Unsung heroes!

It was a warm and bright weekend morning. I started for the usual weekend shopping at the local mall trying to beat the weekend crowd but the place was already teeming with crowd, mostly families.

People were strolling across from their cars to the entrance as if it was a moonlit night. Kids were scampering across to get hold of the trolley for the family shopping.

Actually the heat here is quite bearable even with high temperatures. There is not much humidity most of the time. No complaints at all!

Fruits were in high demand even with such high prices. Somehow the price of most food items has sky-rocketed quietly. Watermelon seemed to be the most in-demand fruit. The moment the mall helper emptied the cart, they were disappearing into shopping carts.

I do not know if it is an acceptable thing or not in other parts of the world but here I see people, both kids and adults, drinking or eating stuff while still shopping around or while waiting in line at the cash counter even before paying for it! I haven't seen such a thing anywhere else!

When I came out of the mall, the hot air hit me like heat from a furnace. The car's temperature gauge showed the temperature peaking at 46° centigrade.

As I started driving back home I couldn't help feeling sad for the dozens of  men working on the road project, in the searing and sweltering heat. The poor souls start work at dawn and finish at dusk, working tirelessly, day after day, for a meager salary. Yet, everything gets stacked up against them whenever there is a change in recruitment policies!

In the coming days they would have some respite when work has to be compulsorily stopped from noon for three hours during the summer. That should bring a bit of a solace for them!

Soon the road project would be completed. It will be a big relief to the commuters as the overpass will ease the ever increasing traffic problems. It will be another milestone for the state. For the companies involved in the project, it will be another achievement, another feather in their cap, and lots of money.

But the sweat and blood of these men would be buried deep under the concrete structures. No one will even remember the hundreds of nameless faces who toiled day in and day out under extreme conditions. Truly, these are "the unsung heroes"!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The Duty Free Shop incidence.....

During one of my trips home, after all the boring rituals, we finally boarded the aircraft and things were getting ready for the take-off. After some time we realized that something was wrong. We were well past the departure time but the aircraft door was still open. Couple of flight attendants were standing near the aircraft door peeping out as if expecting somebody.

The delay could not have been for some VIP, as such things do not happen in these parts. Most probably it could have been for some poor soul who got drunk and lost the way to the boarding lounge. Such things do happen often!

I remember, during one of my earlier trips, as I was waiting in the lounge, I saw couple of airport staff going around calling out a guy's name on their walkie-talkie. After searching the whole airport they found the missing passenger somewhere in an isolated corner of the airport fast asleep after taking a few shots from the liquor bottle he bought from the duty free shop.

Coming back to the current incidence, the clock ticked away and by now we were getting quite restless with the waiting. After what seemed like an eternity, there was a commotion at the entrance to the aircraft. A man walked in with his trolley bag and a huge duty-free bag in his hand, accompanied by two official looking men on either side of him. As they paused at the entrance of the aircraft the officials seemed to be admonishing the passenger who was apologizing profusely, almost touching the official's feet. Soon the officials left and the man was escorted to his seat by one of the flight attendants who helped him put away his luggage in the overhead storage compartment.

The man sat down and immediately was on his mobile phone and called someone and started saying "Brother you won't believe what happened! God put me to test today... I was at duty-free shop and while paying at the cash counter they found some items in my bag....no...no...no brother. I came to this place to do God's work, why will I steal...God came to my rescue...He saved me.....". The flight attendant asked the man to switch off his mobile phone as the flight was ready to take off. By then he had made another call and started repeating the whole thing again "brother, you know what happened....God saved me.....".

No one around asked him how the items got in his bag, for everyone must have assumed the obvious, including me! How judgmental! But, how can some items just get into somebody's bag! Did someone put them in his bag to set him up! Did he upset someone so much that they went to such an elaborate plan to get him trapped!

Could he have deliberately stolen the stuff , very confident that he will not be caught! Such things happen with some people who think that they are very holy and very God fearing. They consider themselves as different from others, that they have reached a level above the rest, very close to God! Such belief becomes so strong that over time, the line between righteousness and self righteousness starts becoming very thin. So thin that they start believing that whatever they do must be right! After all, with all the service and good work they are doing for God, how could they do anything wrong! If something were to go wrong, they even question God with "why Lord, what wrong have I done?".

I do not know if God had saved him that day or not but he was surely saved by the generosity of the airport officials. Otherwise surely he would have faced couple of months of jail time including deportation! Could the man have learned his lesson that day! I wonder!

                         *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Dad, who is this lady!

