Paw in the bottle!

12th May 2017 turned out to be a Dark Friday when the world woke up to cyber terror in the form of WannaCry virus. According to media reports it has wreaked havoc by locking up over 300,000 computer systems across over 150 countries around the world. Most affected systems were from UK, USA, Russia, China, Spain and India. 

Five percent of the systems affected worldwide was reportedly from India. However, the government hastily responded with "The impact of WannaCry ransomware attack has been limited to five or six isolated instances so far and there are no reports of any substantial disruption to India’s IT backbone".

It is quite interesting how the enormity of the damage was accidentally stemmed by a young technology expert Marcus Hutchins. While the world was grappling with the cyber terror, Marcus Hutchins accidentally discovered the "Kill Switch" to stop the propagation of the malware. It happened when he was going through the sample of the malware, he discovered an unregistered Domain Name. He quickly bought the domain and registered it. To his surprise the propagation of the malware stopped as soon as he registered the domain (domain was "sink holed").

How exactly did WannaCry wreak havoc on the unsuspecting world? WannaCry is a Trojan virus, a “ransomware” which in effect holds the infected computer hostage and demands that the victim pay a ransom money in order to regain access to the files on his or her computer. WannaCry demanded ransom to be paid within 3 days through Bitcoins, ransom amount would be doubled after 3 days. After 7 days, the affected files would be lost for ever.

So, did any one really fall for the threat? It seems many did fall for it but according to experts, the hackers must have made less than $60,000. One reason, they said, was because many people did not know how to pay the ransom. Bitcoin is a kind of digital currency stored in an online "wallet", transactions not easily traceable to the hackers.

Even if the financial gain may not have been substantial to the hackers, the indirect effect of malware seemed to be much more by way of "Denial of Service" (non availability of the system to the users). Computers that had important data stored online were the most badly affected. Health systems were primary targets. NHS of UK was quite seriously affected. Many critical surgeries and procedures had to be postponed due to non availability of online patient records from the NHS systems.

As for the IT security experts, it was busy times once again. There was a barrage of articles and talks on IT security with list of "Do" and "Don't" from IT security gurus and security evangelists. Common among suggestions were related to Windows Operating System and Anti Virus software: install Anti Virus, patch/upgrade regularly, migrate to latest software version, update Anti Virus everyday, back up data (too late for this, may be for future attacks), train employees on best & safe practices, do not click anything from unknown source (most valuable suggestion in my opinion) and so on.

It has been reported that Cyber Security stocks jumped up after the 'WannaCry' attack and IT sales boomed. Perhaps the spurt in business was because of sudden sales in products and services. Sometimes I wonder, if perhaps a vile conspiracy was going on, driven by financial greed. Whenever such incidents take place, I cannot help wondering, who exactly was to be blamed for such events. Is it the manufacturers of IT products or the "bad guys" (black hat hackers) or we the buyers of the systems! 

We cannot blame the "bad guys" for they do it simply because they are "bad guys". They could be doing it for financial gains or simply because they like the challenge or they get a thrill/kick out of causing damage and mayhem. Some of them claim that they were doing a favor to IT community by exposing software vulnerabilities. Whatever the reason may be, the fact is, very rarely is any of them caught. They will continue to hack systems and continue to thrive in their evil objectives.

WannaCry succeeded in its objective by exploiting a weakness in Windows Operating Systems. Microsoft Corporation has blamed NSA (National Security Agency) for allegedly creating and revealing “EternalBlue”, which is a hacking tool used to exploit the vulnerability in Windows Operating System. The tool was reportedly stolen and leaked to the public by the hacker group Shadow Brokers. The same tool was used by the hackers in WannaCry Trojan. 

I guess, this must be one of those exceptional circumstances when users of legacy systems operating under non-Microsoft platforms must have counted their blessings for staying with legacy systems!

Since the exploitation happened because of vulnerability in Windows Operating System, can Microsoft Corporation be blamed for the disaster of such mammoth proportion? Is it necessary to release software that requires, not dozens or hundreds, but thousands of fixes and patches through out the year? Why cannot more time be spent on the quality of software, on improving testing procedures and quality assurance procedures to reduce the number of fixes and patches? Do they have to go on releasing new versions in quick succession even before the current version stabilizes? 

