I went to Darya Ganj to check out the Proton Today's office for details regarding the recently held Smart card Expo at Pragati Maidan. I got off the bus near Golcha Cinema and crossed the road. On the other side, bang opposite Golcha, an in-road goes through Darya Ganj. The police had put up blockades and were giving tokens to vehicles passing through the area. I trudged along the sidewalk, past the panwala, the chole kulche wala, the juicewala, the mochi, and a few more shops with shutters down.

I took the second right turn, the road was narrower and a boundary wall ran along it. The Proton Today's office was on the second floor of a building on my right. Narrow steps led to the first floor. A photocopy repair shop had taken up most of the space on this floor. Some twenty odd men were working on bare Xerox machines wearing oil stained baniyan and torn trousers. A supervisor was shouting at a young chap called Imran. Oil was spilled all over the floor. The photocopiers, digital scanners, poster printers were looking quite ugly, in the absence of the sleek covering.

I asked for PT's office. Someone on the far end shouted that it's on the second floor to the right. The stairs leading to the second floor were dark and dingy. There was a lot of commotion because of loud electric generators and the clanks from the Xerox machines as they were being dismembered.

On the second floor, towards the right were lots of one room offices of publishing companies. Some were marketing departments, some- editorial offices, and a couple of storage houses. On the right, a board was hung on a door with PT's name with a directional arrow pointing towards the office.

The office was a small six feet by four feet room. Three sets of tables and chair were aligned across the pale yellow colored walls. Old calendars, POP materials of the conference were on the walls.

A man was sitting behind a desk opposite the entrance door. He gave me a nod as I entered. I inquired about the editor. He told me that the magazine was published from Bombay, the marketing offices are housed here.

On being asked about the smart card conference, he smiled. According to him the conference was a success. Over two hundred companies participated; there was active involvement from the ministry of home, department of census and ministry of IT. Throughout the week, workshops on RFID, smart cards and biometric identifications kits were held as a parallel event. He claimed that smart cards industry is going to be the next big thing in the Indian industry, with business prospects of over 200 billion dollars, lot of foreign firms, research institutions and agencies involved with smart card business have shown keen interest.