Trump's election loss and lessons learnt!

 While elections in USA happened last year, and we are yet to welcome our new President, it is time to reflect last four years of Trump's presidency. In Jan 2016, he was elected as 45th President of USA. Everyone was so excited to have someone other than a politician to rule the country. What mistakes did he made now to loose this election?

There was no doubt that US stock market was doing excellent until Mar 2020 and unemployment rate was historic low. This president had really pulled through and got everyone much needed job and employment.  He had a highest approval rating to continue his second term as President. He also survived his impeachment trial. 

Then COVID-19 happened in March 2020 and everything was a downward spiral for him and his team. With COVID-19, elections in the country was definitely a big deal and it was a greater opportunity for him to react and send a right message to the people. Here are few things that he should have done last year which could have helped him to continue 4 more years. 

1. Handling COVID-19: Undeniably for Trump, covid-19 came at a very wrong time. He told in one of his speech 'Before the plague came, I had it made.' But right from the beginning the problem was his denial to accept this problem. While many countries battled with the same virus, their leaders imposed lockdowns and acknowledged the virus as deadly. But with Mr. Trump he commented initially that it was more like a flu virus which happens every year. Even during campaign trails, he gave a wrong message by not putting mask, gathering crowd and taking this virus very lightly. He himself at one point got affected and still downplayed the pandemic. But still he didn't have to really loose this election, all he had to do was  to acknowledge the problem and fight back with everyone by giving support. Trump's denial mode cost him his credibility.

2. Like other world leaders like Modi, he shouldn't have dealt covid case strategically instead of calling it as 'China Virus' repeatedly from March 2020. While many praised him for openly accusing china for causing this deadly problem, he actually fell flat due to many people in US not accepting this kind of rhetoric. Even though China is India's staunch enemy there was never a statement from Mr. Modi on blaming China for the pandemic.

3. Another problem that caused his defeat was he didn't expand his support beyond his voter demographics. He often ruled as if he was the president for only the red states. He made very little attempt to woo democratic majority states. Hence, Biden clarified that there won't be a red or blue president but just one President of America. This statement gave a powerful message and thought to ponder. 

Though Biden was not the obvious choice from democratic party as well, but in this election year definitely it was more of people voting out Trump than choosing Mr. Biden. Only time will tell how the Biden presidency is going to overcome this challenge of stabilizing the economy and giving the million jobs back to the people instead of handing over the stimulus checks. But living in a democratic country it is our duty to welcome the new president and support him for fighting against covid and building back the economy. 

AAP's landslide victory

Call him a Muffler man, corruption hunter or aam aadmi, but Arvind Kejriwal and team are not to be under estimated. None of the exit polls were anticipating such a victory for AAP. BJP fell flat of 3 seats and congress got decimated. Similar to Modi wave, its AAP's Tsunami as some people are saying.

I am writing this post to analyze the  results and what went positive for AAM aadmi.

1. Door to door campaigning.

While BJP did high level stuff like asking cabinet ministers, calling Obama on republic day parade, calling film actors to campaign on behalf of Kiran Bedi in Delhi, AAP kept the campaigning to grass root level of going door to door, conducting Mohalla sabhas etc and trying to woe the Delhi voters. They apologized in public several times for last year's debacle and assured people that if they get a clear mandate they will prove to them that they are an asset.

2. Nature of campaigning
BJP and congress campaigned in their old fashioned way of accusing other party and negative politics against AAP. AAP stuck to the positive campaign and have struck the cord with the voters of Delhi. This kind of mandate asserts that politics is changing in India and people want a fresh party who can understand their common day to day problems. The high political drama of calling president to republic parade etc has not helped BJP much in their campaign. They gave ads in local newspaper targetting Arvind Kejriwal and spent too much time criticizing him.

3. Inducting Kiran Bedi, Shazia Ilmi and Vinod Binny
The biggest blunder BJP committed is by inducting CM candidate 20days before elections. They should have added her 2 months before elections. Kiran Bedi no doubt has a good track record and she is the only one who can face Kejriwal in terms of clean image and good record. She couldn't take part in many debates and answer to questions asked specifically for BJP strategies. It almost looked like she is alone and BJP is not with her. How can a CM candidate take up Delhi when her ministers are not going to obey her. People mostly felt that she is opportunist and trying to ride on the Modi Wave factor. However, for other two candidates they had already left AAP due to personal reasons. So, they wouldn't have added much to this debacle.

4. Gaining voters confidence
I think the important task that AAP did was to gain back the voters confidence. For this they did their homework since last year after they failed miserably in the Lok sabha elections. Hats off to them for pulling this effort. BJP was showing Modi as the face of this campaign but people know that he is a PM and he is not going to govern Delhi. They should have campaigned vigorously with Kiran Bedi as she could have connected more with the voters of Delhi. All the BJP Ads focussed only on Modi and Amit Shah.

Now, AAP has to  succeed in their 5yrs term since they have a overwhelming mandate to serve the people of Delhi. 

