When phones replace textbooks

The other day when I ran out of vegetables, I tried calling my usu­al vegetable delivery guy, Rajesh Kumar. I was a little concerned when he didn’t pick up and tried calling the following morning. Warning bells rang when he didn’t answer his phone again. So I tried him in the afternoon but to no avail. When the entire week went by without me being able to get in touch with him, I suspected the worst. Through the lockdown, Kumar had been an in­credible support; we would simply call or message our requirements to him, and he’d deliver them to our doorstep. Was he in any kind of trouble, I wondered.

Imagine my relief when I saw him hale and hearty whilst on my morning walk on the weekend. I told him I’d been trying to get in touch all week. Was he okay? He smiled at my concern and replied: “I’m fine, as fine as I can be without my phone! Now that the schools have reopened, my children have taken my phone as they need to study. Unlike government schools, which are simply been sending worksheets to students via WhatsApp, his children’s school was holding interactive classes on Google Classroom, he said proudly. Since they didn’t own a computer or tablet, Kumar and his wife had been forced to sacrifice their own phones at the altar of education. “It’s not ideal,” he said, “but the best way to ensure that they don’t get a break from schooling.”

Since the phone was his only business tool, this has meant a loss of income for him. But Kumar doesn’t have much choice. “I have seen my neighbour’s children run wild during the lockdown, and feel satisfied that at least my children are learning something,” he said. His neighbour was a plumber who needed his phone all the time as all his clients called on it. His wife didn’t own a phone. When their three chidlren’s school went virtual and he informed the teacher that his children didn’t have access to a phone or tablet, she WhatsApped them assignments. “My neighbour and his wife are uneducated and can’t help their children with their work,” said he. “So their children are simply not studying at all.” 

In comparison, Kumar’s children are busy with classes till 2.00 pm every day. They also receive homework, which also has to be done and submitted online. “I know I am losing business as a result of not having my phone,” he said. “But it’s a small price to pay to give them a chance to study and get good jobs instead of be­coming vegetable vendors like their father.”

How was I supposed to order my weekly quota of vegetables from him now that his phone was out of bounds, I asked. For the time being, the only solution was for me to walk up to his vegeta­ble cart, he said. It wasn’t much of a long-term plan given that schools may not be able to open any time soon. He agreed saying his earnings had come down by a good 30 per cent after the school reopened virtually. “To buy another smartphone, I need a little extra cash in my hands, but without a smartphone, that’s not going to be possible,” he said. “Covid-19 has got us all running around in circles…”