We may ask any number of such questions without much use because there is nothing called "perfect systems". Software is built by humans and as they say "it is human to err".  Perhaps, when Artificial Intelligence comes of age, we can expect perfect systems but until then we have to live with faulty or not so perfect software.

Manufacturers of IT products cannot keep up with the "bad guys" who are always ten steps ahead. They adopt all sorts of nefarious (some call it intelligent) methods, even brute force to find ways of penetrating into software and plant their viruses. It is an amazing fact of life that humans achieve higher levels of competence and creativity when it comes to carrying out nefarious, illegal, criminal things.

Moreover, the manufacturers of IT products safeguard themselves through disclaimers which redeems them from legal responsibility, doesn't matter about moral responsibility. The bottom line is, technology companies are in business to make money, for profit. So they will primarily focus on growing their businesses.

That leaves us the "buyers of IT products" who are to be blamed for accepting any software by clicking "I Agree" button without even reading the disclaimer notice. Not many of us have the time and patience to read the disclaimers written through extensive legal jargon, written in small almost unreadable fonts. Even if we did take time to read it, what option is left other than to "accept"? Ultimately, we end up blindly clicking anything presented with "I Agree" button. 

This act of clicking "I Agree" button develops into such a habit that most people end up clicking and sharing anything that is posted on their inboxes and social media timeline. Whatever may be the argument, in the end, we the "buyers of IT products" end up paying a heavy price. That, unfortunately, is the sad fact of life.

It seems as if we are all caught up in a strange kind of vicious circle. If there were no threats to our systems, who would buy all that goes into protection of systems (software, hardware, services, frameworks)? 

If 100% fail safe and fault tolerant systems are built (which is highly unlikely), who will pay for upgrades? Then what will happen to technology businesses?  If perfect systems were built, who would want maintenance and other IT services? 

If people are stuck with systems that keep on grinding tirelessly day-in and day-out without any failure, then what excitement was left? What will happen to the thrill and excitement of that new software release, to that release of new model or brand? What motivation would be there for research and development? 

So in essence, we are stuck with the way things are now, the endless game of cat and mouse. And who ultimately pays the price? No prizes for guessing.

We the buyers of IT products are done for, stuck, cornered, doomed. They got us "hook, line, sinker", the day the first version of MS DOS was distributed for free several decades ago. Actually, there is nothing in this world which comes for free. Everything comes with a price tag. If not now, we pay the price some day later, and oh boy how we pay, we pay through our nose. 

I am reminded of a story of how they caught monkeys. According to the story, monkey hunters placed nuts in huge bottles which had very narrow necks. When a curious monkey chances upon the bottle, it grabs the nut but it cannot get its paw out. With the nut in its hand the fist becomes big, so big that it cannot pass through the narrow neck. The "poor gullible monkey" is caught in a hopeless dilemma. It doesn't want to let go of the nut because it wants it so badly. It is stuck with the bottle because it cannot move much because its paw is stuck in the bottle. And that is how the hunters catch the monkey. That just about sums up situation we find ourselves in.

Coming back to WannaCry ransomware, experts have been frantically trying to find the source behind it. Until few days ago, no one seemed to have any idea, though there were few theories. According to Neel Mehta, a security researcher at Google, the virus could have originated from North Korea. He claimed that there was proof of same signature between WannaCry and previous viruses they had used in other attacks. Though there was skepticism initially, experts have started accepting the possibility of such a theory.

While the world was reeling from this cyber terror, some people found the situation to be quite amusing. I was chatting about the ransomware with a work place acquaintance, who sounded as if he was reveling in some kind of euphoria. When I pointed out that obviously the hackers behind the virus didn't make much money out of the cyber attack, all the efforts have gone waste, for nothing. His amused response was "this is only a trial, just wait, the big one is coming soon".

I often wonder what creates such a euphoria in some people! While the whole world was in shock, guys like him are in jubilation which is particularly extreme if the victim happens to be America or Europe.