Aam Aadmi Party -- Restoring democratic faith in delhi

With the recent elections in Delhi, newly formed Aam Aadmi party has won 28 seats in Delhi, defeating Indian national congress with a big number. This was an astonishing start for a newly formed political party. The last party with such a sound winning numbers was TDP in Andhra Pradesh.

History:

The first Jan lokpal movement was the cause of AAP's creation. Millions of Indians were on streets with Anna Hazare ji to support Jan Lokpal bill to get passed in the parliament. This anti-corruption movement has stirred lot of Indians and they took notice of greedy politicians. The Jan Lokpal members tried all means to convice government to form strong anti-corruption laws. Government tried to break Anna Hazare's fast by giving an assurance that they will discuss Jan lokpal in the upcoming parliament session but they failed to do so. Right at this moment Arvind Kejriwal and company decided to form a political party naming it as "Aam Aadmi Party". Anna Hazare gave the consent but he didn't join politics.

After this AAP has conducted many rallies and campaigns throughout India and it has many social activists and RTI activists as members. It has built a sense of awareness among Indian youth who otherwise thought that its waste of time to go and vote on an election day. The election commission of India also gave green signal for AAP and that's how AAP entered the battle field i.e. Delhi Elections. The party's sign is 'Broom' which signifies that they want to clean the political system of the country. Lot of youngsters have supported AAP and became its member. The party gave a big blow to the ruling party of New Delhi by defeating them with a broad margin. It is short of just 4 seats with leading BJP but AAP is not forming any coalition government.

Arvind Kejriwal defeated 3 times chief minister Sheela dixit in her own constituency and gained national fame. There have been one more political party which was formed for the similar reasons - Lok Satta by Jayaprakash Narayan. Both the leaders share similar back ground of working on a high rank government positions. AAP pledges to form a system that is strong to withstand corruption in any levels. Their first and foremost agenda is passing Jan Lokpal bill to form an anti-corruption government.

AAP was formed when the nation was struggling to get rid of the corrupt government. The party has given an alternative in India to give voice to common people who is being subject to cheating and robbery by current political parties. So, it would be interesting to know if there is a re-election in Delhi and if AAP wins in majority. Whatever happens nation is awakened with the outstanding win of AAP. More people might come out and vote for AAP in case of re-elections. AAPs win has made the congress and BJP parties to stay alert and focus on their campaigns and not take it easy any more.

Has Anna lost his magical touch??

Anna Hazare, a name that came in association with 'LokPal bill' last year. Team Anna has been fighting against the UPA government and had promised the nation a corruption free environment. But it seems like this is little hard to achieve even after doing several indefinite fasts. Yes, the main question of this article is : Has Anna lost his magical touch? The support for team anna has diminished considerably from the last year. Anna began his fifth hunger strike but failed to draw the massive crowds that marked the start of his campaign. This time in 2012 crowd was very less as compared to 2011 in Ram lila maidan and jantar mantar. Just an year ago, ten thousands of people had supported him fighting against rain and sweltering sun and pledged for Anna Hazare's support. Have we moved on and accepted corruption as a part of our daily routine while team Anna is still fighting for it?

We all know how much Anna and his team are fighting against current UPA government members. Why should we support him or Jan Lokpal...the answer is simple: it will support you. But this time when he went on indefinite fast, the enthusiam from the public seems to be missing. Its not just the number of people who had come there and taken part but also about people who talk about supporting his movements are diminishing. While team Anna members deny from this fact and say that media has not given enough coverage for the movement and also claim that number of people attending it is not important but number of minds thinking and doing something about Jan Lokpal is important to them.

This time team Anna is demanding that there should be a panel of supreme court judges who should probe corruption allegations against 15 UPA ministers and that includes our PM Manmohan singh. While some ministers believe that Anna is just a creation of media and they have given enough highlight to him last year when government had to bend their head and said that they will consider Jan Lokpal. When will this Jan Lokpal bill will be passed? With the creation of Jan Lokpal there will be an independent body that would fight against corruption in the country and protect whistle blowers who have lost their lives for the nation. In 2011, during parliament's winter session Lokpal was passed in LokSabha but was turned down in Rajya sabha. The war against corruption is a long and time taking process and we all should stand together as a citizen of India to fight against it. Last year's agitation had attracted lot of youths to come forward and support Anna in his anti corruption movements. What happened now? Why are we slowing down? Is it the feeling that nothing can shake this government and that includes Anna's team?? This is because of loss of novelty and hope that nation can see Jan lokpal being part of Indian government. It might just be possible that last year Anna Hazare was a new face to the public who was putting his feet to remove corruption and also India had witnessed several big corruption cases like 2G scam, common wealth games scam etc. Also, the methods of non violence and indefinite fast was new to the public and it might have just attracted the crowd who were already suffering from corruption within their minds. People had a hope that Anna can change the government and force lokpal by winter session in Lok sabha. A sense of hope was engineered into people's mind. Anna has now become a routine for people and when they hear about his indefinite fast the reaction is " Oh one more fast...". So, Anna should take care not to appear again and again in the public for same cause and movement. This could make them believe that "If he cannot do it, even we cannot do it".

