The Yearbook

Written on the eve of my kid’s bridging ceremony which is held to mark their end of academic year. The idea is to cross a figurative bridge (from one teacher to the next) in front of friends and parents.

Random musings on going through their yearbooks which is a collection of photos and quotes of every important moment at school in the past year

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.

Dr. Seuss
Source: Brainy Quote

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The Illusion of Control

My thoughts on current state of affairs with social media and what you can do to remain in control of your data

Way back in 2004, one of the world’s largest soft drinks company pulled their “pure” bottled water product off the shelves because it had been contaminated with bromate, a cancer-causing chemical. In July 2010, a major tobacco maker admitted that child workers as young as 10 were working in tobacco farms related to them. Now in March 2018, a whistleblower (& thorough investigation) helped show that a data analytics firm might have abused data leak from the world’s largest Social Network.

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Towards a Secure and Safe Internet

Google’s move to make https an essential part while browsing using Chrome would be significant for many people. In this article I have tried to cover the options (known to me) that can help mitigate the costs involved in procuring a https certificate.

Around one year ago, Google Chrome announced that they would begin marking all sites that are not encrypted with HTTPS as “not secure” in their browser. This move essentially started shaming websites by displaying a “Not Secure” marker in the address bar. However this happened only when the site collected passwords or credit card info.

Later in 2017, they further announced their next steps towards a more secure internet. In this step the warning came up in two more situations: when people enter data on an HTTP page, and on all HTTP pages visited in Incognito mode.

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Cyber Security Learnings & 2018 Resolutions

Some hard learnings from 2017 has led me to taking these resolutions for conducting my 2018 online life

Image Credit: Networecon.com

In the past, new year resolutions have been a miss-hit for me. I have had my run-ins with the usual suspects:

  • Physical fitness ambitions that were, simply put, over-expectations.
  • Financial goals that simply ruined my everyday happy living.
  • Commitment to family life that was easily hijacked by my techno addictions.
  • Blogging pledges that soon turned into woeful unread posts.

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2018 – Climbing out of Trenches

2017 was a great year of change for us. While our move to Europe has rekindled some hopes of optimism, we still need to do some smart work to get our lives going forward in the right sense.

2017 just came to an end. It has been a fascinating year for myself – of slipping down the slope and getting lost before, finally, finding what looks like a path back up the hill. I am pretty sure that when I look back the pages of my life, 2017 would probably be the one where I will remember knocking the door of hope.

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The Art of Minting Money Online

The current trend of making money online, simply using power of blockchain & present day boom in value of cryptocurrencies

Many years ago an ‘unknown benefactor‘ from Nigeria dropped me an email about a “once in a lifetime offer” that was simply too tempting to pass! You see, a very distant relative of his had recently passed away leaving billions of $ in unclaimed property. For unbeknownst reasons, all I needed to do now was to pass on my bank account and address details, so that my pal from Africa can work out finer details & help me claim a fortune and share it with me!

This would sound familiar to so many of us who were spammed a decade or so ago. In fact the same story has done so so many rounds, that we all started to crave for a change from this cringeworthy storyline, if not for a way out of spam emails!

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A Shortcut to Heaven

My response to those seeking life’s purpose, but unable to find it. My answer to what I think is the true purpose of life.

Hell’s gate opened up
Swallowing me in whole
Crazy as it may seem
’twas not too bad at all.

I followed the path hazy
Leading to nowhere sure.
The way was not that scenic
At least I wasn’t there alone.

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A Song for the Unknown Child

Something written impromptu; maybe I hear too many unheard cries of late? This is written for those kids whose childhood has been cut short – perhaps by war, calamity or acts of terror.

They were not meant to be headline news in negative sense. Maybe if we were tolerant enough, we might have seen another flower bloom

I was born in someone’s womb,
Cherished, nourished and nurtured.
I have been in the shop of candy
Built a castle on the sea shore.

I loved the rocking horse,
Also the carousel at fun fair.
I’ve founded many realms, in play;
Lost countless hours in peekaboo.

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A Log on Fire

This life of ours is like a log of wood burning in the star that is the true spirit of everyone

I stood by the ancient fire
One that the souls endure
Neither quelled, nor quenched
With a pang, my heart wrenched.

Started with a benign fondle
Sparked by a Love so pure
Oh ye mother, who stayed strong
How could your ember go so wrong?

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Finding my Sanity

Written for my kids – on international father’s day!

I woke up one Sunday morning
Eager for mom’s special treat
It came without any warning
My life, now, had a whole new beat.

I walked out of my little home
Wanting to enjoy a quiet walk.
It was completely out of tone,
The chaos & the boisterous talk.

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