It takes me back to an incidence that happened many years ago, on 11th September 2001 to be exact. As I was driving home after work, I received a call from another work place acquaintance. As I took the call on the hands-free set, I heard the person having an uncontrollable fit of laughter "ha ha ha ha". I could hear the sound of news on his car radio. After he managed to control his laughter, he asked "have you heard the news?". I had no clue what he was talking about. I said  "what news? what happened?". 

He again went through another ecstatic fit of "ha ha ha ha" and said "Oh man, America is on fire". I couldn't quite grasp what exactly he meant. Was it a figure of speech? Was America really on fire? Then he said, "you listen to the news, you will know better what happened". He ended the call with another ecstatic guffaw "ha ha ha ha". 

By then I had reached home. As I tuned in to international news, I just stood there, totally dumb struck by what I was seeing on the television screen. The twin towers of World Trade Center were on fire, burning out like candles, people were jumping off the roof or through open windows. Thick, dark smoke was billowing from the burning towers, ash was flying all around what was left of the towers. People were running helter-skelter on the streets screaming "oh my God, oh my God". Dozens of firefighters were trying desperately to put out the fire, the firemen covered with ash, looking as if there was snow on their hats and dresses. There were screams of horror, pain and disbelief in the background. The whole thing looked like scenes from one of Bruce Willis movies and yet it was all happening in front of everybody's eyes. 

My mouth went dry and I felt as if someone had punched me in the gut. What I was seeing on the television screen was unbelievable. It was bone numbing horror! How could anyone in their right mind be having a laugh about such a terrible tragedy. It was something unfathomable.

Most funny thing is, these very same guys would run off to USA or UK at the drop of a hat and enjoy the freedom, the excitement and all the good things these countries offered. Even when it came to their children's education, their first preference would be USA or Europe. That is the unbelievable hypocrisy!

You hate it, you love it

The dust has finally settled down after some exciting game of cricket, albeit few ridiculous fracas and uncalled for aggression on and off the field. We can safely declare, cricket is definitely not a gentleman's game.

Yet again the country was in the grip of cricket fever for several weeks. The Indian team created history by winning back the Gavaskar Border Trophy for the 8th time by causing a major upset to the Australian batting lineup in the fourth test. The win was most incredible considering that India was comprehensively beaten in the first test match by 333 runs. It was a real feat for India to come back from that loss and win the trophy with an excellent display of bowling and batting.

As usual there has been torrents of accolades heaped on Virat Kohli and his "boys". It is not easy to explain the way cricket casts a magical spell on every (most) Indian. It is incredible how the nation unabashedly adores these "boys" and puts them on pedestal, treating them like Demigods. After all, it is just a game!

The immense hero worship not withstanding, the way they roll in money is mind boggling. Just a few days ago Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had doubled the Annual Retainership fee of Grade A players from 1 Crore to 2 Crores. Grade B players to 1 Crore and C grade players to 50 Lakhs. As if that was not enough, the match fee for Test, ODI and T20 are also doubled. It certainly pays to be an Indian Cricketer!

At times it makes you green with envy and anger at the amount of money being doled out just for playing a game. But then, you can't help loving the game. Cricket has that kind of mesmerizing power over us. We have a kind of a love-hate relationship with this game.

There could be some odd (extremely sane) people who may not have fallen victim to this unexplained obsession but overall, the bug has bitten most of 125 crores of Indians. 

Even the judiciary is not far behind. Lack of judges is the most stated reason for long pending cases, pending for 10, 15, 20 years, cases related to brutal rapes, molestation, brutal murders, hit and run cases, land disputes, and so on. But when it comes to cricket or movies, the courts somehow find time for quick deliberations.  

Recently, the Hyderabad High Court found time to pull up Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) for spending nearly 76 Lakh rupees for four days of breakfast and lunch during one-off test match played between India and Bangladesh. Makes you wonder, what exactly were they feeding them, pearls for breakfast, diamonds for lunch!!!

Soon the yearly money spinning mega event, IPL10, will start. Some of the "big boys" will be again rolling in crores of more money. It is gain 60 odd days of cricket festival. It will again be a grand display of lucre.