But the failure of addition of lokpal in december 2011 has also failed team Anna to revive this anti corruption movement. Now people are not getting that hope that this agitation might succeed. This is the fourth time he is on a movement but Anna's movements are becoming predictable. Government has shut its ear to his movements and are paying very less heed to the demands. They know that if they bring lokpal, directly country's PM is under investigation and that can be very demeaning. Looks like all the parties have come together unanimously and standing against Lokpal! Anna should know how to mobilize the momentum and shouldn't allow the protest to loose its edge. The media needs to give more coverage to his movements now when it is required more. We know the power of media can force the government to take serious steps.

Is India safe for women??

Yes, being an Indian and being born and brought up in India I am asking this question to all Indians. Since past couple of years, number of crime against women has been increasing so much all around India. But the past Guwahati incidence has shook us all. But if you ask the citizens of Assam, they say that it is very common site in Assam but since there was a video recording in this case the matter has become a national shame. After seeing lot of debates and news I am encouraged to write this post. I want to vent out my reaction for the same.

Assam has second highest record for crime against women, there were roughly 11,000+ cases in Assam regarding public molestation of women, rape and torture. What is the police doing in Assam? They claim that they needed more force for night patrolling than why were they sleeping until now?? They wanted some media to take this up on a high level and make them realize about their force. Lets see what happened there. A girl goes to a pub to enjoy for her friend's birthday, had couple of drinks, comes out of the pub and picks up a fight with a friend. The fight becomes little physical and they go out of the pub. The other friends ran from there and the local morons take advantage and pull this girl from her hair and torture her !! Who the hell are they? Are they law makers ?? Idiot bastards, cowards who want to take advantage of this teenager and satisfy their lust publicly. Please excuse me for the language but if I were police I would have definitely given a severe punishment to them. Apart from these morons other guys gang up there and start chasing her and tearing her clothes.. Have we lost our senses? It was a main road and people passing by had no mercy for her. Everyone says that it was a mob.. But mind it they were Aam Janata.. and not mafia dons who had guns and swords. What is wrong with us? How can we be a mute spectators for such a animal like behavior??

The reporter who decided to shoot all this, can't he shoot it for 10mins and then go and help her out instead of shooting it for 30mins and later asking the girl to reveal her identity? I agree that he has helped the police by filming the whole video but there has been lapses with the news channel's integrity and they shouldn't have revealed her identity openly. The guys seems to have been enjoying doing all this and there were educated and uneducated people who wanted to go and strip her off! Insanity and mad behavior.. These things are only due to lack of proper law and order in our country. They know that even they are caught they will get released the next day so why not enjoy this whole thing. If it wasn't media, this case would have got suppressed like several other cases. I really hope the girl gets justice and these offenders get a severe punishment. If given a chance, I would have made them to walk naked on the same streets and ask people to put cow dung on their faces and genitals. At least other guys will get a lesson that it is a crime. If we don't respect woman then we get the same treatment for our daughter's and sisters. I don't know what were they thinking before doing all this. Was this just because she visited a pub and she deserved this kind of treatment?? Come on guys wake up and stop this kind of nonsense. If they were 30 such people then can't we gang up and say NO to these bastards. I feel if we had a Hitler rule we could have hanged these guys till death or at least broke their hands using which they created such a crime! Indian government should impose very serious laws for molestation and rape incidents. Otherwise our country will never become a progressive country by seeing woman as a sex objects. Respect each other and the mindset regarding the pub culture is very wrong. Not all the people who go to pub are bad. Its just an individual opinion to go to pub or not.

P.S. I am sorry for the excessive raging words, I have never done this in any of my post. But this incident is unusual and I feel bad about it.

PM: The underachiever

Today first time I have seen a direct allegation on a country's Prime Minister on such a trusted magazine. Yes, I was a bit surprised to see our very own Manmohan singh on Time magazine's cover page but with the caption "The UnderAchiever - Does India need a reboot?". Things like this will definitely create political drifts in our country and as a result of which the opposition party has asked PM to give resignation. While PM, refrained to come out and talk to the media. Mr. P Chidambaram commented this whole act as "distasteful". This article has also noted that economical growth of the country has receded and also asks a question to the whole nation whether "PM is upto his job?". The magazine has also pulled up congress led UPA government for wasting last three years of its rule.

While I don't totally refute from what the magazine cover says but as a media things like this shouldn't be done. Media is there to open everyone's eyes, but for making such direct allegations you need a strong backup. I haven't read the whole article yet, but I would say it should be a shocker to the entire UPA government and hopefully it will wake up our sleepy PM and finally he would take his stance. I wouldn't deny that PM is a good person as an individual, but why has he kept his mouth shut all these years. With a zillions of scams, price hikes, constant fall in rupee price in internation market why can't he reconstruct our goverment and economy?? It has also been alleged that PM doesn't have control on his own party people and also since when he took charge of Finance ministry where he was supposed to perform well, no significant development has happened.

