Category: Misc

Having served in army for over 35 years one is quite used to all kinds of travel. Some moves are well planned and comfortable but many were unplanned moves in remote areas in difficult weather conditions, sometimes with a huge baggage and accompanied by family including infants. One generally had to be alert every moment looking for connecting mode of transport and keeping an eye on the baggage and a trip with small children meant hunting around for hot water or milk every few hours. At the end of 48 hours or more , one arrived at the destination totally weary and absolutely groggy with lack of sleep .

Recently I had to make an unscheduled trip from Indore to Coimbatore. Of course , there was that anxiety while pouring over the options for move, on the net . But, within minutes we decided on an option and the booking was done online. It was a tedious itinerary going by current standards as it required three legs of flights with a layover of six hours or so.

Today, preparations for a travel means loading your digital wallets, configuring the settings for transport apps and doing the web check in.

From then on it is just walking through airports and hotel lobbies waving plastic cards and tapping on mobile phones.

Food, stay, transport and other services are taken care off while digital transactions happen automatically. For a person well provided for, it would be only of academic interest as notifications keep coming in ,on phone, indicating the charges for various services.

Most of these notifications start with thank you for using this or that . Cab drivers or hotel staff serve you and thank you for letting them serve you. Any tips from your side widens their smiles and expressions of gratitude. So, besides the digital wallets , you only need to carry some currency notes of small nominations to render your environment even more pleasing.

Most of these service staff would be living in congested living space, buying their basic food on street side outlets , paying with their meager, hard earned cash. They would have reached their work place commuting for long hours jostling in a public transport.

Do we really deserve this kind of service? If so what have we done to be waited hand and foot by the less privileged?

In the same trip , we also had an opportunity to travel by a public transport on road, for 40 Km. There were the traffic snarls with the scorching mid day sun beating down the windows . Besides all seats being taken, the bus also had some standing passengers stoically staring into the space ahead. One standing passenger inadvertently tread on another’s foot and the next 15 minutes or so there was such a nasty verbal brawl that could be heard by every passenger. A digital traveler living a bubble existence in airport/hotel/AC car would never understand why the commoners are so ready to take offense over seemingly minor issues.

It is so easy to be unflappable or magnanimous when all your physical and mental requirements are taken care off . The real test to equanimity is when you can be compassionate even after a sleepless night, thirsting for a glass of water and are not sure about your next meal or the next leg of journey.

It is not just a travel, even the journey of life is absolutely smooth for some while every moment is a struggle for many. As I see it, majority of common folks struggle to attain even a moment of peace in their lives . A privileged person living an entitled existence may or may not be aware of what goes though the minds of these less privileged beings. This lot most often, would also include some of our own kith and kin.

Thirukkural has a couplet on righteousness, that says “anyone would understand the need to lead a righteous life as the result of leading such a life is evident by seeing a man sitting on a palanquin and the persons bearing the palanquin.” At least I don’t understand . There are a number of commentaries ranging from one extreme to the other. One says, “one who follows righteous path will get to ride on top rather than bear the load “. Another says ,” One who rides is equanimous to good and bad fortune while the one who bears the load is always unhappy” .

Whatever be, for ages , humankind has seen one class bearing the load of others while another class , a minority, don’t even need to bear their own weight! Machines to a great extent have removed the need for physical lifting of the entitled through muscle power; but even the most advanced society can still be divided into categories of lifters and leaners ,figuratively.

I don’t think we can ever achieve that state of universal equality. As I see it, some are chosen to lead a privileged existence just so that they are in a better position to bring some physical and mental comfort to the less privileged by providing some financial help and by their genial behaviour.

At the time of writing this post , the users of WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal are over 2 billion,over 500 million  and 10-20 million respectively.

There are lots of analysis, tabulations and recommendations comparing the three.

There are many factors that users are aware of only now, after using the app for around 5 years.

There is talk of terms like encryption, open source, sharing of data etc etc. All concerns stem from the privacy policy which has been revised by WhatsApp.

The moot point is , how does it apply to you and me as users.

Let’s take them one by one.

The first factor seems to be End to end encryption.

WhatsApp introduced end to end encryption  only in 2016 . Users , barring the terrorists, were perfectly ok with it earlier also. Telegram had these feature since  its launch in 2013 , but one had to initiate a secret chat for encryption. The idea was that an average user does not need to encrypt every post of his. After all when you forward a good morning message with lots of pretty flowers in the background, are you really worried about the post being leaked ???

Corporate organizations don’t send quotations for tenders on WhatsApp nor does army send it’s operational plans. For an individual user , in my mind, end to end encryption is quite redundant.

The next factor is Open source.