And here is the hot news! On the request of BCCI, a Committee of Administrators has been appointed by Hyderabad High Court, which will oversee the IPL10 matches being played at Hyderabad venues. Such is the power of this game called "Cricket". It has the power to make people, however poor, rich, famous, or powerful they may be, to prostrate before it, to toe it's line. You hate it, you love it!

Who really is minding the store!

Sometimes or the other, we all must have come across stories of people who claim to be gifted with clairvoyance. People who claim to have the power of communicating with souls of dead persons, through seances, through trance or using some other tools (Ouija Board, for example). 

It seems Ministry of External Affairs of India (MEA) is also gifted with the power to communicate with dead persons through Email! Incredible and fantastic as it may sound, it is not exactly true. 

An Indian man had recently died of heart attack in Saudi Arabia. The Vice President of Migrant Rights Council had registered grievance on behalf of the family of the dead person on the Online NRI Grievance Monitoring System of MEA (Madad Portal). In response to the registered grievance, the MEA promptly responded with an email addressed to the "dead person", informing him that a complaint has been registered on his behalf and as requested his mortal remains would be repatriated to India at the earliest! It may sound unbelievable, preposterous, ridiculously hilarious, but it seems, this is true!

Details of the email had come to light because copy of the mail was also marked to the person who registered the grievance (VP of MRC). According to him, this was not the first time such a thing had happened, similar incidences had taken place several times before.

It is not clear if the glitch is because of bad design of the MEA system (Madad Portal) or someone at MEA keeps goofing it up. In all likelihood glitch could have taken place because of either or both the reasons. 

The way IT glitches are taking place in the government organizations, it makes you wonder, who actually is running the government IT Systems! 

Here is another shocking news that highlights the sad state of affairs related to IT systems of a very important government organization. It was recently reported that the portal of the country's anti-graft watchdog Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had crashed on November 28 and "all data", I repeat, "all data" stored online till that date has been lost. What is more shocking and very hard to believe is, the data was never backed up!

So now, it seems that details of all cases of corruption in public offices are lost for ever. It is reported that National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been trying to retrieve the old data but without much success as of March 16 this year. It is also reported that, the CVC has been sending regret letters to all Right to Information (RTI) requests from citizens.

The whole thing sounds bizarre and outrageous. It is very hard to believe that one of the most important systems of the country for fighting corruption did not have a disaster recovery plan in place! The implication of this is very grave. It implies in very simple words that details of all cases related to corruption in public places is lost for ever. It is as if with a single incidence, all the people involved in graft have been granted reprieve from their crimes. As if someone said "abracadabra" and all signs of cases of corruption had vanished into thin air. 

The CVC data loss incidence raises several important questions. One such question is, was IT audit of the system ever carried out anytime internally or through an independent party? If yes, then how did they not discover absence of data backup which is one of the most basic requirement for business continuity? 

The whole thing sounds quite bizarre! What is more shocking is, there was hardly any discussion on this grave matter neither in the news media nor on social media. Hardly anyone had raised any question if this was really a system failure or human failure or result of some other more sinister stuff going on. 

It seems the shocking incidence of total data loss of CVC got buried deep under the most trending and raging news, Yogi Adityanath becoming Chief Minister of Uttar Predesh. For weeks now, this seems to be the most important topic the country has to deal with. It is very sad that people would rather indulge in muck heaping, trolling and other forms of sensational and vain activities rather than discuss matters of grave importance to the country. 

With such kind of misplaced priorities, is there much hope for the country? God help us if this is the quality of IT systems installed in the government organizations, and of people running them, and weird things that are taking place. We certainly need lot of prayers and good luck!

National Shame

This is a national shame! It has been reported that three civic workers suffocated to death inside a manhole while trying to clean up a clogged sewer or faulty drainage system in Bengaluru, India.

I know what happens next. Politicians will try to get political mileage from the tragedy. People of various political affinity will start heaping abuses at each other on the social media. No one will even pause to think that these men and women who cleanup other people's dirt are the lowest paid, ill treated and most ignored lot. That they work under most inhuman of conditions one can imagine.

The country spends  crores of rupees on election campaigns and other undertakings of least importance. But no one even thinks of coming up with better and "humane" methods of drainage system cleaning and maintenance.