Is this a warning bell for our country men to wake up and vote "Wisely" from next time?? Is this an alarm for the "UPA govt." that enough is enough?? My personal opinion is this has created a new wave of conflicts and politics among opposition leaders. Now, they are adamant that re election should happen much before the awaited 2014! The time has come for the PM to come out of his shell and do some economic reforms before the nation fells down.

As of today, I received an update from Time magazine with a reason why they called our PM an underachiever and here's what they said:

“Many people are upset because we called Indian PM Manmohan Singh an underachiever,” said Time magazine. “We intended no disrespect to Mr. Singh. We just meant that all his achievements were under someone else. Very often he could not see what he was doing because he was bent over too much. This may have affected his performance, but our observation related mainly to his position and posture.”

Human trafficking - 3rd illicit trade

Human trafficking is the third biggest profitable illicit trade happening in this world. According to UNFPA estimate, around 1.3 million people are trafficked throughout the world every year. Thousands of children and women are being affected with this trade. India, a country that stands 2nd in terms of world population is also a worst hit. According to UNICEF around 3 lakhs children, mostly girls are trafficked and most of them are pushed into prostitution. People are convinced, threatened, abducted or cheated and are pushed into this flesh market that has no mercy for the victims. It is one of the worst forms of modern day exploitation. It violates all the human right laws. Do you ever wonder how this human trafficking takes place, how many people and families get hit by this? In this post I want to highlight some of the real life cases and show how this trade takes place and what change is necessary from us as a human being in this society.

Poverty is the root cause for this trafficking. The victims families are usually poor and they are lured by good job offer or sometimes blackmailed to force them to sell their daughter or son. Teenage girls from poor families are the worst victims for the prostitution trade. They are either offered a job of house keeper or something else and then taken to big cities like Mumbai, kolkatta and are pushed into this trade. Innocent girls don't know what they are getting into and once they are sold to these pimps they are beaten, tortured or threatened for doing this illicit job. Their life is made miserable and they are forced to do what they shouldn't have. They are subjected to in human conditions and illicit flesh trade. There is small or big racket in every city and girls are supplied to international levels. At the time of common wealth games, this business bloomed due to lot of visitors. It is now time to stop this crime and take some strong action.

Secondly the innocent kids who are below 5 years are being sold for all different purposes. Boys of this age are sold to the Arab countries so that they become camel jockeys for the annual race. They are subjected to very brutal living conditions that can scare a street dog! Imagine those poor innocent kids are taught to ride a camel and make a balance in the race, what if they couldn't! There is no second chance, they are killed by the camel stampede. This is another form of human trafficking. In last few months, there was a case of 'Baby Falak' that was in the news for long time. If you go through the case, it is a case of human trafficking for the whole family. Her mother after being abandoned by her husband was forced to prostitution. When she strongly refused that, she was deceived into the flesh market by marrying her off to a guy who promised to take care of her children as well. She was subjected to physical assault and resold to another person. In this way, uneducated woman are deceived and lured in the flesh trade. More information about the case you can go through these links.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/baby-falak-case-five-new-developments-174081

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Baby-Falak-case-Police-arrest-prime-accused-Rajkumar/Article1-809831.aspx

Human trafficking is increasing a lot in India and mostly due to the need of money and exploitation of the poor. We are heading towards 21st century with all these back logs. Where are we heading to? What about the future of these innocent kids who are pulled in this black market? They don't deserve to live a life like this because of their parent's mistakes or greed.

As a responsible human being lets contribute to this society by showing more awareness and being vigilant regarding these things and report to the police immediately when we see such cases being happening around us. There has been an establishment of 'Integrated Anti human trafficking unit' and police officers are being trained regarding this human trafficking. Apart from that awareness should be spread in our community and villages about how human trafficking can take place with any of us. This awareness can be in form of a theater play, in the form of writing or by public awareness campaigns. This human trafficking should be explained to the children in schools and by parents and they should also be taught what they should do if they find themselves trapped in it. Also, the affected victims should be rehabilitated and should be employed to do some basic community service work according to their caliber.

P.S : This post is written as a part of Indiblogger 'Time to Change' contest.

http://facebook.com/sftimetochange

A fresh comparison between iPhone 4s and Atrix 2

Gone are the days when people used to buy iPhone just because they want a touch screen or Talking Tom Cat application. There are touch screen phones everywhere in the market.

iPhone 4S has grown over Talking Tom and they have come up with Siri app that does more than just talking. iPhone 4S has released in USA on 14th Oct, 2011 and till date it has sold around 4 million phones. There are 3 carriers for iPhone At&t, Verizon and Sprint. They are selling both white and black iPhone simultaneously in the market, so that the customer doesn't have to wait for the white phones. Let's see the main eye catching features for the iPhone 4s that has lured the customers.