Since when did open source matter to an user ??

It is said that an open source app can be reviewed by peers for security issues. Windows OS and Microsoft office are propriety software while Linux and Liber office are open source alternatives. Apart from my immediate family members , I hardly come across anyone using these Opensource software. If one is comfortable with M$ and Satyen Nadella why not with WA and Mark Zuckerberg?

I’ll leave it that.

The third factor is what the governments recommend .

Any app that is banned by any government is only an indication of how secure that app is and how that government is intimidated by the ‘subversive content’ going on through that app . The government with all its resources finds itself  quite helpless in dealing with the situation. Telegram tops the list with ban from Iran, Russia  and China. Latest country to join the bandwagon of gagging ‘subversion’ is the great champion of Freedom of Expression, the US.  Whatsapp is banned in China. WeChat is a wonderful app but closely monitored by the Big Brother.

Parler was taken off the net by Amazon because it failed to moderate the contents. in other words Amazon moderates as to who is moderating rightly and who is moderating wrongly. 

Extending that logic, this post may be taken off by the host  Bigrock  if I fail to moderate any comment that bigrock finds offending.

Hail Tech tyranny!  

The main issue really is data security ,data meaning personal data not the forwarded messages.

Fourth factor would be the privacy issue or the data security.

While E2E deals with leakage of information the company owning the app itself has access to some details stored in the server with the permission of the user “through a thumb impression on the screen of his mobile phone”. God knows how many “I agree”s I must have pressed. Now Whatsapp is asking for one more “I agree” to have access and share some personal details of user.

What could these personal details be ? The main inputs would be contact number, email id, interests  and geo-location. As an user, none of these should worry me. It should not worry anyone as long as one is not a political leader, or a business tycoon, frequently flying to undisclosed locations , staying incognito and meeting people surreptitiously.

A common man may end up getting a few more calls from commercial establishments selling their products based on your interests. This in any case is happening even now.

Finally we come to user friendliness

Whatsapp is considered very user friendly mainly because of the ease of forwarding and the video calls. Whatsapp has rich contents due to the phenomenal number of groups and the appetite for people to keep pressing the curved arrow till every post reaches every group,sometimes more than once.

• Here I would like to mention that a group in whatsapp is limitted to 256 while telgram can go up to 2,00,000.
• Anyone sending original attachments would have noticed that whatsapp limits the size of attachment to 16MB while on telegram it is a whopping 1.5 GB.

Why a techie would prefer Telegram to others

• Telegram stores all contents on the cloud thus leaving your phone as light as ever.
• Since the contents are stored on the cloud the app can be used from any number of devices at a time though you don’t need to store these in any of the devices.
• ability to send huge attachments. I use this feature for transferring stuff from mobile phone to laptop.
• The world of bots lets you create stickers, surveys, polls etc.
• there are settings for self destruction of chats and the account itself.
• As on date Whtsapp web server is functional only if the app is running on your phone and Signal does not have a web access.

Summing up

• To a normal user, Whatsapp is still the best bet for the kind of contents one is used to and ease of use.
• Governments would prefer Signal for its employees as there is less chance of any inadvertent leak of sensitive information . It is already the chosen app for European commission .
• Someone who accesses the messages from a number of devices and is comfortable using the features like secret chat, self destruction ,bots etc would love telegram.

The topic is too current and I am aware that I might have, inadvertently gone wrong or misunderstood some issue. Any feedback would be welcome.

Cheers !

The year 2020 has no doubt been an exceptional year, mostly for the wrong reasons. I say mostly , since there are positives which simply get lost in the sea of sufferings. Most people would call it a nightmare, terror or an absolute horror story, yet it did have it’s blessings.

Now that it’s almost a year since the virus first struck, it’s time for stock taking.

What is common sense for domestic finances works exactly opposite for national economies. When a household faces shortage of resources, the members tighten their belts; bite the bullet; conserve all resources. When national GDPs go down, countries need to spend like there is no tomorrow, to get back on the rails. The economies that are sustained on consumption stories simply collapsed. 

When all manufacturing and services came to a standstill, nation wide, the governments pump in more cash into the system and actually encourage people to spend. The finance minister withdraws tax exemptions for savings and companies give incentives for spending ( mercifully nature’s wheel kept moving and the grains continue to be produced in the fields; no lock down there)

It’s like a bicycle ride; you stop and you fall.

Jobs suddenly evaporated; the stock markets crashed. Rental values came down and yet the jobless couldn’t even pay minimum rents. People rushing towards the cities were running away from the cities.

Amidst all this there were some blessings too.

1. 1. 1. People realised that health was more important than money or say, health insurance.

