Needless exposures

 It is a matter of grave concern that people are increasingly exposing their personal data , more dangerously the individual photos in public forums. Of late, there are many posts in social networks stating "today is my or my daughter's birthday" and post their latest photos. Just out of curiosity and with academic interest,  I pried further into the profile of the author of the post. Though the person is not in my friend list I was still able to have a good look at important features of their whole profile including their location, their previous photos, siblings, family  and I could say to a fair extent I had enough data to re-build the person's profile to my liking. With some more hunting with the latest sophisticated tools, I am very sure the complete profile of the person who is unknown to the intruder could be built. 

In another post, I saw a senior person posting his photograph at an international airport stating that he will be away from the heat and dust of India for the next six months. I am concerned that how much of efforts will be required to trace the person's house in his native place, which was visible in the social network, and what a field day the miscreants would have should they chose to pay a visit to the locked house !

Recently, I was fortunate to attend a lecture by a leading cyber law advocate who precisely but  elaborately dealt on how photos in unprotected social platforms could be misused and with what  consequences. He detailed that such photos in public forums are picked up methodically every few minutes and then analyzed for their utility (?) values, with the single photo of young women fetching the maximum for obvious reasons and how they could be used to milk further from the hapless victims. 

I sincerely wish such people who keep on sharing their profiles and programmes 'to all' learn more about the 'Dark net' and their activities !! People who frequent social network and boast that they could never live without it should better remember that whatever is posted in such public places are like matters dropped in the ocean and even if it is deleted within minutes, they are already into the hands of those whom you would not like to encounter. Present day technologies offer so much of tools that it is almost possible to recover and bring back anything except lost souls !

Already people in other countries are reported to be avoiding sharing pictures of the children with so many cases of paedophiles in the news. 

So dear friends, please refrain from sharing any travel updates or making such begging for blessings and also avoid posting the pictures of children. Cyber world is far more dangerous than the world we are used to and assume to be .

Shared in the public interest of being forewarned than repenting in leisure !!

Plight of Indian Workforce

I have heard that the personal space of an employee is protected vigorously in other countries whereas in my own backyard, it is not that much respected and I had occasion to witness both within a week.

One of my friend flew down from another state to visit me at my current location in the US and spent some good time extending his weekend. As he is a critical resource in the team, I casually asked as to how he could travel at such a short notice and he responded that he has enough leave and all he has to do is to update his calendar as PTO (Paid Time off) and that there is no practice of waiting for approval here, unless there are some exigencies. In fact, he went on to add that employees here claim leave as a matter of right, as and when it is available to them, and their leave requests are rarely turned down by their Managers.

In a closed group in social network I happened to see another post about the updates to the leave management policy of a leading nationalized bank in India. The circular on amended procedure explained as to how the Manager has to send the status of 'as on date employee's performance' against his targets while 'forwarding' the leave application and in the absence of the same the leave request will be summarily rejected.

I was aghast at the situation prevailing in India - atleast not yet changed since I left active service a decade ago ! Does this mean that if an employee's performance is not upto the expectations he cannot enjoy his promised privileges or exercise his rights which includes spending time with his family? Is this the work life balance that seems to be more breached as much it is preached ? Indian working conditions have a long way to go and it is time that such employees also raise their voice against the injustice.

This could also be considered as an abject failure of the representative bodies like unions and associations , supposed to safeguard the interest of the workforce, from which not a whimper is heard, at an order in writing impacting the personal life of employees. If a representative body is unable to resist such an interference into the personal life , is it not time to (re)think about its utility ?

Our turn to hold their hand !

Success even with repeated chewing remain sweet!

Memories of 2022 sessions is tempting for more.

(Details at : https://kapalicanvas.blogspot.com/2022/02/back-to-school-with-grand-parents.html )

As if to put the icing on the cake, requests were pouring for an encore of online sessions. 

Coupled with that, the increasing cyber crimes, exploiting the ignorance of people is becoming a matter of concern.

Acceding to the request when the call was given, for some hand holding sessions on 'Basic computer operations", the response was swift and fast from around 50 seniors, with some octogenarians leading from the front. 