Courtesy - Bestbuy images

• The dual core A5 chip that can now handle fast web browsing, graphic intensive apps, and extended battery life along with multitasking.
• iOS 5 operating system that has efficient power management for outstanding battery life, reminders and notification center etc.
  
• Siri voice activation - This is the eye catching feature for most of the customers as Siri is like the personal assistant that guides you for whatever questions you have. It understands speech and responds accordingly. It is integrated with location services and built in apps. It can make calls, send texts, set alarm/reminder and much more. Siri understands most of the english accents spoken world wide. However, local accent(place where you live currently) is the one that works just fine.
• 8.0MP camera - This is a bumped up camera version compared to iphone 4. It has advanced optics, advanced hybrid filter, increased sensitivity and face detection etc.
• 16GB/32GB internal memory - iphone 4s comes with these extended memory options compared to the older ones that came with basic 8GB storage. In addition to this you can subscribe for the iCloud storage to store music, photos and documents.
• It gives upto 14 hours of talk time with 200hours of standby time. This is a huge improvement for a smart phone.
• Dual antennas - It has dual antennas for both GSM and CDMA support and this makes it a world phone.

After seeing these features one would definitely tempt to go and buy iPhone 4s however there is more. Lets see the features of Motorola Atrix 2 that also came into the US market on 16th october, 2011.

Courtesy - google images

After the huge success and appreciations of Motorola Atrix 4g; Atrix 2 is now released in the market. The unique features of this phone are:

• 4G speed - This is the smartphone that has 4G internet speed. It offers quick and easy connection speeds.
• Android 2.3 Ginger bread OS.
• 4.3" color high definition touch screen and easy navigation of phone features. Yet the phone is light weight.
• 8.0MP digital camera with autofocus for taking still images. It shoots 1080p video at 30fps with stabilization for clear video. It has VGA front camera.
• The downside compared to Apple is the talk time which is 3hours and 10days standby time.
• Doesn't feature memory, need to have a microSD card for storage.

So, for whatever reason Apple iPhone 4s is clearly the winner among the general public.

#BAD11:To eat organic or not?

This post has been featured as Editor's choice on Blogjunta. You can read other entries here.

Today on the occasion of world food day, I would like to write an article to create awareness for organic food. World food day is the day which focuses the world's attention on food. In association with BAD all the bloggers have united to contribute something about food. We all like eating food and that's why there is no reason why anyone cannot write about food.

Food is the integral part of our life. Like a saying in India " Three things are necessary for a man - Food, clothes and home". But these days due to increase in world population, there is a scarcity of food which will be intense after few years. So, there is a need to take one pledge that we should not waste food as much as possible. However, I am not writing about that topic. In my article, I am focusing on the choice of either eating Organic food or not?

What is organic food?

Lets start with the basics. What do we exactly mean by organic food. Organic products are something that are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms etc. Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. However, USDA defines organic as " The food produced by the farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations". Pretty different definition isn't it? Lets stick to our original simple definition for now.

Nowadays, all the stores have both organic and non organic sections. For the vast majority of agricultural history, farming was done organically until 20th century where there were discoveries of synthetic fertilizers for farming. There is a difference between organic farming and natural farming. Apart from the definition of organic food, organic farming practices are designed to conserve soil and water resources. Farmers who grow organic produce and meat don't use conventional methods to fertilize, control weeds or prevent livestock diseases. They use natural fertilizers like manure or compost to feed soil and plants. Because of all these extra care organic products are usually seen to be bit expensive than conventionally grown produce. Also, organic farms are usually smaller than conventional farms and so do not benefit from the economies of scale that larger growers get.

So lets come to the topic and see why we should eat organic food. Many factors influence the decision to choose organic food. Sometimes we select organic food because of the way it is grown. Because of the environmental reasons organic farming practices are designed to benefit the environment by reducing pollution and conserving water and soil quality.

There is no solid reason to claim that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food. But some recently published studies have shown that organic food has higher nutritional value than conventional food. Taste is definitely an individual matter, but many chefs across the world are choosing organic food as they feel that it has superior taste and quality. Since organic food is grown in well balanced soil, it makes sense that these healthy plants, fruits have great taste. Because of these beneficial reasons even doctors are recommending patients to consume organic food in order to heal quickly.

The image below shows some of the food which we should shop organic.

But whether you choose organic food or conventional ones, there are few key points to keep in mind.

• Select variety of food from variety of sources as this will a better mix of nutrients.
• Buying seasonal fruits and vegetables will compel us to eat fresh produce.
• Read food labels carefully as just buying organic food is not enough.
• Wash and scrub fresh fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water before consumption as this will wash away dirt, bacteria and traces of chemicals from the surface

There is so much to write and explore about organic food but I want to limit my post here. My main intention was to draw some awareness among everyone.

This post is written for Blog action day #BAD11.

