I can speak from personal experience that the Net can enrich life by opening up huge vistas which were otherwise not available. I live in India, and as an educated woman, quietly lamented that not enough opportunity was available to this section of women, who are not able to seek work outside the home because of young children (childcare facilities being quite inadequate). The alternative was to stagnate, as there really is not much one could do from home.

But with the Internet, I feel a world of difference. During my years at home, I gradually drifted to the arts, and painting to be precise. I have now put up my work on my own website at http://www.artbrush.net/. It is a great convenience and very exhilarating that your work is up before a world-wide audience.

I have also in the process had to learn new skills re site management. Today, my husband and son are actively involved in sprucing up the site. I am also developing new skills in the areas of web graphics. It is quite unbelievable how the Net has changed our lives. The family spends a lot of time excitedly discussing new ideas and techniques.

And this seems to be the case with a lot of educated, upper-middle class Indians. A national magazine here "India Today" had recently carried a story of several families in the metropolitan cities of India who have changed track for the better with the advent of the web.

Thanks.