This document provides an overview of the Kuppam hp i-community project through the eyes of children in Kuppam. It describes a photography summer camp where 40 children were given digital cameras and explored life in Kuppam through their photos. The document highlights several of the children participants, their backgrounds, interests and the photos they took. It discusses how the children quickly learned to use the cameras and captured aspects of daily life, celebrations, landscapes and more. The photos provide insights into Kuppam and reflect each child's unique talents and perspectives.

1. T h e i - c o m m u n i t y t h r o u g h t h e e y e s o f i t ’ s c h i l d r e n
k u p p a m m m e n t so

2. MURALI

3. Dedicated to the kids of Kuppam
.
A tribute to the promising future of the i-community whose capable architects
they will be

4. MURALI

5. TABLEOFCONTENTS
FOREWORD
kuppam hp i-commmunity
equipment used
acknowledgements
cholaraj
Film - story behind the story
08
41
09
23
57
73
87
99
115
116
117
119
kids
firoz
kiran
ashok
jagdeesh
SARITHA
LAVANYAU
1

6. - T i r u v a l l u v a r , A g r e a t I n d i a n p o e t - s c h o l a r
" T h e c l o s e s t a h u m a n c a n c o m e t o e x p e r i e n c i n g t h e d i v i n e i s t o f e e l t h e i n n o c e n c e o f a c h i l d “
07

7. FOREWORD
The book that you are holding in your hands is the result of an
experiment that we conducted in the Kuppam hp i-community. In
keeping with it's mission of being a real life innovation laboratory for
Hewlett-Packard in developing economies, we wanted to explore what
children in a rural community in India would do with digital cameras, if
they had access to them. We wished to see how easy or difficult it would
be for them to wield the camera, how they would express themselves
through it, and what would they want to convey with it. The pictures that
follow provide the answers to these questions more eloquently than I
could express in words. The range of subjects, and the visual vocabulary
employed is truly remarkable. Their work proves the old adage that a
picture is worth a thousand words. They explored life around them with
that special sensitivity, innocence, freshness of perspective, and sense of
discovery that only children can bring so naturally to capturing even
familiar surroundings. Not surprisingly, their pictures reflect the
themes that they are intimately in contact with of people going about
their everyday lives, in celebrations, at work, in the presence of their
Gods; of family, of other children at play, having fun; of animals, and the
landscapesoftheirbeautifulKuppam.
It all began with asking a few children if they would be interested. One
thing led to another, and before long, we were doing a summer camp on
photography and the use of the digital camera for forty children from
Kuppam during their holidays. They were excited about their new toy
and were having fun with it. Giving a child a camera,is like handing them
candy. For all the kids, this was their first exposure to photography, and
the first time ever that they had laid hands on a camera. Several of them
had not been photographed themselves ever before. Without exception,
they all wanted to figure out the camera themselves, and proceeded to do
soposthaste.Beforeweknewit,theywerehandlingitlikeprofessionals.
Seeing Kuppam through the eyes of these children, is a visual treat. They
take you through this journey, that begins in the wee hours of the
morning at the entry point for most people coming into Kuppam, it’s
railway station. From there on, as the day grows, you will catch glimpses
of life as it unfolds in it's myriad forms, colors, and textures, and get an
aerial view of her, before one of them bids you goodbye. That they could,
with the panorama of images, enhance an already extraordinarily
beautiful place like Kuppam is a tribute to their talent. It takes a village to
raise a child they say, but it seems only a camera to show it off. These
images are moments in time, frozen for posterity. As we have come to
know each kid, and their unique gifts, we find that their photographs are
also a mirror to their selves. We learnt many things from this
experiment, but one in particular is especially sweet Digital
Photography is truly child’s play. Appropriately so, I feel like Forest
Gump, when reading this book. It is indeed like a box of chocolates. One
does not know what one is going to get next. We had a lot of chocolates to
choose from, 11,000 of them to be precise, and this presented a
significant challenge to the team about which photographs to pick for
inclusion in the book. What you are going to savor is our choice of the
best of the best ! We have also filmed these children at work and play and
itisavailableasaCDatthebackofthebookforyourviewingpleasure.
In conclusion, though Kuppam has been our neighborhood for these
past three years, and we have come to know and admire her many
splendoured beauty and charm, these children with their photographs
have helped us rediscover her. Proust was right when he said “The real
voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in
having new eyes”. If he had seen these pictures, may be he would have
added”andcapturingitwithHPdigitalcamerasusedbychildren” !
Thankyouforyourattention. Hopeyouenjoytheride!
AnandTawker
Director,Kuppamhpi-communityProgram
EmergingMarketSolutions
Hewlett-PackardCompany