R.I.P Dennis Ritchie

Dennis Ritchie, a pioneer of C language and the UNIX operating system died on Oct 8th, 2011. The tributes to Dennis Ritchie won't match with those of Steve Jobs who died last week due to illness. As a matter of fact half of the world won't be even aware of Ritchie's name. But I am writing this article as a tribute to what he has done in the computer world so far.

Dennis Ritchie was a notable American scientist who developed C language and helped creating UNIX operating system. He developed C that evolved from the language B which he developed at first in the Bell labs. He used C language to build UNIX. The original UNIX kernel was written in assembly language but later it was developed with a higher level language. Something that gave them more control over the data that spanned across the OS. He developed C programming in early 1970s which is still popular now and UNIX is the operating system on which most of the devices in this world are build on and that includes the Apple empire once overseen by Steve Jobs.

Pretty much everything on the web uses C and UNIX. The browsers are written in C. The UNIX kernel on which the internet runs on is also written in C, if not in C then they are written in other high level languages derived from C. C is the basic language for all the high level languages like C++, C#, Java etc. If we say that most of the modern internet architecture and economy is built on the work that Dennis did, then it won't be an overstatement. The UNIX operating system and its off shoot Linux, is widely used today in corporate servers, cell phones, set top boxes and other devices.

Even Microsoft windows was once written in C, while now its based on its derivatives like VC++. UNIX under pins Apple's Mac OS X and iOS which is used in iPhones and iPads. But Steve Jobs was the visible king while Ritchie was a dormant contributor to these. Ritchie built things that are used by the technologists to build core infrastructure that people don't see underneath, but they use it everyday.

Ritchie died at the age of 70 at his home in New Jersey, USA. I wanted to write an article for him so that the world knows about him and his noble contributions to the technology sector. He is truly an inspiration to all the software engineers across the world.

You can read his biography on Wikipedia.

Technical advancements to prevent future 9/11 attacks

As we see the tenth anniversary of 9/11, we see many theories that are coming up that talks about the technical advancements in the airline security. Imagine a case as when a terrorist rush towards the cockpit, the sensors that detect the fast motion of the terrorist would send out alarm to the ground officials. That also in turn would disable the cockpit controls in the airline so that they can't hijack and ride the plane. Also the sensors would engage the flight in an uninterrupted auto pilot mode that would land the plane in a secure location thereby locking the cockpit where the hijackers are.

This is just an hypothetical example of what future defense system would like, to combat terrorism. Potential defenses range from advanced electronic surveillance system that could intercept would be terrorists before they get onto a plane. But experts say that just being prepared to stop 9/11 type of attack is not enough. 9/11 was a unique attack in its own times. Future attacks will likely to use different methods to maintain the terror and surprise. Researchers are also searching for a technology to defend aircraft against a wider range of threats including shoulder fired missiles. It's probably a matter of time before such defense mechanisms are tested again.

Listing some of the newly technical advancements that have come into picture recently.

Remote-controlled airliners

These in theory are the same ones which we usually play with. Boeing has actually developed remote-control technology for flying an airliner which in theory would have prevented the attacks on the world trade center.

Bio-monitors

The best way to stop an attack in theory would be to identify the terrorists in the airport and arrest them. Already, U.S airports have been equipped with explosive detection devices and imaging scanners that would allow security personnel to look under passenger's clothing for concealed weapons or explosives. But researchers are envisioning sophisticated video surveillance that has a software which analyzes facial expressions for signs of lying. Other devices would be the remote scan for irregular blood pressures and heart rates.

Onboard video monitoring

European researchers are developing onboard surveillance systems in the cabin. The setup might include the software to analyze passenger's facial expressions and movements for suspicious behavior.

Light guns to dazzle attackers

U.S govt researchers are looking into the possibility of equipping air marshals with non lethal weapons similar to the laser beam of light that could temporarily blind a person and disorient an attacker. Such weapons might disable hijackers without endangering other passengers.

However, many experts warn against spending too much time and money preparing for a repeat of 9/11 attacks since its unlikely that the future attacks would involve flying planes into the buildings. Also, today the airline crews and passengers would fight back. For eg. in the 9/11 attack, one of the flight that was about to hit capitol building was grounded to shanksville Pennsylvania. In a second incident there was a passenger who was a "shoe bomber" but his attempts were subdued by the passengers.

So, when was the last time we see such plane attack, it is sept 11 attack. So, the chances are we are not going to see terrorists trying the same thing.

Background information - National Geography

' La Tomatina ' do we need this festival?

Courtesy - google images

La Tomatina is a spanish festival that is held in the Valencian town of Buñol, where participants throw tomatoes at each other. This festival is organized in August month.

Origin

This festival is believed to be originated in 1945, where there was an annual parade which was passing by Buñol. Apparently, youngsters tried to join the parade and accidently knocked one of the giants. This lead to a brawl, where in retaliation youngsters picked up tomatoes from nearby vegetable stand and started using them as weapons. Police intervened and broke the fight. However, in the following year these young people returned and started another tomato fight using their own tomatoes. This subsequently has led to the famous 'La Tomatina' festival.