      2. There was a pause on meaningless consumerism.

      3. For a short period home cooking was back. Though swiggy and Zomato soon invaded the eating out space, even in smaller towns.

      4. Many people found time for hobbies like painting or creative writing.

      5. Many companies realised that they could do without physical meetings or expensive out station seminars.

      6. Consumers have realised that e-commerce is a great alternative to brick and mortar stores. As it happened the mom and pop stores in the neighborhood started taking orders on WhatsApp! Many of these measures will continue for good.

      7. Doctors started providing remote consultancy. Pharmacists were providing medicines at your door step.

      8. Army CSD canteens started providing 'shopping by appointment' services which is definitely more efficient and more convenient.

      9. Quality of air and water improved in cities though the respite was short-lived. But atleast the younger generation had an idea as to how blue the sky could be. With some kind of planned , voluntary lock down the environment can be improved.

      10. Any activity, commercial or otherwise that does not require huge gatherings, became popular. It is not just commercial activities, but even literary meetings and on line chess started 'zooming'. People from remote areas or people with mobility issues could fully participate in many events.

      11. The idea of hygiene got a new meaning. One wonders why we have been exchanging virus, less harmful may be, among ourselves through handshakes, hugs  or air kisses. The idea of pollution through saliva does make sense. Imagine a cricket ball liberally coated with the inputs from all fielders!

      12. The ideas of preventive measures, immunity build up etc that had been pushed back by strong medicines and the "omnipotent, omniscient practitioners of modern medicine" are getting back their rightful place in health care. This one year with too many contradictory statements from the scientific fraternity has amply brought out that that man has a long way to go , on acquiring knowledge of what goes on , inside his own body.

The virus or just the fear of virus has helped conduct many experiments that would not have been possible in normal times.

The online aspect of every process or activity has been fully tested out; be it e-payments, online learning , work from home, remote medical consultancy or online chess tournaments

Here was one golden chance to say my e-way or high way and the public, rather than protesting, would readily comply due to the fear of Corona rather than ‘The Crown’ or God.

Whenever there is a new challenge , strong people come out stronger ! Individually and collectively there are many practices , that have been evolved as anti-covid measures , but are worth following in normal times.

Hopefully, there are some lessons learnt that would improve the quality of life (not to be mistaken for standard of living) in future years. 

I love words and numbers; would love to just lose myself in a world of words and numbers.

Some words mean so much. Though it’s one’s mother tongue that touches your heart, we have got used to English or rather  Latin & Greek words for all learning.

The words synergy, symbiosis , convergence or the Zulu word Ubuntu mean much more than what a dictionary can indicate. Dictionary is good enough only to understand words like chair, table or wine. These special words challenge the normal linear thinking of one plus one adding up to two. These words indicate phenomena where 1+1 may not be just 2 but, 10, 100 or 1000 and 1000-1 need not be 999 but 900, 100 or even 0.

The numbers themselves are fascinating in that there is a world of difference between 01 and 10, that we just take for granted. Binary numbers in synergy with information technology takes the numbers to a totally different level. It is just two numbers 0 and 1 that are used to depict any sound, picture or text . Today all thoughts are expressed in 0s and 1s be it on WhatsApp , Instagram or a complete  movie.

Recently I started a personal project of converting Tamil books available in the public domain to more readable and user-friendly formats. By format here, I mean the layout as in normal English and also file format as in information technology. The idea did not kindle the kind of excitement even among voracious readers and writers as I myself experienced.  Now it looks obvious; all bibliophiles are not computer buffs and a person of either category may not be  a lover of languages (C++ or  php doesn’t count as language)

I love reading. I love Tamil . And I love Information technology.

It is the convergence of all three in a project that, I suppose , is  exciting!

The very idea of grappling with technology to render the Tamil script, displayed on different devices, to give a feel of reading a Tamil book, is so fascinating. How many people are aware of the complexities posed by Tamil script when two or three characters arranged in different ways , vertically or horizontally, together can mean , to what most people used to Roman script ,  as just one character  or one sound?

Talking of convergence, it is convergence of three that is special. In geometry, two parallel lines do not meet, (or converge at infinity). All non parallel lines meet at some point.

It is only when three lines converge at a point, the magic happens in geometry. In a triangle, the three medians meet at a point and it becomes  centroid, perpendicular bisector of sides meet and circumcentre happens , and angular bisectors meet at the incentre. 

That’s digression..

I just can’t understand people saying that a language is only for communication. If that be so, long back we would have settled for an artificial language that would have been more efficient , easier to learn and universal. 

 Whatever be, The confluence or convergence of Tamil, Computers and Books is pure bliss !

