Cybermohalla - India

Compughar is a small media lab running on free software and low-cost media equipment. The young people (mainly young women) who come to the Compughar are between the ages of 15 and 23. Most of them are school dropouts. Their writings can be seen as a database of narrative, comment, observation, word play and reflection.

Published in 2002, the book Galiyon Se/By Lanes (in Hindu and English) contains diaries from 12 young people working at the Compughar. The writings in the book are meant to provide a glimpse into everyday living in the city. For example, one set of reflections focuses on the meaning of "the street", a place shaped by the need to create a community, or sanjha, where the flow of people engenders small freedoms and a certain kind of creativity through narrative.

Young people associated with the Compughar also produce a bi-monthly magazine (in Hindi and English) called Ibarat. The magazine is available in 25 places in the neighbourhood of LNJP Colony, as well as on the Sarai site. One issue of the magazine focused on the meaning of work, especially in the context of women's lives; sections include "Work and Rhythm" and an interview with a young person. In addition, Cybermohalla wallpaper has been produced.

Technology, Youth, Women.

The word "Cybermohalla" evokes the open-endedness of cyberspace, qualified by the local specificities and intimacy of a mohalla, or a dense urban neighbourhood. Thus, the project's name suggests that alleys and corners, with their sense of relatedness and concreteness, are means for talking about one's place in a larger space.