Couple of weeks ago a friend of mine had some problem with his Note Pad. After removing his personal data, he took it to the local certified service center. He was given a date of delivery and when the time came to collect it he was told that the problem was complex and was given another date of delivery. After few more rescheduled delivery dates and lots of shouting, he finally got back his Note Pad.

When my friend's son powered-on the Note Pad, he gave out a startled scream, "Dad, who is this lady!". To my friend's horror, he saw a young Filipino girl's smiling face on the desktop. After examining files on the drive, he found hundreds of photographs of the Filipino girl and others, may be her friends. Some of the photographs appeared to be very personal and intimate, taken at home or at parties.  As he browsed through the directories, he found files containing details of credit cards and debit cards with PINs and files with contact addresses and telephone numbers. Worst of all, he found that the Note Pad was not even protected with login-password.

After careful examination, my friend was quite certain that the Note Pad was his but the data was not. He could not find any of the applications that were previously installed on his Note Pad. Instead, he found all sorts of crazy games, chat sites and other applications.

He called the service center and inquired how someone else’s data got into his Note Pad and what happened to his applications ! The service center technician answered nonchalantly "it is not possible for such a thing to happen sir...we are running this center for so many years, such a thing has never happened..". When my friend, who was by then quite perturbed, threatened that he would call the Filipino girl and tell her that all her personal data has been given to him by the service center. With that the technician started apologizing for the mistake and promised to correct the mistake. He even offered to return the money paid for the service.

After taking back the Note Pad to the service center and getting the applications restored, my friend found out what really happened. Whenever the customers brought the devices with problems, the service center first took full backup of the data before starting the service. On completion of the service, they restored back the data from the backup. In this case, they copied someone else's data on to my friend's Note Pad.

Information privacy is a very serious matter in the world of information technology. Many laws are passed and guidelines framed for the protection of personal and sensitive data. Most organizations spend thousands of dollars to ensure that the personal data of its employees and its customers are well protected. When they put in controls and security measures, they even get certified to provide assurance to their customers on how well their systems and data are protected. 

In some countries exposure of personal data is liable to legal proceedings. You visit any web site and you will find statement of "Privacy Policy". It is required by law that any website that offers services and stores customers data should state their data privacy policy. 

It is very likely that people do not read these privacy statements because it is hidden right at the bottom of the web page in small letters with hyperlink highlighted. Perhaps these websites state the privacy policy just because it is legally required. They may not even want people to actually read them. It is very much like the advertisements of mutual funds and insurance products on the television. The message that their product is subject to market risks is hidden in surreptitiously fast paced audio and unreadable text.

Fraudsters and Scamsters go to extreme measures by using technology or by exploiting human weaknesses to get access to personal data. Even some social web sites who offer services try to extract whatever piece of personal data they can collect. They not only use it themselves to help their businesses, but they also share the data with their partners.

Some people give scant regard for protecting their own private and personal data. Sometimes such carelessness may lead to exposure of not just their own data but even the personal information of their friends and relatives, sometimes even leading to serious consequences!

By misfortune if we have to take our smart device to the service center, we are handing over our entire personal data to these guys! Can we be sure what they could be doing with our data!

It is a safe practice to backup the data and delete it from the devices periodically! Chat messages especially should be deleted after saving into files, if it is really required for record. It  does not take much time to do it.

It is better to be safe than sorry!

There are many web sites that offer tips on safe usage of smart devices. I came across one such web site which gives quite useful tips:

 http://www.staysmartonline.gov.au/home_users/Secure_your_mobile_phone_and_devices 

                     *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Changes Ahoy!

The time of reckoning is just around the corner! Will we see "the changes" everyone is so anxiously looking for? Will India be finally rid of scams, corruption & governance failures that we have seen over the years?

Personally I am quite skeptical that the current election will bring much change. Just look at the people fighting the election! They are the same guys we have been seeing year after year with their deeds and misdeeds. They are the same guys fighting election after election, promising great many things. Essentially, they are all the same, made up of the same core, the same fiber. Each may claim to be different from the other, but in the end they all belong to the same system. Once in a while we see some individuals with a glimmer of hope but soon they see the writing clearly on the wall, "be like us, or be left out"!

With all the promises, the mud heaping and shameless personal attacks and name calling that has been going on during the election campaign, it could be quite confusing and even sickening. People may be forced to go back to their regional or communal party candidates. After all, "A known devil is better than an unknown angel"!  It has happened before and it may happen again. Mrs. Indira Gandhi came back to power election after election, even after the infamous "emergency". In fact, her reelections became so popular in Hyderabad that whenever someone was faced with limited or no option, they would say "kya karenge bhai, majboori ka naam Indira Gandhi"!

