Paper short abstract:

The paper will explore the extent to which the impact of glocalization is changing the traditional world of the mountain villages of Himachal Pradesh.

Paper long abstract:

In the eponymous short story by S.R. Harnot, "m.com" (written in Devanagari as "em.dåt.kåm") is the name of a shop that deals with the disposal of animal carcasses, for centuries the traditional occupation of the Chamar caste. The shop has grown into a small computerised business which an old woman, who needs to have a cow's carcass removed from the cattleshed, is unable to access.

Starting out with this example of what could be described as the "rape" of tradition by technological progress, which cuts off direct contact between human beings, the paper goes on to illustrate the various effects of glocalization on particularly isolated rural communities like those of the mountain villages, which in this analysis are those of Himachal Pradesh, the setting of S.R. Harnot's Hindi short stories.