Resist the Unknown

In those days, most of the parents used to advise their kids 'not to venture into unknown areas' when they go on a school / college excursions. This singular advice appears to stand true despite the passing of decades.

Gone are the days, when people had to experiment and innovate always, even despite the criticism that curiosity may kill the cat.  These days in the current scenario, the cyber jungle though fraught with myriads of lurking dangers, often lures one to experiment and venture in to the newer areas in the cyberspace.

When one opens the personal email, at times there are many more emails in the spam folder than the Inbox! It could be a claimed ‘official looking’ email from the highest bank of the country announcing your selection for receiving some unclaimed balances in a non-operative bank account! There could be an email from an African country announcing that you have won a million dollar lottery! There could be one just with the single word 'Congratulation' as the subject. There may be others which could warn you that a virus has been detected in your laptop and to click to rectify the same, 'absolutely free of cost'! These are absolute bombs waiting to electronically explode, invade and make away with your data, on a momentary madness of a click on an innocuous looking link.

When one chooses to run away from the email threats into the waiting arms of his friends through social networking sites, there are multitudes of blinking invites awaiting attention on both sides of your operative areas offering more information on the cheapest flight to a destination you were looking for last week. There will be any number of groups , which will be suggested to befriend, courtesy the analytical potential of your own social networking site, which has voluntarily undertaken to (mis)use your data to make an analysis and offer you suggestions. There will be dozens of alternates to a mobile phone you have 'like'ed and at a comparatively cheaper cost than the one, you propose to buy.

Looking to get some peace by closing the laptop, there are any number of phone calls offering you unsolicited advice on a potential purchase for the approaching festival season and requesting you to share your credit/debit card details for further processing of higher loans and incentives.

The unsolicited intrusions into one’s personal life is on the increase and days are not far off when your personal doctor could advise you to stay away from your electronic gadgets for a day of your weekend to regain acceptable levels of your pressure and vitals.

In all the above, there are baits thrown, for the unsuspected, ignorant, greedy and morons. As Mark Twain says “There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.” 

If one could not sight the twirling worm at the end of the rod, it is not far off before he himself hangs there as a bait at the end of the pole. Nothing in this world comes free. The worm at the end of the rod is not for your appetite but to lure you off information.

One is forced to have a day of upavas and to practice the focus of the legendary character Arjuna sighting only the target, so that one is not distracted, one is not tempted and one does not fall a prey, only to rue shortly thereafter.

Please be informed and educate your near and dear ones - not to click on unconfirmed or unknown links and not share information on callers claiming to be from your bank and air your requirements in the Net.   

For, there lies a jungle with deadlier snakes and man-eaters, waiting to pounce on your purse and personal information, devour everything and strip you naked, before you log out and close your system.

Remember “The problem with temptation is that you may not get another chance"

NOTE: Above is my contribution as Editorial, for the eZine of Cyber Society of  India , an abridged version of which has been published in the ezine released today through the website www.cysi.in

Women- Truly Liberated?

Come March every year, people across the world, the high and mighty, from schools to board rooms clamor and vie with one another in eulogizing the values of women, their strength, their contribution to the world and how far they have come. As the International Day of women wanes, so does the thoughts seem to as they were not from the heart but from the shallow grounds!

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella could have found fixing of the myriads of bugs in their software releases easier than trying to extricate his foot so firmly inserted by him into his mouth.  

His utterances of 'quite frankly, women who don't ask for a raise have…It's good karma. It will come back."...' came almost true. But its only that the 'karma' came back to haunt not the intended women employees but himself, when the pressure generated forced him to apologize in a memo to the women employees of the Microsoft, as reported in www.inc.com

The normally mellifluous voice for once sounded jarring when the popular singer Yesudas, wandered out of his comfort zone to comment on the practice of women wearing jeans.  The backlash was so forceful that there were appeals from some of his ardent fans in popular newspapers to spare the singer for his faux pas!

I feel, and it is apparent that , despite the lip services paid on such 'celebrated' days, the male dominated society is yet to come to terms and accept the fact of the distaff side clawing its way up the ladder and trying to taking over the reins, demanding their legitimate place in the society ! They are refusing to accept the fact that women assuming positions are on the rise and it appears their minds are clouded with confusion, unable to distinguish between uplift and authority.

 A 2008 Harvard Business Review research report says, "... 41 percent of the young people in science, engineering and technology are women.... " but goes on to add that ".... 63 percent of women in these industries have experienced some degree of sexual harassment..." So the Hippocratic while accepting the ascendancy due to the societal pressure, also seem to make their survival difficult by constant pressures and pin pricks. 

We have been ushered into an era in which woman have started traversing into outer space, drive auto rickshaws and locomotives, manage the financial world , perform complex surgeries as life savers and even adorn  gubernatorial positions. To be frank they have pervaded and are all over with stunning results. Whether one likes it or not, they are here and have come to stay, at times with even better performances than their distractors.

When the world is fast forwarding into a different arena, it is distressing to hear such discerning voices. One may well understand such non-acceptances from morons and minions, but to hear such discordant notes from the high and mighty, one is reminded of the adage "an Athenian blockhead is the worst of all blockheads"and be sensitive to the developments.

It is time women liberation is not confused just with populist rhetoric and lip level support but understood as extending beyond with whole hearted support in all their reasonable deeds.