During my time at Bangalore University the city experienced unprecedented growth, the cost of living grew, after graduating I couldn't afford to continue living there. My parents had already taken a huge loan from the bank and I didn't want to increase their burden. My village was calling and I willingly returned.

Improved rural infrastructure

The fruits of India's growth are elusive for many villages. Luckily my village is located at the heart of the Kaveri river basin and farmers who form the bulk of the population are relatively prosperous. It too had experienced growth; new roads, colleges, schools and markets were being constructed.

One thing was missing, an English newspaper. Once home, I started preparing to take my Indian Civil Service examination, a good newspaper would be a necessity but there was no way to get one. When I was in Bangalore I had realized the abundant possibilities of having a PC at home. After borrowing money I bought a PC.

First PC in the village

The PC was a revelation; I guess mine was the first PC in the village but a PC without internet connection is as good as dead. But how could I get a net connection? For India it was a booming time in the field of telecommunications and IT. The state owned BSNL had just introduced a wireless service called Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL) with the aim of increasing rural connectivity. With 600,000 villages in India, physical cable connections are impossible. I subscribed and now I am one of nine million net users in rural India.

Online revolution

My father did not know anything about computers but today he contemplates his own blog in Kannada (the language of Karnataka, our State). Everyday he reads Kannada newspapers online. I don't need to go to cities now to buy books or anything else for that matter. I order from home. I read English newspapers and international magazines. Whenever people come to my home, I teach them how to use the computer.

Raghu, the son of our landlord lives in Scotland, where he is practicing medicine. Three months ago his wife delivered a baby, but his mother will have to wait to meet the child. Thanks to my computer and the internet, Raghu sent me photographs of the baby; the joy on the faces of my landlord and his family was complete and infectious.

Connected to urban India

Now I blog from my village in English and I am near to passing the ICS exam. Thanks to technology I am able to stay at my home in the village with my parents and revise without any tension. I am connected to the rest of India.

However, everything is not perfect. Power cuts are frequent sometimes lasting 12-14 hours. Because we live in a village we adjust and adapt. We do not complain, as our needs are modest.

You can read more of Vinay's thoughts on his blog.