The country has progressed in all spheres of development getting international accolades for various technological and other achievements. But we still need a man to swim in our dirt so that our drainage systems flow smoothly. 

We get outraged on matters related to film stars, cricketers, politicians and other silly insignificant issues. But our senses are numb to such social injustices. Very sad!

Economic Opportunism

Every year a plethora of special international events are remembered on designated days (World Health Day, World Water Day, Cancer Talk Week, Earth Day, International Women's Day and many others). Some remember the day through talks, discussions, slogans and messages from important people and not so important people. Some take the opportunity to turn it into a day of joy and celebration. Some take the opportunity to express their outrage through protests, strikes and sociopolitical activism. 

The most active participation is from commercial organizations that see the event as a commercial opportunity. However serious or grave the event may be, they want their piece of the cake, an opportunity for increasing wealth. In this regard, some hospitals are not far behind. An unsolicited message from one hospital reads "Your health is the most important thing to you. On this International Woman's Day, avail special 20% discount on your health check". 

While people are discussing and raising issues related to gender equality, female infanticide, rapes, and many other forms of oppression and neglect, this hospital is keen in getting it's piece of the commercial cake through health sales pitch. Nothing wrong I guess, or is it!

Two more nails in the coffin

It has been a show of woman power at the recent Indian state elections, with Jayalalitha and Mamata Banerjee sweeping the polls.

Many thought that with the court case hanging over her head like a Damocles Sword, Jayalalitha didn’t stand much of a chance. She proved them all wrong, winning with a considerable margin. The exit polls predicted return of DMK but they too were proved wrong yet again. 

The biggest winner in this election is Mamata Banerjee. With the gloom of Sharada Ponzi scam clouds hanging over its head, detractors predicted doom for TMC. They expected return of Left parties with their allies. They could not have been more wrong. She retained power with a massive lead sweeping all opposition aside. After this massive win, some political experts are projecting Mamata Banerjee as a national leader, a PM material. Yeah, why not!

There seems to be some kind of secret pact between LDF and UDF for ruling the state by taking turns. Accordingly, this time it was LDF's turn. In the melee of wins and losses from these two parties, a lone lotus bloomed. One single win against a prediction of 70+. Perhaps, a resounding echo of "Po Mone".

The lone single win was by the 86 years old veteran, O. Rajagopal. With the kind of following he has, he would have anyway won even if he had represented some vague unknown party. Wonder whose great idea it was from BJP think tanks to field Sreesanth as their candidate. Perhaps, they should have sent him to Harbhajan Sing to validate his eligibility.

Victory for BJP in Assam was very much expected. May be "assam chai" ploy got sold after all! Actually, it hardly mattered whether Assam people fell for it or not. After three long terms of Tarun Gogoi, people would have naturally wanted change. It could well be a strategic mistake by Congress Party. Old guard should have made way for a new younger face.

It is a great personal victory for Sarbananda Sonowal, the new CM elect of Assam. However, it is just the beginning of tough times ahead. Incessant natural calamities aside, there are many sticky issues that have been plaguing Assam,  the issue of migrants of Bangladesh origin for one.

Even though the performance of BJP was deplorable in west and south (Tamil Nadu: 0, Puducherry:  0, Kerala: 1, West Bengal: 3), the BJP is wallowing in apparent success and jubilation at Assam triumph. Tumultuous celebrations were witnessed at BJP office with rose petals showered from balconies on PM Modi, Amit Shah and other BJP ministers and party members.  It looked as though victorious warriors were being welcomed from the battlefield. More than the win of Assam,  the loss of two more states by Congress Party could have made them so ecstatic, so euphoric.

It has become quite evident again that displacing regional parties in the states is next to impossible. The only thing that may work is by becoming an ally to get a foothold and understand how the local mechanics work.

Now that “Decision 2016” is settled, could it be time for the “gaadi” to change gear from “election” mode or “Gandhi Bashing” mode into “drive” mode! May be not, for other state elections are just around the corner. More strategy, more speeches, more rhetoric’s, more mudslinging, more character assassinations needed, lots to be planned.