8. Cholaraj is the youngest participant of the Children's
photography summer camp. He is so passionate about
photography and always tries to capture the right
moment. It was fascinating to observe him attempting
to photograph the horse rides. If he clicked too early,
he wouldn't capture the horse, too late he thought he
could get hit by the horse. (You could picture a 4
feet child facing upto a 6 feet height horse).
Throughout the duration of the children's summer
camp, Cholaraj was diligent in taking lots and lots of
photographs, photographs of the people in Kuppam, the
trees, the railway station, the bus stop anything and
every thing in Kuppam. He was so conscientious that
some days he would wake up at 4.00 AM and go to the
railway station to shoot the early morning scenes of
people catching the 5.00 AM train to Bangalore.
Cholaraj's family includes a doting mother who thinks
the world of her child, his father who works in the
granite industry and his elder sister. Both the
children study computers in the Kuppam HP i-
community computer centre and that is how he got
to know of the photography camp. It seems though
that photography is not for every one. For instance,
Cholaraj's enthusiasm for photography hasn't rubbed
off on his elder sister.
Cholaraj wanted to become a police man but after
this experience is wondering whether he should
become a photographer instead.
( t h e e n e r g i z e r b u n n y )
09

9. CHOLARAJ( t h e e n e r g i z e r b u n n y )

21. MURALIMURALI
Thischildpaintercouldnotattendthesummercampasmuchashewouldhavewantedduetofamily
constraintsbutmanagedtoshootmanymasterpiecesinthebriefdurationhewaspresent.

22. Of all the kids in the summer camp Firoz was there
for the briefest time, seven days in total but took
some of the best pictures. Firoz is a gifted
Bharatnatyam (a traditional south Indian temple
dance) dancer, a talented painter and was an active
participant in the Children's day event organized by
the Kuppam HP i-community. The i-community staff
who selected the children for the photography
summer camp felt he was the quintessential choice
for the camp.
Firoz loved shooting the life around Kuppam,
landscapes, photos from the Kangundi Hill, (a famous
landmark in Kuppam, but mostly he shot Hindu
temples and images of gods and goddesses, the last
theme not a very obvious choice for a boy whose
faith is Islam. Expression of the genius of India at
work in Kuppam!.
( t h e p r e c o c i o u s c h i l d )
23

23. firoz( t h e p r e c o c i o u s c h i l d )

37. 3

39. MURALI

40. Kiran stays in Kothaindlu, a village known in Kuppam
as a model village for unity and community
participation. It is also one of the 5 villages where
Hewlett Packard has equipped the Village High School
with a computer lab and Kiran is an enthusiastic
user of computers in his school. He has quickly
mastered GIMP (the Linux equivalent of paintbrush
program) and produces many master pieces using
this painting program. When we wanted to select the
children for the 2nd batch of the Children's
photography summer camp, Kiran was the ideal
choice for Vijay Bhasker, who runs the HP-AIF
education program in Kuppam. Kiran's father works
as a laborer in a granite factory in Chittoor, a large
town, 150 kms from Kuppam. However the family has
stayed back in Kothaindlu as the education facilities
for Kiran are better here.
Access to the computer lab in the school has made
Kiran aspire to become a software engineer, but he
wants to continue pursuing photography as a hobby.
Everyone tells Kiran's mother that her son is special;
and she knows it too. She is worried that her
financial situation may not permit them to provide
Kiran with the best of education. Her dream is to see
Kiran work for HP.
( t h e c h i l d p r o d i g y )
41

41. KIRAN( t h e c h i l d p r o d i g y )

53. kokila 4

55. SheisanactiveparticipantinalltheeventsorganizedbytheKuppamHPi-communityteamlikeenvironment
day,children'sdayetc.ShesawdigitalphotographyinactionduringhervisitstotheKuppamHPi-community
officewheresheisenrolledtolearncomputersandwhenthephotographysummercampwasbeingorganized
thisyearsheenthusiasticallyenrolledforit.
kokila