How can one remain silent to the needs of an 86 year old young man and others from 13 locations across the globe and thus the sessions swung into action, brushing aside the time difference as the lectures started flowing from around 15000 KM away from India.

On the 3rd and 4th of June, 2023, two sessions were done virtually hand holding the seniors right from booting the system to reacting to unexpected hang ups, storing data safely, underlining the need to remain vigilant on downloads and few tips on staying safe over the net.

There were college professors, retired senior executives from banks and  Insurance sectors and it was gratifying to have some from the medicine too, a profession I rate high. Though for these seniors the computers were late to enter behind them, they were in no mood to let it go and their spirits were held aloft by the lone young man in his twenties joining the gang, wanting to know more of computers as he gears up to hold fort of corporate accounts by aspiring to be a chartered accountant.

Matters discussed were very basic and primitive as the participants themselves expressed at the beginning itself that they may be doyens in their respective field of occupations, but were kids with computers and so were treated at the kindergarten level, at an age when they could have decided to stroll peacefully in their own backyard garden.

The feedback was heart warming and there were many suggestions to handle some more topics, as they are considered too basic to be taught, by their current gen kids !

A small video on the sessions can be viewed at: Training on Basic Computer skills - a review

Whether it is primitive or fundamental, their enthusiasm to learn even at this stage cannot be ignored and by discussing few hours some basic Dos and Don'ts, if the numbers on cyber crime and victims come down, my aim of 'Share to Care' will be well served !

Catching the young to Coach

 In Tamil there is a saying ' The leg used to dancing will not stand still' (ஆடின கால் நிக்காது). 

Like the popular bank which claims never to sleep, my mind which was running ahead of me was egging me on with the next act, after my meets with the elders. 

Even a decade back during my days of association with corporates, after interviewing many candidates used to wonder how badly they miss their opportunities due to lack of expression and communication. Ever since, I have been wanting to catch the young and help them in honing their skills, which could convert opportunities to achievements. Unlike the 80 kids, the present generation is far ahead in their pursuit but I feel that proper guidance and mild course corrections could convert more into achievers from also-ran. 

Then I came across this organization which is building and encouraging 'a crazy team of volunteers', keen on supporting the young and needy. The organization ( https://www.teameverest.ngo/) not only support the young with scholarship but also help them with soft and other skills required to make them beat the race and turn achievers. The organization, in operation for over 15 years, seems to have trained thousands of educationally poor and needy, with some dedicated volunteers from across the globe. One of the few areas that the current pandemic does not seem to have impacted is this type of coaching as everything related to this is online. Right from orientation of volunteers to five sessions with the chosen student, coaching handbook for volunteers to the feedback session for students, the organization has wisely chosen the online route where all that is required for the student to benefit is a mobile phone, which almost everyone seems to possess irrespective of their economic status. 

Though it was hard to believe the experienced and committed CEO, who is learnt to have given up his lucrative corporate job to indulge in volunteering, was so passionate that with his focus and commitment aided by a handful of dedicated support staff was able to run such sessions as a well oiled machinery that never got stuck, as witnessed by me with my latest volunteering debut.

The process for volunteers starts with an intense orientation session followed by five sessions of 45 minutes each spread over ten days with a student allocated to every volunteer. The student allotted to me was from an economically poor background with his father a daily wager and mother doing odd domestic jobs. But the young lad doing his first year bachelor's in computer at a college, which incidentally is my alma mater too, was full of enthusiasm and discipline. He always joined the call at the agreed time, followed meticulously the curriculum so well defined by the NGO and it was a joy to find the student making progress every day , as evidenced by the completed exercises presented by him at the next session! The boy with an ambition to become a computer professional had all the making of becoming one and he confirmed with his feedback every session that he is on track and is being benefitted by my inputs. That he will raise the family above the present status was evident with the first statement making exercise given, when he responded with "I love my family" as the answer !!

What was amazing to learn later was that 750 such volunteers worked over the past two weeks to bring light into the lives of around 1000 students and when enlarged how well will such noble acts help the young ones across the country in the years to come!  The concluding reflection meet with the volunteers revealed that some long term mentor-mentee teams also blossomed due to these sessions and that augurs well for the vision of the NGO, whose passion is to encourage volunteering. 