Two greatest democracies are going through very difficult times. No form of government can be  perfect as any Government, after all, has to be manned by us , the imperfect humans. Corollary is that any form of government would be perfect if human beings who implement the system become perfect.

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I feel under the circumstances Democracy is the least dangerous of the political systems. These days, about democracy,  there is much talk of dissent and the fundamental right to dissent. Dissent in a democracy is taken by some people as dissent is democracy.

This idea has been taken to extremes during the Anti CAA protests when public property was destroyed with impunity in the name of dissent. Express your dissent by all means , but you cannot browbeat a government, or the silent majority  into changing the policies as  at least 60 % of people would be supporting its policies even if 10% are out in the streets burning buses and trains, considering that 30% may be totally indifferent. The exact percentages may vary but the fact is that majority of people are not against CAA and that does mean something .

After the right to dissent, the next issue is demand for transparency .  We have a whole lot of arm chair journalists clamouring for truth and absolute truth. Very commendable indeed. But can military operations be planned and  conducted in full view of the public ? Isn’t there something called Official Secret Act ,even in a democracy?

We had Senior Air Force Officers explaining to the Supreme Court as why we needed Rafales. What was highlighted was fighters of 3.5 generation and 5th generation as if it was some mobile phones being purchased. Of course there were terms like  niche stealth technology and the electronic warfare capabilities, but these nuances were totally lost on the public including our truth seeking journalists.  Having a weapon system with a longer range for target acquisition and engagement is the difference between hitting and being hit  for a fighter aircraft . Even on such issues , we had a chorus from the masses organized by our opposition and the ‘liberals’ to show dissent on the streets.

What a great combination of ignorance and arrogance !

Another new trend is witnessed in both US and India. All political parties fought the  elections with no holds barred attitude. When the results were out, the liberals in both countries went about whining “Not my President” or Not my PM” . Remember , it is rejection of a govt legally  elected ,in accordance with the Constitution.

We are a country divided on multifarious axes, rural/urban, north /south  , hindi/ non hindi and most glaringly traditional Hindus and the western looking liberals.  Every single divide is finding expression in the dissent against the elected govt, whatever be the issue at hand.

That, in my opinion is definitely not dissent in a democracy but total rejection of Democracy.

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I do not think there is any dispute on the issue that we are facing acute information overload. Far from the days of waiting for the morning newspapers or the nine o’ clock news we have reached the stage when there is a continuous stream of information bombarding us 24 x 7 with nuggets of news and views real or fake. News does not mean a report of events but all kinds of theories and counter theories disseminated through social media and Web channels and TV channels.

The sad part is that most of this “information “ is not of our choosing , and nor do these inputs leave one unaffected. If we do not control what kind of information we consume, some one else is going to do it for us and surely they are not going to keep our well being and interests in mind.

I can hear that “I am too smart to be fooled by some propaganda” . Earlier only Advertisers specialized in perception management; today everybody does. Perceptions are sold scientifically and cleverly. A 30 seconds message telecast / web-cast or spun around through social media ,around the clock for a week can be so effective without anyone getting any wiser. An automioble company names a model Esteem and a little girl talking of the big car of her daddy makes any daddy associate self-esteem with a big car.

There are very credible news channels which have moved ever so subtly from center to far left , one starts seeing “center” on one extreme. It’s happening in India ; it’s happening around the world.

So what’s the solution ? Do we really stay away from TV Channels and Social media to fall back on the State Controlled media channels? Not really . The Net has some really rich sources that can be customized to suit your interests . Today, one can pick and choose as to what kind of information he wants and in what form. That is where RSS comes in . For the not so tech savvy, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary.

Every news or information source has its own RSS link for providing a dynamic feed to it’s subscribers . This kind of information flow is not restricted just news or the main stream subjects, but can be very specific in line with a unique interest of a person. If I want to keep track of any writing or event associated with the great poet Subramanya Bharathi, well I can find a half dozen sources dealing with just that.

Should we use technology to follow the kind of information that gives us that inner happiness or should we drift aimlessly letting our minds be poisoned by the stuff forced on us. I do not mean it’s all bad, but one has heard often enough that one man’s meat is another man’s poison, to understand every human being is different and thrives on different kind of intellectual nourishment.

The idea of RSS is not something new but as old as the interent. I remember accessing a newsgroup long before M$ Windows came into being. It is these news groups that have morphed into News-feed applications. There are a number of apps for mobiles as well as for the web to collect and feed information for you. Rather than recommend specific apps ,keeping with the spirit of anti-spamming I would point to a link that gives a wide choice of apps   and choice of feeds.

Happy info gathering !

Cheers !