The digital dilemma

Recently my Samsung android phone crashed. As the last attempt, I tried to do some administrative stuff on the phone, and that made the phone to eternally rest in peace. Or, in more technical terms, it 'bricked' the phone.

Then I realized an important thing. All my photos, videos that I took for the last couple of years, have I lost everything? I knew that it was all in my micro SD card, but what if the card got corrupted as part of this tragedy? I bought a new phone, and holding my breath, I put the SD card in and checked if I could view the contents. Argh, as I feared, I couldn't read any of the contents!!

I regretted that I hadn't taken a data backup of the card to 'Google drive' or the hundreds of backup tools out there. I have lost all the photos and videos of my near ones forever. How much agony a little carelessness can bring to us. Bad fate. I couldn't help not to think about my loss.

After contemplating about it for a while, some other thoughts came to me. All this 'ever accessible' digital camera in phones have come to the market just a few years back. Before that, we anyway didn't use to take so many photos. After all, how many times are we going to see these photos and videos again? Some of them, hardly one or two times in our lives. A majority of these, we may never watch again. So, it is not really that big of a loss. All those dear ones whose photos I have in my phone, are still very much alive. How much have these gadgets and social media oriented us towards these digital entities, and ultimately we engage too much in the digital world, and stop seeing the real lives around us. Suddenly I felt a lot relieved.

I tried a last attempt to recover the data by connecting the data card into my PC. Fortunately (or rather unfortunately), it worked -;)

Our greatest discovery

At many occasions we have heard the question, what is India's greatest discovery? There are many opinions. Many people say our greatest contribution is 'zero'. They have a strong point. Zero is the basis of all larger numbers. Though it literally means nothing, this number is very powerful, which any mathematician would agree. In common man's terms, without zero the salaries of people does't make sense, financial returns of companies will struggle, digital world comes to a stop, taxi meters get confused, stock markets crash. I think it is safe to acknowledge that zero is our greatest contribution from ancient world, of course having prime importance in modern times also.

But what is our greatest discovery in modern world? I don' think there is a universally accepted answer. Is it the Ramanujan number, contribution of Bose in Higg's Boson particle, C V Raman's discoveries in the field of physics? In my mind, none of these appear to be fitting the top of the list. I think our greatest discovery is in the field of mobile communications. Before you make  any hi-tech guesses like 3G optimization, frequency modulated encryption or 'think to call' (all of these are yet to be discovered), let me tell you that I meant a much more simpler, but powerful and long living one. It is 'the missed call'.

Most of you would know what a missed call is. It is the only method developed so far in history for communicating a message over the phone without actually making a call or sms. And of course, without paying a penny. It is done by just ringing the other party and hanging up before he or she picks it up, and thus by passing on a pre-defined message. It is commonly used for passing on a 'digital' or yes/no type of message. For example, it is a common scene of an Indian mother telling her daughter who is travelling to her distant hostel, "Dear, give me a missed call when you reach safely". The mom is concerned for her daughter's safety, at the same time she wants to avoid making a call, thus saving a bit more money for her daughter's marriage after another fifteen years.  

A fact about the missed call is that it is not discovered by one person, but a discovery that has naturally occurred in the minds of thousands of Indians at the same time. As the proverb says that necessity is the mother of invention, I think this one cannot occur in the same degree to people from developed countries. Also, it is not a possibility in the underdeveloped countries where many people cannot afford a phone. And India being a developing country, with highest rate of mobile phone usage growth, but people still caring for money, the Indian nature of this discovery is obvious. Hence, I believe 'the missed call' is our greatest discovery in modern times.

Though I said that the missed call is more useful for yes/no type of messages, I have personally tried it for more complex messages. As an example, me and my friend have used it in the following way when we used to play cricket near his house.
One ring - things are good, match is on.
Two rings - bad weather or other issues at home, match is off.
Three rings - doubtful, wait for next call.
Keep ringing - more complex scenario, pick up, need to talk.

The above was done using landline phones, also without caller identification. Hence it is not foolproof, because if someone else at home is expecting a call, it is trouble. On the other hand, it is risky to use this technique using mobiles nowadays, because many times the caller hears a caller tune, and the called person hears a ring tone. Gone are the days of fixed number of ringing at both sides, too much technology is also a problem.  

Finally, how long will this nice way of communication last before the service providers put a stop to it? I think it is very difficult to bar any missed calls, because a call gets dropped before getting attended due to technical reasons too. Moreover, the receiving party always has freedom to not pick up the call or being away from the phone, so it cannot be distinguished from the true missed call. Missed call technology or feature is very much built into the mind, thus without a proper mind reader, you can't break it.  

Since the 'missed call' adds 'zero' cost to our phone bills, both of them go hand in hand. One is our greatest discovery in ancient times, and the other one in modern times. But, both are here to last for a very long time....

The ultimate resolution

Well, now that 2012 is complete in all countries and timezones, it is sure that the world won't come to an end in 2012. Hence, I think it is time to come out of the passive mode, and think about some serious things which improve our life, no point in being lazy and waiting for the world to end any more, at least until a sequel to '2012' movie comes :)

Millions of people across the world would have taken some resolution or other today, even while I write this article many thousands would be deciding and finalizing on their New Year resolutions. It is a great feeling, one method which people use repeatedly every year to improve their way of living.