It was a nice gesture from the volunteering organization to present the volunteers with an e-Certificate but the volunteers will cherish more the invaluable association and positive improvements in their students. 

Delighted to have spotted a long searched avenue and I only wish many more people qualified to impart such support services join hands with this team in their quest to not only catch but also coach the young and needy early so that more and more of younger generation is benefitted by the years of wisdom of the experienced ones. 

This is also an avenue for the volunteers to realize that there is more joy in giving than taking !!

Happy Volunteering !!

Empowering Elders

Months of Feb and March this year,  seem to me to be the ones of receiving blessings from elders !

Deeply moved by the sad faces of many seniors projecting their helpless travails of losing valuables over cyber space, I set out in Feb this year, to address the basic issue of operating computers and held five long sessions discussing and hand holding them with some basics. I was moved by the feedback from over 50 senior citizen participants in those sessions,  about how none cared to teach them these basics even though the ones whom they taught right from cursive writing to JEE coaching were well equipped to do this but were too busy with their own family, preparing the next generation to disappoint them in this area !! (For more details on this, read at the post: https://kapalicanvas.blogspot.com/2022/02/back-to-school-with-grand-parents.html  ) 

When they prodded me to continue with the sessions, I was only too willing to organize few classes on 'Handling email' teaching them right from creating an email account to locate the downloaded attachments, alerting about some pitfalls that they could encounter in the form of phishing and other methods used with email.

Almost the same set of elders were too happy to join and enjoyed the sessions as was evident from the fact that a majority of the 40 elders attended eagerly both the sessions and that included super seniors above the age of 75 years. I felt honoured that a friend who helped me in stepping into the computer arena, when I struggled to make the high fee back in 1982, too participated. The attendees included very senior , but now retired, professionals and the most rewarding moments were realized on getting their feedback, some of which are given below:

As was evident from the feedback, elders not only suffer from lack of updated knowledge but also has to fight other challenges like memory loss, retention etc., It's time the younger ones spend atleast some time, if not more time, with their elders and avoid their feeling lonely and being left alone in the cyber space. I wish I could contribute more to this cause. 

Back to School with Grand parents

 News reports of the spurt in cyber crimes and more importantly more of senior citizens falling victims to the lures of cyber criminals were a matter of concern and was more disturbing the mind than the other mundane news updates over tons of news reels and endless 'Breaking News'. Whenever a cyber crime occurs, it hogs the headlines for a few minutes and then everyone move on - be it media or common man. Not sure how many dwell deeper to analyze what would have happened if their own aged parents were conned ordering a dinner or medicines over online or trying to make payment for tele consultation to the doctors. The wards , lounging on the sands of Florida beach or Bondi , though concerned, find themselves helpless, and mostly do nothing more than asking them to be careful. 

Well, is that enough- will you allow your child to cross a busy road, just after advising him to be careful? Will you not go with them, walk the path going through and explaining different colors of signal lights, interpret the road sign, identify the place for the pedestrians to cross  and at times even follow them without their knowledge just to get reassured that they can be on their own ? How many of the children do the same to their aged parents in walking the digital path ? All they do is to buy a costly tablet or laptop before emplaning for their dream land , more with an intent to continue to keep connecting with them rather than expecting them to make eCommerce transactions with their new toy. Then why cry over the spilt milk when they become cyber victims when you could have spent some time to atleast brief them about the Don'ts than the Do's?

Beyond these disturbing musing and sermon , I was wondering what more I could do , unlike their wards, and help these to stay safe on the cyber shores. I did not want to stop with cautions and remembered that a hungry person will be served better to be taught a lesson on fishing which could bring a permanent solution to his travails, rather than a piece of fish to satisfy his immediate need. 

Wanting to take one step further above the statutory precautions, I connected to my senior friends and pat came the response of about 150 topics that need support , which included 'how to connect to internet',  'what is anti virus' and 'how to create safe password' !! On analyzing the responses it was clear that the seniors lack basic computer operating knowledge and it is no surprise that they were sitting ducks for cyber criminals. It is only because they confine to attending online sloka sessions over Skype and Google Meet they have not yet fallen victims and those who venture crossing that Lakshman Reka are waiting to be gobbled up by the lurking Ravanas of the cyber land!

