ABSTRACT
In a large apartment complex on the outskirts of Mumbai, Vijay, a six-year-old boy, lives with his two parents and three-year-old sister. Mumbai is hot and crowded, but having lived in the same place his whole life, Vijay is well-adapted to his circumstances. Every night since he was about two, his mother and father—both secondary school graduates—take turns reading stories to him in Hindi. Vijay’s parents are rarely at home together on weekday evenings, as they work extra hours at a local call center, trading off evenings of childcare. Recently, Vijay has started to go to his uncle’s apartment two floors down to play computer games in the late afternoons once school is out. When he began last year, his favorite games were the ones that let him chase after monsters. But lately, he has focused more on English language learning apps—games that require him to match the letters and sounds of words, and listen to dialogues of two animated girls planning a party. Afterward, he makes a habit of conversing with his English-speaking uncle for a few minutes. With practice and his parents’ moral and financial support, Vijay will likely have a chance to enter a reputable, private English language primary school next fall. Though only beginning his schooling trajectory, Vijay is on his way toward becoming part of a youthful India that is increasingly plugged into the Internet, social media, and downloadable knowledge.