Yet, are they all successful? Well I have my doubts, because when I look around, I don't see a perceptible amount of improvement in people. If I look at the 50 year old folks, who would have had the chance of taking around 30 more New Year resolutions than the youngsters in their 20s, I can't see so much of good qualities pumped into their personalities. May be their experience in life is to their advantage, but definitely not their New Year resolutions.

If my fellow reader has taken a resolution in this first of January, I don't want to disappoint you. But some truths are bitter, and have to be said that way. I don't believe in New Year resolutions. Also, I hope you don't take a resolution of "I will not read this guy's blog again" after reading this article -:)

To be honest, I have disappointingly failed in almost all the New Year resolutions I have taken before. Some of them were to study well during my school days, to get up early in the morning, not to say bad about anyone (blogging was not popular those days -;), improve my prayer life, going early to office and so forth. I have simply renewed them in some of the New Years, and parked some of them in some years just for a change. But, the result was the same.

This made me think deeply about the matter of New Year resolutions. First, why should we take resolutions only on New Year? It is just because it is a logical start of a year, nothing else. If I get a new idea to improve my life on January second, should I wait for 363 days more to take a resolution? Definitely not. That means, all the days of the year are good days to take a resolution, it is the resolve or determination that matters, not 'when' we take the resolution.

After all, what is a New Year? Obviously it is the beginning of an year. And what is a year? It is just a measure of time, kept to make things easy for all of us. Speaking more scientifically, it is the time taken by Earth to complete a revolution around the Sun. A year in Jupiter is 11.86 Earth years. So, if life is found in Jupiter some time later, we will know that those beings are taking New Year resolutions less frequently than us. On the other side, if life is found in Venus where an year is 224.7 Earth days, they would be taking more frequent resolutions. So, it is better not to wait for a resolution until this revolution completes, but better to take it at any point of the revolution -:)

Having said all these, there are some advantages of taking New Year resolutions.
1. Easy to refer - For example, if a doctor asks you when you quit smoking, you could simply tell 1st January 2013 without checking any of your notes.
2. Feel good factor - Many people are subject to fail in New Year resolutions, so I feel I'm special if I succeed. (Good luck!!).
3. Environmental factors - Everyone else is taking a resolution, so I better do. Without influence from others, some people may never take resolutions. New Year is best time for them.

So, in this first day of January, Two Thousand and Thirteen, I sign off with a new resolution, that is 'not to wait for a New Year, rather take a resolution as and when my mind tells me'. In other words, I'm almost done with New Year resolutions.

Fiction or Trust?

I had to increase the speed in which I approached the monorail station. It is just a minute walk from my office to the Meenchanda monorail station in Kozhikode. If I miss this train, the next one would be only after another ten minutes, which is a big loss. Ten minutes is enough time for Usain Bolt to cover the hundred meter race sixty times, so it definitely is a big loss!! At this age where everything else seems flourishing and growing and purchasable, time seems to be the same scarce thing which it was thousands of years ago.

The trip from Meenchanda to Kozhikode railway station in the monorail is just the first leg of my daily trip back home. I work in an IT company in a park near to Meenchanda in Kozhikode. The ride from Meenchanda to Kozhikode HSRC station takes around ten minutes. If you wonder what is HSRC, it is High Speed Railway Corridor established all throughout Kerala, through which people can commute all along in super fast speed. So, from Kozhikode HSRC station, I need to catch a high speed train to Kochi, it takes around forty minutes (Wow, that's 200 kilometers!!). Then the final leg, from Ernakulam South HSRC to Pettah in Komet (Kochi Metro) takes around ten minutes. And, not the least, the five minutes walk home. If you are smart and following me closely, you would have already calculated that it takes an hour and six minutes for me to get back home from work. This travel time was a big consideration for me to pick up a job offer from Kozhikode, but now I'm used to this.

Finally I got my train just in time, and that connected me in time for the high speed beauty which leaves the Kozhikode HSRC station at half past five. I got into the train, and took one of my favourite side seats. I normally spend the commute time in HSRC very wisely, by opening up my ipad and finishing up my pending emails. There are a lot of kids on the train, they have their schools in Kozhikode because it is convenient for their parents to pick them up. My son is also in same situation, but he does the schooling in Thiruvananthapuram. My wife picks him up on her way back, again the wonders of HSRC. I would definitely call it the eighth wonder of the world, especially since I haven't seen the seven others, I can't perceive how some other thing in the world could be a better wonder than this. Things have changed drastically over the last ten years here.

I went back to concentrate on my ipad. Most of the kids around me are also busy doing their homework in their tablet. Unlike in my days when we carried a 5kg bag everyday to school, these kids carry a 200 grams tablet, which contains their classwork, homework, test results, and even report cards. The report cards are password protected, and the password is SMSed to the respective parents to open and sign them digitally, so no manipulation is possible like in my times. Poor kids, I thought!! They are losing a lot of fun.
Thinking about whether it is safe to hand over India's steering wheel in future to these less experienced beings, I slowly fell asleep.....