56. Ashok stays in Sodiganepalle village of Gudipalle
Mandal, about 10 kms from Kuppam town. His father
has been running the public distribution outlet (
ration shop) in their village for the past 40 years and
his father feels proud of the fact that HP, an
"American" company has come to his village and
provided so many services including training his son
on photography.
Ashok is intrigued by computers and is spending his
summer vacation taking lessons from the local HP
Entrepreneur in Residence in the village.
He loves taking pictures of the temples in his village,
pictures of family and friends and people as they go
about their work.
He would like to be a doctor when he grows up. His
mother also believes in his dream and says that Ashok
is a bright boy. Two of her sons are farmers but she
wants her youngest child to do better.
( a d o c t o r i n t h e m a k i n g )
57

57. ASHOK( a d o c t o r i n t h e m a k i n g )

69. MURALI 5

71. KOKILA

72. Jagdeesh stays in Parmasamudram village of
Kuppam. His father is a railway engine driver who
works in Jolarpettai, an important railway junction
50 kms from Kuppam. The fact that Jagdeesh's father
has a Government job with a regular and a good
income makes them far wealthier than their farmer
neighbours. Though Jagdeesh likes to take pictures
of his village, he especially likes his picture taken and
for this has trained his friends in photography so that
they can take his picture while he is playing.
Jagdeesh says he learnt photography in 30 minutes
and to demonstrate the ease of digital photography
took just 10 minutes to teach his elder sister how to
use the camera. Jagdeesh's family is very proud of
his photography skills and even his 70 year old
grandfather spends a lot of time looking at the
pictures taken by Jagdeesh.
Jagdeesh's father wants him to become a policeman
but his mother feels that a policeman's job is full of
tension.
( t h e r a i l w a y m a n ’ s s o n )
73

73. JAGDEESH( t h e r a i l w a y m a n ’ s s o n )

85. KOKILA 6

86. Saritha's hails from a family of potters and unlike
most of her class mates who only play during their
summer vacation, she diligently helps her father in
making earthen pots. She was chosen by Dharmavati,
an Entrepreneur in Residence working in the Kuppam
HP i-community program as she was an active child
and was always wanting to do new things.
Dharmavati has saved all of Saritha's pictures on her
laptop and shows it proudly to the entire village folk
in Gonumakulapalli where both she and Saritha live.
Saritha has become an avid photographer and so far
has captured over 700 pictures comprising mainly of
the landscapes, farm lands, animals etc. and once she
walked three kms to capture a peacock in a nearby
village. While she shoots inanimate objects very well,
she feels a bit shy when photographing people.
Saritha stays in a village 45 kms away from Kuppam
and prior to the start of the program, her mother
worried about how they could let their little girl
travel so far to attend the children's photography
summer camp in Kuppam. Initially Dharmavati
accompanied her, but a few trips the parents felt
reassured and let her take the bus herself.
Earlier Saritha dreamt about becoming a teacher
but now she wants to be a photographer. Saritha
really cherishes the fact that participating in the
summer camp enabled her to print photographs that
she took of her family, which she can now keep and
show to her friends and relatives.
( t h e f a m i l y ’ s h e l p e r )
87

87. SARITHA( t h e f a m i l y ’ s h e l p e r )

96. heena
studiesintheJuniorHighSchoolinKuppamandisanenthusiasticuserofthecomputersavailableinherschool.
Inabrief2monthperiodshehaslearntsomuchthatshenowteachescomputerstootherstudentsin
herschool.ComingasshedoesfromaconservativeMuslimfamily,shehadtoovercomemanyhurdlestopursue
herpassionorphotography.Thatshedidsplendidlycanbeseenfromherpictures.

98. Lavanya lives in the historic village of Kangundi, the
erstwhile capital of Kuppam. She stays in the former
Zamindar's (Local ruler) palace compound and her
father is the Chairman of the largest temple in
Kangundi. Lavanya loves the beauty of Kangundi
village, the fort located atop the hill that she proudly
shows to all her visitors, the temples, the forests and
the people of her village, especially the children whom
she enthusiastically photographs. Lavanya is also a
keen participant in all the village festivals. Her
parents and younger sister are thrilled to see her
use the camera and admire the fact that despite being
so young she was able to learn it so quickly.
During the photography camp she took advantage of
the fact that she possessed a digital camera to visit
V. Kota, a town 50 kms away from her village and
took pictures of her relatives who lived there. She
was very proud that she could print their
photographs and send them a copy.
( f a t h e r ’ s d a r l i n g )
99