Deciding to impart some basic computer operating skills I threw my offer far and wide through my contacts and was surprised to receive more than 100 registration for few free sessions on 'Basic Computer Operating Skills'.  90% of the registrants were senior citizens including some super seniors above 80 years and their enthusiasm to learn was infectious. Though almost all of  them were well educated , held very senior positions like General Manager and Vice President in organizations, their lack of computers could be more attributed to the late introduction of computers when they were into the higher cadres of their career, than their attitude. 

Being aware of this, I designed a simple curriculum similar to that of lower KG for these senior citizens including how to operate the mouse and where the critical keys of Ctrl, Alt and Del situated on their keyboard. I followed every session  with a set of practice exercise and being aware of their feeble memory retention, supplemented every exercise with a simple five minutes video and this, I feel, made their understanding better.

It was a pleasant surprise that each of the six session over Google meet was attended by 50+ seniors,  33 of them attended all the sessions and one senior took the class on her mobile when she was waiting at a clinic for Doctor consultation - I could not help applaud their tenacity ! I was stunned that  three 80+ people never missed a session and were prompt in completing the exercises. It was hard for me to take my eyes out of the participants attendance analysis, shared here!

And thanks to improved communication channels available people could participate from places like Vadodara, Trichy, Tanjore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mayiladuthurai, Pondicherry, Pune, Coimbatore, San Jose, Austin and Virginia with a large chunk from Chennai, despite differing time zones !!

Can we also revisit our claim that parents are too old to be computer savvy and our attempts to escape our own missed duty of educating them, as they did to us when we repeatedly tripped in our effort to walk- Time for kids away from India to think and act !

I have been imparting computer skills since 1986 to a variety of audience including very senior Government officials, Top Police officials who later retired as Director General, Senior Bank Executives , Professionals and also college students.  During this near four decades , I have never had a better satisfaction of serving and it was truly gratifying to receive grateful acknowledgements from such elders. And in their feedback, when people commented that they can now open their system more confidently, I feel my day was made ! 

Interaction with elders, in progress

As for me, this is my Magnum Opus, of my passion for teaching - of taking 70 year old seniors again back to class rooms and make them do exercise, not by force or cane, but by supporting their initiative to learn and make them smile out of glee of achieving it. My late brother who was a Math professor used to say that teaching is one of the few professions that provide ultimate satisfaction and it took me this long to understand his claim.                                                                                                              

I have also heard that there is more joy in giving rather than taking and this was the day, when I came face to face with experiencing that. Gratefully acknowledging the Goddess of Education for having provided me with an opportunity , I remain.

Clouded Priorities

Picture Source: Myalpore Times 04-Jan-2021

 It is no secret that the world has been experiencing an unprecedented pandemic (atleast for this generation of people) over the last nine months. Stifled literally with mask and getting claustrophobic staying indoors, tempers running high with all doing everything from home- be it school classes of kids or concall of professionals or fitness freaks and medically expected denied a walking or jogging , homemakers pitching in more for the barred servants, there seemed to be an endless war against the common man for the majority of 2020. Some saving grace were online and eCommerce transactions which enabled people to have things delivered at doorsteps. That the sanitizing of these delivered items took more time than the trek to the mall itself is a different matter.

After such a relentless effort of the authorities to keep the people indoors, there appeared a silver streak on the horizon, particularly in some states like Tamilnadu where the numbers are showing a steady and gradual decline to the effect that it is falling below those of June and July , when the pandemic was at its peak at this place.

With such numbers and also the state relaxing some lockdown restrictions, when people were about to heave a sigh of relief came the bolt from London about the mutated version which appears to be on all its fours in terms of spread. There is an arms length list of places across the globe which have already been impacted by this and there is information that it is already in India too.