Someone shook me, and said "Wake up". Oh crap, may be some random ticket examination in the train. Or did I sit on some handicapped seat? I opened my eyes, surprisingly to see my wife. "How come, you are not supposed to be in this HSRC", I said. "What HSRC, it is time to go to office", she said. Now I really opened my eyes good enough to see around. I'm still in my bedroom.

So, what was happening. Was that a science fiction dream? No, now I got it, I was reading the newspaper before going to bed yesterday. My brain simply trusted all that is said there will come true in the projected time. Well!! Now i realize why they print newspapers in the morning. People have enough time in the day to forget what they read, and avoid dreaming about any of the proposed development projects.

Trusting is very dangerous sometimes. Especially if it is trusting what the government says about development. And when combined with dreaming, it forms a vicious Bermuda triangle....Too dangerous, but too much scope for imagination.....

Bandh, Hartal and ....

The blanks in the title are left purposefully to make sure this article remains valid after so many years also. Thanks to our courts, the name of this menace gets changed every few years, but the people who declare it doesn't care. It is the content that matters, not the name, they know that very well, politicians are not stupid as many would think.

For the benefit of my (potential) international readers to catch up with others, I would like to explain what these terms mean.

Wikipedia defines 'Bandh' as below:
Bandh, originally a Hindi word meaning 'closed', is a form of protest used by political activists in some countries like India and Nepal. During a Bandh, a political party or a community declares a general strike.[1]

Very well said, great child of Jimmy Wales!!

But, mind it. Bandh is illegal in India now. It was banned by the Kerala high court first, and then the Supreme court also has passed its order in similar lines. So, they adopted the name 'Hartal', which was first formally used by our father of the nation for the strikes as part of his great freedom struggle.

Now what is Hartal? Again resorting to Wiki:
Hartal (also hartaal) (Bengali: হরতাল; Hindi: हड़ताल; Urdu: ہڑتال, Malayalam: ഹർത്താൽ) is a term in many South Asian languages for strike action, used often during the Indian Independence Movement. It is mass protest often involving a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, courts of law as a form of civil disobedience.

But, after experiencing the modern Hartal, using the grasping power and perception of the average human mind, it is observed to have the same properties as 'Bandh', the same effect, the same procedure, declared by the same political parties, affecting the same people, invoking the same fear and laziness, and causing the same level of destruction. So what? It is a legally allowed term to denote an illegal activity.

Due to the legality of its name, it is currently a readily available tool to be used by political parties. But, I think it is wrong to blame the politicians too much. There are a lot of communal organizations also who may declare Hartal. These account to may be 5% of the total 'Bandh' days (oh sorry, Hartal days) in a year.

With a bit of pride I should admit that out of all Indian states, my own state state Kerala is leading this movement. It is no surprise, we were the first state to achieve 100% literacy, we are much ahead in public health care, so we got to be the leaders here also.

Now what do we do on these days? The preparations of this celebration generally start once we hear the news on the eve of the Hartal, there is no doubt in anyone's mind. We buy and stock enough of milk, vegetables and other grocery, make sure the supply of alcohol is enough. We leave early from office on the
eve of this holiday, publicly giving reasons of potential early security issues, but secretly the mind is already prepared to start celebrating the event. On the Hartal morning, we switch on the TV and see people who dare to go out getting attacked by the Hartal supporters. We also sympathize with the MNC guys, the IT and BPO people who make all their attempts to reach office, because their client abroad doesn't understand this concept.

In the western countries, when people work hard on week days and are keen to celebrate long weekends, we don't care about long weekends, because we have confidence that India has enough problems to aggravate and cause Hartals, hence we know these short weekends (or mid week celebrations) will get plugged in to our calenders at a good frequency. We don't want to work too hard or celebrate too well, we just like to celebrate while we move forward. We generally have around 20 vacation days, 10 public holidays, and 10-15 Hartals to take rest and celebrate in a year. We may be supporters for the reasons of these Hartals and know it may be genuine, however we also know the Hartal won't solve these problems. But honestly speaking, we simply enjoy it.

I think the law of conservation of energy/matter applies to this phenomena also. Though ironical, I would call it the law of conservation of 'destruction'. It states - "The total amount of destruction remains the same, it just appears in one form (Bandh) and re-appears in another form (Hartal)"

There may be many ways to protest against this social evil. One of them is to write this article on a Hartal day......

Curtain raiser

It is a truth that I haven't written for long, and I may possibly become lazy to have a two year's break from writing immediately after this post. However, this blog is the child of a thought to keep separate areas for English and Malayalam writing. Not sure if this post will remain in the top as the latest one for long, but I hope it doesn't.

The name of the blog is inspired by two facts, one is that short names for blogs are no more a possibility, the other is the name entitled to the autobiography of our great Father of the nation - Mahatma Gandhi (The Story of my experiments with truth).

My definition of writing is this: If the mind can be compared to a reservoir or tank of thoughts, I think writing is a good "tap" to let go of some of those thoughts, and hopefully for someone's use. Don't waste water and words, please :)

Dedicating this to all who like to read and write. Welcome to my experiments with words!!