In the face machine-dominated western imperialism which destroyed India's handmade textile industry and made Indians dependent both economically and politically on the West, Gandhi exhorted Indians to use only those products that they could produce for themselves by hand. He donned homespun and adopted the spinning wheel as his symbol. He and others like him equated western technology with political control. Many Indians still do and the philosophy of self-sufficiency colors many of India's economic decisions. For example, cloth which is imported or made by machine is heavily taxed to subsidize Indian hand-loomed cloth.
Computers are a bit more of a problem.
Khajuraho, our second stop, is a prosperous town because tourists flock here to see the erotic carvings in its temples and to enjoy its traditional technology. We saw a potter making a pot on a wheel composed of a large, shallow, clay bowl sitting on a flat rock. There are telephones and TVs but it is not yet possible to make a local e-mail connection in Khajuraho because the current level of demand for the service does not yet mandate a local access number. The same is true of Varanasi. In spite of a population of some 2 million, the lure here is religion not business and there is no local access number.