After reading the description, we know that for whatever reason this is celebrated as a festival in Spain. This was being celebrated since very long time but it has been brought to notice to the Indian public by Zindagi na milegi dobara movie. Indian public has always been influenced by films and media since past. This is another similar incident. This festival has been decided to be hosted first time in India in Bangalore. But the main purpose is not really tomato festival, it includes DJ, rain dance and another attractions. Why???? Why people of India are getting so stupid to find fun in something like this? We have highest number of festivals being celebrated since centuries. Why do you want to include this festival that has no place in our country?

People are tending to adopt western culture so blindly that, all they want is just enjoyment. They are gradually moving to western culture but in a bad way. So, lets ask few questions to these organizers. Why do you want to celebrate a Spanish festival in India? Do you want any alliance with Spanish companies? Or do you want any bilateral relation with Spain? Just because 'La Tomatina' was popularized by a bollywood movie, doesn't mean we need to actually start celebrating it. Moreover, the movie was entirely shot in Spain. So, people grow up and if you really want to mingle with Spanish culture than go to Spain and celebrate their festival just like they do in the movie.

According to the latest estimations, we know that there are several people and kids suffering from Malnutrition and poverty. So, is it advisable to waste tonnes of tomatoes that will be used in this festival? Spain hosts this festival every year because of cultural reasons but India on the other hand doesn't need these kind of festivals. Instead of that why don't u start a group and ask people to donate some tomatoes to the poor in India and call it 'La Tomatina' but with a different objective.

Lot of people have filed protests against this with Karnataka chief minister, in order to ban this festival. Even there is a young Bangalore resident who expressed concern with the wastage of tomatoes and requested government to take action. Today, Karnataka govt declined to permit the tomato festival in Bangalore in response to all these social activist and well wishers. Chief minister mentioned that such events should not be permitted since wasting nutritious food is against Indian ethics. I am glad that there are some young people in India who still belong to India. There is no sense in bringing an absurd western culture in India. India is already dealing with lot of unnecessary westernization. There is a facebook page for La Tomatina festival and surprisingly there were more than 50,000 members who were planning to attend it either in person or online. Such a pity !

Tribute to the 9/11 victims

This article was published by me originally on ViewsPaper.

September 11,2001 is the date that is echoed in every American's mind. It is remembered not only by the Americans but everyone else in this world as the deadliest attack of the 20th century. Whenever we remember 9/11 the image of the twin towers burning appears within a flash of a second. The scale of disaster, loss of lives and the smoke that filled in the entire Manhattan area all these are the visuals that we had seen in the live TV news channels.

There may be many dates in the world history which everyone remembers but this event is the fresh one among those which evokes emotion from our heart. I want to start narrating this incident from the day when I actually heard about it. Ten years ago September 11, 2001 was an important date for me. I was about to get my first year engineering exam results. I was delighted to see an A on my marksheet and was very happy to go and give this news to my father.

On my way home I had so many ideas to celebrate my first success in the career. But when I reached home which was 7 PM in India which means around 9.30am in New York. My father was glued to the television as he just arrived from his office. When I stepped into my home first thing he said "A plane flew into world trade center and New York's financial capital building is under attack !"

My first expression was "Whattttttt" ? This is astonishing. It was the first time I ever heard about World Trade Center of New York City. Being born and brought up in India, I was not very familiar with any of the buildings of USA apart from statue of liberty, White house and Pentagon. So, my next question was are these other buildings safe?? My father gave a horrified look and said "You don't know what WTC towers are don't u?" I nodded to say No. It was then and there I came to know about WTC and how it influenced the finance area of USA. There were more than 900 companies established in the twin towers. So, many multi national companies and people from all different diversities worked there. I saw some videos that showed how the north tower was still burning in flames and people were out of their windows crying for help and some of them even toppled from the 100+ floors of WTC just to get some fresh air !

My heart cried after seeing the plight of these people and my mind started giving weird rescue ideas like why dont' they arrive with 50 helicopters and pick these people from respective floors, like they show in hollywood movies. I came to know from the news that one of the plane has hit pentagon and white house was safe since there was a plane that crashed in the farms. I saw thousands of people on the streets screaming "oh my god, there is an attack". They realized that it was an attack after second plane hit the south WTC tower.

This was in 2001. After few years passed I arrived in united states to do masters. I forgot about this incident somehow but whenever some one mentioned about it I used to go online and read some information about this attack. This is compilation of what I have understood has happened.

