Free Basics, Ratan Tata and the Indian pride.

In all seriousness, as I went through my copy of the Economic Times over lunch, a point caught my eye. Someone, wondered if the ‘Free Basics’ program did not meet Facebook’s desired end because of a screw-up by the advertising agency and their inability to showcase what the service was all about. A preposterous thought, I think, for most advertising agencies in India (or atleast the good ones) know how to take a brief, come up with ideas and work on an approved concept.

However the thought I have in mind is not about the advertising strategy. Now that the chaos over net neutrality, Facebook’s business intent and ROI per user seems to have settled down, maybe it is time for us to introspect, much like we in India are accustomed to do, post every farce, scam, failed businesses and failed relationship goals.

I see, that the Free Basics debacle (at-least in India) is because of what I choose to call the ‘Tata Nano syndrome’. Here’s why:

1. The whole campaign held a mirror to India: We, Indians, the whole lot of them (barring a few exceptions, of course) do not like it when someone calls our country poor. We do know deep down the issues we have and that poverty in India is rampant. Look behind the metropolis that India has to offer and you will be aghast at the horror stories our land has, mainly driven by a lack of education, resources and most of all a lack of general empathy. Yes, read that right, we choose to be sympathetic, but do we really empathize and do something about it? And, that did touch a raw nerve, especially when a ‘firang’ comes and tells us, ‘look man, all you need is some bloody MBs of inner-net (accent maarke) and you shall be saved.’ (Benny Hinn much!) 
   Come to think of it, our land is so vastly covered with stories of poverty and a lack of general well being, Times Of India could actually publish a 100 page newspaper everyday. They choose not to, and that is because you & me do not like to read about it. We do not want to know. It just pisses us off too. And it pisses us a lot more when someone who isn’t from here calls us underprivileged.
2. Pride: The second kicker, in-spite of all the misgivings in our great land, is that we are a proud lot. We do not like to be shown how to live & what to do and we surely do not like to be helped. No thank you, American bhaiya, we are just going to figure this out and we will be great! Isn’t that what went wrong for the Tata Nano? A car for the masses, for the poor, at 1 lac rupees. A product that intended to elevate, and what did we do? We shooed it to kingdom come, because it hurt all of our egos. Facebook, you hurt our ego.
3. Lack of rationale: Consider this scenario, find a man, lets call him Rahul. He has never tasted a Zinger burger all his life. Now, you, have the resources to find a way to Rahul’s house no matter where he lives in India and you strike a deal with him, that he can get free Zinger burgers all his life, every single day till he lives.
   Now comes the larger question, do you think Rahul will eat Zingers all his life? Shouldn’t we be glad he got the Zinger in the first place and soon he will explore. He will soon know that there is life beyond Zingers, maybe McD? Burger King? 
   That is the magic of the internet, didn’t you use it only for porn once upon a time, but over time, didn’t you realize there was much, much more to it? You may say that the rest comes at a cost, it is not free. But if Rahul is sane and wants to explore the internet to fulfill his life goals, wouldn’t he spend say 100 INR more?

Now comes the thought of net neutrality, I fairly believe that it is the right thing, keeping the net wide open and free of channels that mitigate the flow of data. But now, in the wake of the ban of ‘Free Basics’ I cannot help but wonder if we could have just let it be, at-least in rural areas, or with a capped limit.

Or maybe, it’s my turn to introspect, like we do!