When I saw this Information Kiosk I was doubtful about its working. When I saw the word ‘Free’ it only added to my cynicism. But then I decided to check it out.

As the board says, you can “access free E-Mail, E-Banking, E-Greetings, Star Forecast, Exam Results, Railway Enquiry, Mumbai Guide, Movie, Restaurants, News, Health, Education and much more”. In addition you can also get information about taxes, bus routes, rail routes and fares.

Here is a side view of the kiosk. Colorful? :-)

I don’t know whom it is owned or run by, and the watchman was clueless too. From what I decipher, the kiosk has been set up by MCGM who has subcontracted the work to Infobay. The kiosks run on a Reliance Internet Connection. Surprisingly, MCGM states nothing about these kiosks on its website.

I must say that the connection is super-fast. Yahoo Mailboxes open in a blink. The only drawback is that you can browse through predefined sites only, and google isn’t among them. Each person is let in for 10 minutes. There is no queue which came as a surprise since anything free here would call for a queue. There was only one person waiting for his turn to go in, and he let me in first!

An inside shot:

These kiosks are very helpful for people who do not have the Internet or even computers at home. It gives them a chance to access a no-frills-internet for free.