With the Assam win, will BJP come out of the Congress/Gandhi phobia? Perhaps not. Their fear appears to be too deep rooted. It may not be a bad idea to get some counseling to redeem themselves of the fear.

Meanwhile, Subramaniam Swamy is busy with his usual antics. He had turned the Rajya Sabha into his personal Twitter handle, saying anything he fancied, using his stupid acronyms and innuendos, throwing allegations at anyone he fancied. 

This time he is after the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. He is either aiming for the RBI Governor post or just doing somebody’s bidding, it is anybody’s guess. The time is not far when he will become an uncontrollable liability. It won’t be a surprise even if his loose cannons are aimed at BJP politicians. History will show, how good he is at changing color like a chameleon.

As for Congress Party, it is two more nails in the coffin. Their situation is like the cricket team facing a do or die match to qualify for play offs. If they do not take corrective, realistic, positive actions now, if they continue with the same complacency as witnessed in the last two years, it is “game over”.

Eraviperur Gram Panchayat, a Perfect Development Model:

This is an amazing story of not one, but a string of successes achieved by Eraviperur Gram Panchayat (Village Council) located in a remote part of Kerala, India. 

In four years it achieved complete digitization of its public administration functions. Certificates (birth, death, marriage) are issued same day, within minutes of receiving applications. 

Among other achievements are, free Wi-Fi to the public within accessible range, touch screen public kiosks for tracking files, ultra modern record rooms, bio gas plant, plastic shredding units, sanitation parks, and many others. A very interesting achievement is the use of shredded plastic along with tar in road works. That is quite an innovation towards reuse and environment conservation.

This Panchayat has also won string of awards of excellence for services related to health care, sanitation, bio-diversity conservation, high tech green village. Here is another uninque distinction it has achieved. This Panchayat is ISO-9001 certified for its Primary Health Center, perhaps it is the only one.

All these things achieved in just four years. Truly, Eraviperur Panchayat can easily inspire and serve as a model for every other Panchayat and Municipalities in the country.

What is commendable is the team spirit between the administration and the public. There were dialogues and open discussions and an enviable cooperation between administration, the opposition party and the public. 

It just goes to show that anything can be achieved without making a big noise about it, even by a government body. All it needs is a "will", honesty and integrity to succeed. 

Kudos to the administration of Eraviperur Gram Panchayat and to its people, especially to the Panchayat president N. Rajeev  for leading the pack so successfully.

Thanks to this source for this incredible story: The News Minute: Eraviperur Gram Panchayat Digitization

Unexpected act of kindness

This is an incident that happened almost twenty years ago but I still remember it very distinctly. My contract had ended with the organization I was working with. I had option of choosing from couple of offers for a job change. I was quite keen on one of them. But as the recruitment procedures were taking more time than expected, I decided to wait for the completion of formalities for the new job of my choice and hence had to leave Oman.

I did not want to sell my car as I was certain of returning, hence I decided to transfer it in the name of a friend for safe keeping until my return. My car was in joint ownership of the organization and myself. Therefore, I needed letter from the organization to transfer the ownership to my friend.

It is not a secret that many organizations in this region carry a “colonial” attitude in dealing with their employees. Most managers go around with a demeanor that of a dictator. They literally treat the employees as slaves. There was this invisible sword of “sacking” hanging always over one’s head. They would resort to everything possible to make things difficult for the employee. Things may have changed now for the better. I would not know as I have been very fortunate to be working with organizations that valued the worth of its employees, since I left this organization.

It was the last working day of the week, closing time was 1:00 PM. I was quite apprehensive of things moving slowly, hence I went to the transport office first thing in the morning. As expected,  nobody gave me definite answer on when I would get the letter. Finally after following it up several times, I got the letter along with "end of service settlement" around 11:30 AM. I went to the bank, encashed the settlement cheque and rushed to the Vehicle Registration Office. I had to hurry because the office closed at 1:00 PM.

The Vehicle Registration Office was more crowded than usual, as it was the last day of the week. I had to complete three procedures, application form verification, fee payment and transfer completion. As I was standing in the queue, I kept glancing at my watch. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, I got my application verified and moved over to the payment counter. By then it was almost 12:30 PM and there were only three men ahead of me. I heaved a sigh of relief, as I stood awaiting my turn. And then, it happened! 

