The service is absolutely free, except for the normal telephone charges and Sawaal.com will upgrade the facility to provide other online information like stock quotes, weather reports etc.

"We are also working out the technical details of offering the service through a single number from all over the country, which will definitely attract e-mail users from other cities as well. At present, they have to dial the Mumbai number to access the service," Agarwal said. The service can also be accessed by mobile phone users. The mechanism for use is as follows: Sawaal.com users can check their e-mail messages by dialing a set of numbers provided for their city. The user will then have to key in the correct login and numeric password (given to them at the time of registering) and follow the menu read out on the phone by the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). The IVRS will then read out the number of new e-mails and their content to the user. Agarwal said that a mail-through-phone server is maintained for user authenticity verification and to read out the mail. This server fetches mail for the registered users, phrases them in human readable form and then stores them in a hierarchy ofdirectories.

"A powerful text-to-speech conversion hardware and software is used to read out the e-mail over the phone, without compromising the privacy of the mail. The e-mail remains on the Website for the user to access them later," he said.

Sawaal.com mail-on-phone facility is aimed at improving the convenience of Indian users who typically have access to shared computers or find it difficult to access the Net while on the move. Meanwhile, shubyatra.com, a comprehensive travel guide created by Design Expo Network, says that it receives 10,000 page views a day. Agarwal says that the travel portal has unofficial tie-ups with several travel agents.