99. LAVANYAU
( f a t h e r ’ s d a r l i n g )
7

103. 7

111. MURALI

113. KOKILA

114. kuppam hp i-community
Kuppam located in Andhra Pradesh India, about 105 kms from
Bangalore on the main Bangalore Chennai Railway line literally means '
meeting point" in Telugu, the local language of the place. The place is
located at a point where both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka meet Andhra
Pradesh,Itisasmallruralcommunityofthreehundredthousandpeople
that depends on farming, dairying, sericulture and the granite industry
for its livelihood. HP chose Kuppam as the site for its first i-community
anywhereintheworld.
The i-community program aims to provide people access to greater
social and economic opportunities by closing the gap between
technology empowered and technology excluded communities while
focusing on sustainability for both the communities and HP. The vision
for the i-community program is to help create a thriving self-sustaining
economic community where Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) solutions are strategically deployed to significantly
improvemanyfacetsofitscitizens’lives.
Some of the initiatives deployed in the Kuppam hp i-community
programare
A first of its kind deployment of 802.11g wireless technology for
providingbroadbandinternetconnectivitytoover50points.
Over more than 90 touch points for the community to experience
Information and Communication technology services that include
Community Information Centre’s, Mobile Solutions Center, Schools,
Entrepreneurs in residence, Village photographers and Digital rural
theatre entrepreneurs. Over 75 local entrepreneurs earn a living by
providingaccesstoICTtothelocalcommunity.
Comprehensive solutions in the domains of the entrepreneurship,
agriculture, health, education, citizen empowerment and interface with
thegovernment.
These successes would not have been possible without the active
support, guidance and participation of number of distinguished public
sector, private sector, Non Governmental organization partners’ chief
among them being the State government of Andhra Pradesh. Other
eminent partners include the PES group of educational institutions,
American India Foundation, Datamation, UNICEF, ICICI Bank, World
Corps, CISCO Systems, Samuha, FRLHT, World Links, Convergent
Communications, Planet Read and many others who joined us in this
memorablejourney.

115. HP 707 5.1 Mega Pixel Camera with HP's patented adaptive lighting technology
Compaq NX 5000 laptop with
Intel Pentium M 1.5 Ghz processor, 512 MB Ram
and 40 GB hard disk
HP Pavilion media centre PC with
Intel Pentium 515 Processor 2.93 Ghz,
774 MB DDR Ram. 80 GB Hard disk
HP Photosmart 7660 printer with Photo REt IV technology and
4800 dpi optimized output
116
HP Equipment used in the project
HP 735 a 3.2. Mega Pixel camera with 3 X optical zoom

116. Acknowledgements
This book is a labor of love of the Kuppam hp i-community team and
many seen and unseen hands worked to make this happen. Some of
themwhohavecontributedtothebookare-
Anand Tawker who had visualized this book much before it was
ultimately created and provided the inspiration and guidance to make it
happen.
Parth Suthar, the designer for this book who has worked tirelessly under
immensetimepressureandotherconstraintstocreatethisbook.
Harmit Singh, who introduced the children to looking at photography in
a new way, teaching them to visualize the subject and capturing the right
moment.
All the children who participated in the Summer camp Firoz, Veena,
Kokila, Akash, Bharghav, Prakash, Saritha, Pratibha, Subramaniam,
Kiran, Murali, Yashwant, Jagdeesh, Cholaraj, Sreenu, Priya, Reshma,
Heena,Sukanya,Ashok,Chinappa,Lavanya,Pallavi,Shravani,
The parents of the children for letting them travel long distances to
attendthesummercamp.
Bobi (Peethambaram)forbeingtheanchorfortheprogram.
Anirbanforcoordinatingtheprogram
Prasad for creating the administrative support required for starting the
programandgivingvaluablemoralsupport.
Naveen for selecting some of the children, for providing the
administrativesupportandforbeingavailableforhelp.
Karuna,Venkatesh,Gopi,Saral.
L Shekhar, M Shekhar and Santhanam for driving the team around at all
oddhours.
Kuppam hp i-community’s EIR's (Entrepreneur’s in residence)
Dharmavati, Amarnath, Manjula, Veena, Vijay Kumar and many others
who selected the children, accompanied them on their visits to the HP
officeinKuppamandguidedandencouragedthemtotakephotographs.
Vijay Bhasker who helped in selecting the children for second batch of
thesummercamp
DushyantofMahattaFilmsforhelpingtellthestorybehindthestoryand
capturingthevoicesofthechildrenphotographers.
Many others in both the Kuppam and Bangalore office of the Kuppam
hp i-community program without whose help and support this book
wouldnothavebeenpossible
117