The whole place went dark, it was a power outage. I stood there dazed and stunned, wondering "oh no, what will happen now, it was already approaching closing time, what will happen to my car"! I was jolted back to reality by a voice coming from somewhere behind the counters. Then I realized that the whole place had become empty and I was the lone man left standing in the darkness. I felt so stupid! As I looked towards the direction from where the voice seemed to come, I saw a police officer addressing me and asking what was wrong. I explained my situation to him, that I had to transfer the car in my friend’s name before I left the country that evening.

The police officer took my application and told me to come to the rear entrance of the building. I rushed out and went around the building looking for the rear entrance. It was a restricted area, entry allowed only for police personnel. As I approached the rear entrance, I saw the police officer standing in the hot Sun with a file in his hand. As I approached him, he handed over the transfer completion document and a manually prepared receipt for cash payment. I gave him the money and took the document, thanking him profusely. He just smiled and said “no problem, go”.

The police personnel in Oman are extremely courteous. Even if you are pulled up, the first thing they would do is greet you with “Salam Alaikum”, followed by hand shake and then only they get down to business. It is really very heart warming, something quite different as compared with what happens around some parts of the world. Of course as the saying goes, “you can always find few rotten apples in every basket”. But, it is better to cherish the good experiences and forget the bad ones.

But I was too flabbergasted at what just happened. It was absolutely unbelievable that someone, a police officer at that, would go to such an extent to help you out in such a situation. He could have just as well looked the other way and carried on with his work. But he chose to empathize with the state of quandary I was in. Something really extraordinary! 

Later when I returned to Oman, I went looking for the kind police officer. I remembered him only by his face. I searched, but could not locate him. I tried to look for him during subsequent visits but coild not find him. Either he had been moved to another department or location or he had retired. However, to this day, I cherish his act of kindness.

                                 *****

A matter of words and context!

Adesh Srivastava, the Hindi film composer and singer, passed away on 5^th September 2015, a day after he turned 50! May his soul rest in peace!

It is such a coincidence that just a few days ago, I was made to watch a video in which Adesh Srivastava was present! Why I was made to watch that video, is quite interesting!

Our development team was preparing for the demonstration of one the systems to a new group of users. At the end of the preparation, one of the programmer was requesting me to be present during the system demonstration. He said it would give them confidence to do a good presentation. I replied that they have become experts on the system, hence, there was no need for my presence.

One of the programmers, said “we want you to be there so that you can give us ‘history’ after the presentation”. I could not quite understand what he was trying to convey. The other team members stared with puzzled looks as well. We thought that, he was having difficulty in using the right terminology, may be getting confused with some other word!

To make us understand what he was talking about, he started playing a video on YouTube. It was a video of an Omani singer, Asma Mohammed Rafi, who was one of the participants in one of the seasons of SaReGaMaPa TV musical show. I remembered that season, it was one of the most entertaining of seasons, more so because of the Omani singer! But I was quite flabbergasted why the programmer was showing us that video. What was the connection between a system presentation and a musical show! He looked at our confused faces and said, “Wait, wait, it will come”.

At the end of the song, the judges started giving grades for the song rendition. Adesh Srivastava, one of the judges, was the first to judge and he gave “History” grade, the highest grade.  At that moment it dawned on me what the programmer was trying to convey! He wanted me to be present during the system demonstration and give my assessment of their presentation. I started laughing at the whole thing!

The programmer was right in what he was trying to convey but it did not make sense to me until he showed the video. The word “history” has its many standard meanings as we know, but in that season of SaReGaMaPa, “History” was one of the grades for judging the songs, others being “Hit” and “Superhit”.

It just goes to show, that it is not just the words that are important, but also the context which is more important! Because, sometimes a word spoken out of context, could convey entirely a different meaning and could even create utter confusion and chaos, sometimes even misery!

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The power of saying "NO"!

In 1909, Harry Gordon Selfridge came up with the phrase “The customer is always right” as a business strategy to attract and please his customers. Which translates into saying "YES" to whatever the customer wants. Unfortunately that strategy does not always work.

