won’t drown in
pools of their own blood? One wonders.
Published TelecomPlus Sep 2011
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