Becoming a thing of the past
One may soon not see browsing centres in near future
By- Jai Bhat, INN/Chennai,@infodeaofficial
They were once favorite hang out spots for the youngsters. Housed in small rooms, they used to be places where young and old could access technology, communicate, send official mails or apply online for new jobs.
All that are a thing of the past now, soon they may even become a part of the history. Young journalist Jai Bhat from Infodea ventured ahead to know more in this regard from a few browsing centre owners in this big city.
Now a days business of browsing centre is very dull as not many are coming forward to use browsing centre in current scenario. Mohammed who runs a browsing centre in Egmore feels the arrival of mobile phones with smart features is the reason behind it. Today you can access internet anywhere, thanks to smartphones, they have features that allow browsing at any place you stand.So why should people come to a browsing centre, like they did in the past? He asks. Thankfully, browsing centre owners have also caught hold of the changing trend, he reminds. Many of us have begun looking for other opportunities that can help them make good money.
Standing in tandem, Ashok, browsing centre owner at Guindy says today, people come to browsing centre only for taking a photostat copy of documents and mail print outs.
It was not like this about five or ten years ago, he says reminding about the rich past of the internet centres. Earlier, the income used to be about Rs 2000 to Rs 3000 per day, but these days it is difficult to earn even Rs 1000 per day.
Those were the days when there used to be atleast three to four browsing centres in a street, says Aadil, who runs a browsing centre at Saidapet. But now, even you walk for 10 streets it is difficult to find a browsing centre. Youngsters used to wait outside the browsing centres for their turn anxiously standing in que, for many of them used to have just five or ten seats. Hurrying to another centre nearby also would not guarantee a seat, he reminds. But all that is history now, he says ruefully.
We did not know at that time that businesses would shortlive, people who did change with the time closed their shops, while lucky few others added new businesses to the existing ones. I even book railway and bus tickets also, he says.