Sometimes, you have to say "NO". There is more power in saying "NO"!

Sometimes we come across people who are impossible to deal with. They make all sorts of unreasonable demands and suggestions based on misdirected assumptions and most of the time, due to ignorance and even arrogance due to their positions. I have come across several such people in my professional experience.

Some clients are so unreasonable and bull headed, that no amount of convincing and arguing helps. It is absolutely useless to even try to convince them. Whatever you try, it only ends up in utter waste of time. To such clients, it is better to simply say a big “no” or even to say “take a hike” or “go fly a kite”!

During implementing a system, the management of our client had appointed a Senior IT Person for coordinating the project. During initial stages of the project itself I was quite apprehensive on the success of the project because of this person’s obnoxious behavior. Fortunately for us, he was sent to UK on a course. This was indeed very good news for us, a blessing in disguise.

A younger person was appointed in his place who had recently graduated in IT.  I realized that the Young Man was thirsting for knowledge and experience, and that was a good sign. He was full of excitement and had a very pleasing attitude. He organized the user meetings smoothly and even acted as a translator when we had to deal with some users who were not comfortable with English language. Everything went on smoothly. The system was developed according to plan and it was ready for User Acceptance Testing.

Unfortunately for us, the Senior IT Person had returned from the course.  The Young Man had to transfer his duties back to the Senior IT Person and that was not good for us. This time, not withstanding his obnoxious attitude, he was full of “UK returned” attitude. We handed over the system for user acceptance testing along with documentation with step by step procedures on system setup and testing conditions based on agreed test samples.

For several days nothing happened. When I asked why the testing had not started, the Senior IT Person looked at me with that “fresh UK returned” arrogance and said “Why should we go through all these lengthy procedures? With a click of button the system should give us results!”. I paused for few moments trying to compose myself and then I asked him, “You are a computer science graduate, have you heard of GIGO?”. He had never heard of it. He simply retorted “What is it?”. I said “It means ‘garbage in, garbage out’. If you enter garbage, the system will give you garbage. Since you do not even want to enter anything, the system will give you nothing, not even garbage”. With that I walked out, with the Senior IT Person red in the face.

He made a big issue out of it. We did not know what he had told the management, but they were pretty upset. An emergency meeting was scheduled. When we entered the meeting hall, the place looked quite tense. It turned out that the Senior IT Person had misled the management into thinking that we wanted to run away without completing the project. I quietly explained to the management everything that had transpired. The manager was quite embarrassed, but he was graceful enough to apologize for the unfortunate incidence. He immediately took the Senior IT Person off the project and replaced him with the Young Man . From then on, things went on smoothly. We handed over the project few weeks earlier than promised.

In the beginning of the project, the manager had said that if we finished project on time he would reward me. I thought he was just joking. But he surprised me with a gift. It was Christmas time when we finished the project. He gave me an envelope saying, “this is your Christmas gift”. Inside the envelope was a job offer! I was over the moon, for it was a very substantial offer! Unfortunately it did not work out, as someone else made a job offer with working conditions exactly to my liking.

I am sure lots of people come across such impossible situations in their day to day professional life, one way or another.

One day during the time when we were learning swimming, I saw a man walking towards the swimming pool with his wife and two teenage daughters. He was beckoning to the swimming coach. After talking to them in whispers, I noticed the swimming coach becoming quite angry and upset. As he swam back towards us, he was cursing and muttering under his breath. When I inquired what the problem was, he said the man wanted him to teach his daughters swimming without touching them. He also put the condition that the girls would wear their arm length regular dresses, not the swimming costumes. The swimming coach simply told him to go find some other coach!

Sometimes diplomacy may work, but not always. Most often, being brutally straight forward saves lot of grief. I have seen many people, mostly marketing and sales guys, making unrealistic promises just to get business. They may not even know the nitty-gritty of the technical aspects of the project, anyway they go ahead and make the tall promises. Most of the time these projects end up in failure and financial losses. I have seen quite many people fall from grace as victims of such mistakes.

More than saying “yes” one has to learn how to say “no” for, "customer is not always right". It will certainly save you from lots of grief and financial losses!

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