The Day I Paid ₹1500 to Learn… How to Open Google

In 2009, I paid ₹1500 to learn how to open Google.
Years later, the internet certified me to teach it.

A Small Internet Nostalgia from 2009

Today I happened to see an advertisement from a computer institute offering coaching for various computer courses. Seeing that ad suddenly pushed me into a small time machine called my memory- And the destination was 2009.

Back then, computers themselves felt a little magical. The internet was not yet the giant universe it is today. Smartphones were rare, data was expensive, and people still believed that computer institutes possessed some secret knowledge that ordinary humans could never discover on their own.

Naturally, like many curious people of that time, I also enrolled in a computer course.

Everything was going well during admission. Forms were filled, fees were discussed, and the trainer explained the course structure with great seriousness. During the admission process, the trainer asked me casually:
“Would you like to take one additional course?”

Now when someone in a computer institute asks that question, it automatically sounds important. So I asked, “Which course?”

She replied with a tone that suggested advanced technological wisdom: “Internet.”
The fee: ₹1500 extra.

Now in 2009, the word Internet itself sounded mysterious. I imagined they might teach deep technical things - maybe how the internet actually works, hidden tricks, secret systems, perhaps something close to hacking (in my imagination at least).

So I thought: Why not? And I happily said yes.

Thus began my 6-month computer course.

But because of my schedule, I finished the main course within a month. Finally the long-awaited moment arrived, when they finally started teaching the “Internet”, the special Internet class - the one that cost ₹1500.

I sat there with genuine curiosity. The trainer came in, turned the computer on, and began the lesson.

Step one: She opened the browser and said,
“First, open Google.”

Step two: She said, “Now type what you want to know in the search box.”

Step three: She taught how to send an email.

And that… was essentially the Internet course.

I remember sitting there quietly, slightly amused & confused. Because the funny part was - I had already known these things years before joining the course.

At that moment I had a strange thought: So… this is what I paid ₹1500 for.

Of course, I didn’t complain. In fact, today when I remember that moment, it makes me smile.

Because back then the internet itself felt like a new frontier, and many institutes were still figuring out how to teach it. And perhaps, in their own way, they were right.

After all, for someone seeing a computer for the first time, even opening Google could feel like discovering a new world. But for me, that ₹1500 lesson became something else entirely. It became a small nostalgic story.

A reminder of a simpler digital time - when the internet was slower, curiosity was higher, and sometimes we paid money to learn things we already knew.

And honestly?

Looking back now, I think it was worth it.
Not for the lesson.
But for the memory.
And in a strange way, life completed the irony.
And in a strange twist of life - in 2009 I paid ₹1500 to learn how to open Google, and years later the same internet certified me to teach others how to use it safely.


Dr. Jayaram Paul
Certified Educator – Google Be Internet Awesome Program (CBSE Collaboration), 2022
Trained 200+ Students in Cyber Safety & Responsible Internet Use
BIA/OCT/2044

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