Bill Gates said few months back that we may have to live with Covid for atleast another year or so and in his recent notes has reemphasized the same and also underlined the need for continued usage of masks and adherence to physical distancing as a greater necessity ( https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Year-in-Review-2020?WT.mc_id=20201231100000_YIR2020_BG-LI_&WT.tsrc=BGLI ), He says " . . Still there are two main reasons to be hopeful. One is that masks, social distancing, and other interventions can slow the spread of the virus and save lives . . . " , and adds  that " Unfortunately, we are not out of the woods quite yet. Computer models suggest that the pandemic could get even worse over the next month or so...." .

With such uncertain developments and scary scenario it is a matter of grave concern and irritation that  people have started taking things for granted and are freaking out saying 'the worst is over'.

The neighboring Pondicherry Government, despite objections by the Governor, threw open its beaches and invited people to celebrate the New Year in a 'controlled manner staying within the Covid stipulations' (whatever it means). It only invited more revelers from places like Chennai, where the authorities wisely chose to close even the beaches, a normally crowded place during new year revelry.

Even before people could come to grasp with the debatable decision of the neighbor, with the state throwing open places of worship and with the festivals around, people are in an unfettered frenzy in coming out of their forced confinements. While the freedom to freak out is somewhat understandable, people's indiscretion in throwing things to caution is certainly self deprecating if not suicidal. 

In the New Year celebrations at Pondicherry, one could see in TV reports, police even resorting to mild lathi charge to disperse some sections of unruly crowd.

In some political meetings shown in Television, many could be seen with masks lowered and some with no masks at all with the distancing nowhere seen !! On the dais of some political meetings and also during press briefings, people could be seen jostling to show their face to camera and no wonder the flight of pandemic has slowed due to such negligence resulting in some unfortunate and regrettable loss of valuable lives too. The leaders at such meetings failed where they could have easily set themselves as models by wearing masks and asking their cadres to keep the distance.  

At funerals and religious places, people could be seen allowing their emotions to take over as was evidenced at the funeral of some high profile and popular personalities.

It is shocking to see the popular bhajan groups of Margazhi turning a blind eye to the still lurking pandemic. Mylapore mada streets are mostly wide enough for people to spread out but sadly this has not been done and many are seen without masks. Shockingly, there are more senior citizens in such groups and with their age it is expected that better sense will prevail, which was belied!

On a bhajan telecast on the last day of the year which went on till the crack of New Year, the frenzied crowd easily numbering few hundreds, not a soul was wearing mask and were all seated next to the other in a closed hall.

It was very sad to see emotion and misplaced belief taking over realities and was wondering whether people who were enjoying their freedom were aware of the consequences, should there be an unfortunate infection - the extent of suffering , personal pains , impact on  the family, financial impact and potential loss of life ! 

The most questionable indiscretion seem to be 'travel for pleasure' during this period.  I wonder how the senior citizens embark on tours where there is every possibility of getting contacted with undesirable contacts. Can't we think for a moment about the potential risks from the vehicles of the tour, water and other consumables, cleanliness of the places of stay, food served there, environment at the places of visit and the close proximity of passengers in the touring vehicle.  With due respects, I feel it would be wise not to embark on such thoughtless deeds, until we are completely rid of this menace. Happened to see few interviews and videos of people affected by Corona and I am convinced that it is not worth taking such foolhardy steps in the larger interest of everyone.

 Instead of shifting the blame on the tour organizers, who have to take care of their business interests,  it is wiser to keep in mind what the visitors to  malls did ; Even after the gates were thrown open, they initially chose to keep the safety prioritized over pleasure and stayed away from visiting them instead of rushing in.

All these acts could be indulged in but with better and greater care and lesser speed, in the individual's own interest. 

When Covid was in other countries in the late 2019, we did it not take it seriously and assumed that we will not be hit. What resulted thereafter, need not be elaborated.

Similarly, UK is now reeling under the impact of the new variant and the latest update is their Prime Minister insisting on people staying at home . It is for the individuals to take the call whether to fall for on such lures of carrots dangled more for business and other compulsions !

Of course, I also heard from my Doctor friend how some of his senior patients got bitten by the Covid bug despite their not moving out of their houses for over six months. 

Well then, that is the choice between fate (if you believe in it) and misplaced bravado, the individual has to take the call.  Stay safe . . . . .