Still, there is no harm in hoping and dreaming of a "New India". Each person has his or her own dream of an ideal country!  I came upon this very interesting book titled "Transforming India" by Atanu Dey. The author asserts that if issues are addressed properly, "India can become developed in all senses of the word"! It seems to be a big dream, but it is attainable, provided everyone plays his or her part! I particularly liked his statement in his Prologue "In the following pages, we will focus on economic growth only, not because it is the most important thing but because it is a necessary precondition for development". Absolutely right!

Even if the party that we are rooting for, comes to power, can we play our part and make a difference? Corruption does not take place just by corrupt politicians and corrupt government officials. If there is a receiver of bribe, there is also a giver of bribe. The next time we go to a government office, can we get the work done without paying a bribe? Can we get that certificate without paying RS. 500 as bribe?

Now, what are the chances of the major parties of winning an absolute majority?

The Congress party has got itself into a bottomless pit with spate of scams and corruptions and governance failures. Still, the party may win considerable number of seats. Personally, I hate what they did to Andhra Pradesh, promising a group of people to split a state just for their political adjustments! It did not matter how many families were affected or how many lives got uprooted ! All that mattered to them was saving a political situation, that affected the party survival!

From media reports it appears that millions of Indians have placed great hope on BJP, or rather Modi to be more accurate, coming to power. But we have seen in the past the number of times the BJP came to power, they just had a single point agenda, "Ram Janam Bhoomi". But once they were in power, they just continued with the policies of the previous government. The "single point agenda" quickly went into cold storage. It reappeared whenever the political ground shook. Perhaps, it could be different this time!

Since losing power, the BJP had over the years almost gone into political oblivion. Even the current election is not much about BJP. It is all about "Modi", "Modi Bhai", "Modi Sarkar", "Namo", "Chaiwala", and so on. We could hardly see the man with his hands eternally stuck together or the one eternally chewing something or the one with that eternal wink! At least the lady should have created a flutter by promising to shave her head if Rahul Gandhi came to power. It would have been a safe bet.

In most of the BJP election rallies, it was the same scene, Modi with his filmy-style speech in the foreground and the glum faces in the background. They must really hate this man for hijacking the party and stealing their thunder right under their nose.  But what else can they do? Right now he is their savior! The chances of BJP coming to power entirely remains on this one man! Single Point of Failure!

It looks like, even after 49 days of fiasco, Kejriwal has not learned his lesson! It is quite certain and proven that however hard he might try, he can never be a politician. He had the opportunity to be one, but more than governance he was busy with his usual tricks, many times getting himself into a corner and desperately looking for a way out. He was pathetic as a Chief Minister! He should stick to being a social activist, doing the easier job of pointing fingers at others. 

The way Kejriwal is going after Modi, it almost appears that he would rather prefer the Congress party to be in power than the BJP. It is quite understandable, for he already has lots of salvo to fire at Congressmen. After all they have given it to him on a silver platter. As for the chances of AAP in this election, they may upset some candidates and even may get some seats. But AAP is all about Kejriwal, again Single Point of Failure. It is  not a sustainable option.

In the midst of all these parties, some individuals tried to jump into the political arena. Anupam Kher saw the chance of a political career when Anna Hazare started his “Ant-Corruption Dharna” but soon got himself into trouble with his alleged remarks on the Indian Constitution. I guess, he has taken the safer bet of achieving his political dream through his wife, Kiron Kher.

The case of Kiran Bedi is more pathetic. There was a time when the bad guys feared this lady and ran for cover! But today her situation is quite sad. After leaving the service, she has been desperately trying to re-discover herself. She too saw the Anna Hazare dharna as a ticket to a political career but soon created an outrage across the nation with her remark that 'small rapes' and 'assaults' got more TV coverage than corruption! It was a horrible thing to say, herself being a lady and a social activist. Now, she is very busy criticizing the same guys she was supporting before, probably trying to impress Modi.

After all the "dharna" stunts, Anna Hazare decided to join Didi's party. During those "dharna" days, some people were comparing him to Mahatma Gandhi! Gosh! What a comparison! Now, he says that he would launch a "second freedom struggle" to root out party-based politics in the country. If that is his target, why join a party at all! I cannot understand this man!

Coming back to that question again, which party will get absolute majority? Honestly, it is very hard to tell. It is almost certain that we will again see a government formed through coalition. It does not matter that they have different ideologies (if at all they truly have one), that each of them got elected by making different promises to the people. They will come together or even jump ranks to be part of the ruling party!

To hell with the promises and people's hopes and aspirations!