Early morning of 11th Sept, 2001 a group of 19 hijackers took control of 4 commercial airlines from Boston, Newark and Washington D.C. The flights that were involved are:

• American airlines Flight 11 - Boston to Los Angeles, crashed into North WTC tower
• United Airlines Flight 175 - Boston to Los Angeles, crashed into South WTC tower
• American Airlines Flight 77 - Washington to Los Angeles, crashed into Pentagon
• United Airlines Flight 93 - Newark to San Francisco, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania

At about 8.46 am, five hijackers crashed AA flight 11 into the north world trade center tower. There were not much videos about this attack so everybody were under the impression that a bomb exploded in the north tower. People from the north tower started evacuating immediately. The smoke was rising in the area surrounding to the north WTC tower and everybody looked horrified on the streets. There were lot of people in the nearby Battery park, New York and the traffic was stand still even on the Brooklyn bridge. Everybody were shocked to see a big giant building burning in flames.

The news channels from all over the world had started turning their camera towards the world trade center and the disaster. It was right after 15mins another 5 hijackers crashed United Airlines 175 into the south tower at 9.03am. The whole world was shook by this incident. Many channels covered this incident live on their channel. A big giant airplane from nowhere strikes the south WTC tower and it is like an explosion to the people around there. Now, everyone was convinced that this was a planned attack and USA is under danger.

Five hijackers flew American airlines 77 into the Pentagon at 9.37am. These series of attacks with very less time difference choked the minds of American people. The south WTC tower collapsed at 9.59am after burning for 56 minutes while the north tower collapsed at 10.28am after burning for 102 minutes. When the north tower collapsed, debris fell on the other world trade center buildings causing damages and igniting fires. The pentagon sustained major damages due to the crash.

All the other airlines flying in the united states were asked to ground immediately thereby locking the cockpit. The international passenger flights were redirected to Canada and Mexico, and for three days all the flights to the USA were cancelled. Later on it was discovered that the fourth flight United Airlines 93 never made to the target which was Capitol building and not White house. Two weeks after the attack the government confirmed the death toll of around 6000 people ! More than 90 countries lost their citizens in the attacks on the world trade center.

Now after 10 years of this attack, one major achievement for America would be the death of Osama Bin Laden who admitted to be the one who planned the attack. Also, on 11 Sept, 2011 the ground zero has been made a memorial that is open to the public. In the link mentioned below you can access the names of all the individuals who lost their lives either in the airplane or in the world trade towers. This post of mine is a tribute to all the individuals who died on this occasion.

The link to the memorial - http://www.911memorial.org/

Below is the newspaper page of Wall street journal dated 12th Sept, 2001.

References – Wikipedia and all the news agencies that covered 9/11 attacks live. Wall street journal.

Facebook statuses for breast cancer awareness

Every year breast cancer event is being taken very seriously in many countries. Some people go for 5Km run, while some people donate money for breast cancer patients. Some people blog about it to bring awareness among women. But around 80% of people go on Facebook and put up funny breast cancer awareness statuses, to fool around men! Seriously such people should grow up and do something serious if they want to.

A while back, we saw Facebook campaign where women wrote about where they "put their purse", in an effort to make it sound saying where they would like to ***** , which was very inexplicable and very dumb attempt to "raise awareness" for breast cancer.

Some status examples are: I like it on my couch !

I like it on my bed !

Isn't it silly?? I mean how would any one get aware of breast cancer with these statuses !

Last year, women listed their bra color in their Facebook statuses to raise awareness that made it to the national news !

People actually brag about this news and this year the theme is to write the status of what your shoe size is followed by the word inches and how long it takes to do your hair followed by minutes !

For eg. 8inches and 15 minutes ????

Whatttttttt? Jesus Christ, are you trying to imply something else over here !

The fun part is the end of the email that says "The bra game reached the news. Lets try to get this one on the news, too! Help us show everyone how powerful women really are ! " Think about it, do we really need to fool ourselves into believing that posting a silly Facebook status makes us "powerful"??

Sometimes people just get wrapped up in the idea of doing something for the breast cancer that could be just anything ! Instead of that please do something useful and that sends a message across in a positive way. Silly games like this are just benign and no body is getting anything out of it. Instead of that go and buy pink products where the companies would pay each penny to the breast cancer research. Don't you think patients of breast cancer would want more funding going in for this research??

My only request to the people, specially women out there is to do something sensible this year to educate and promote breast cancer awareness. This year my intention is to participate in a 5Km walk and write a blog post to promote awareness. What's your pick??

My destiny

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 23; the twenty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for this month is FREE.

A black Ford sedan arrived on Jani market street, mumbai. Another car was already parked there waiting in the dark. In the ford car, there was a beautiful cute 8yr girl with long hair, fair skin and cute smile, who sat with other girls and carefully listened to the instructions from Romeo. "Okay, Munni all you need to do is get into the car in front of us. You will see a man who's gonna give u some money. You charge him whatever you want to charge him, but in return you are gonna do whatever he wants you to. Its quite simple. Alright?" He sent the girl out. The man inside the other car drove her to an abandoned parking lot near railway tracks, paid her Rs.10,000. He later dropped that girl to Romeo's car. He took her money and started counting.

"Can I have some money?" said Munni.

"Munni, you are making this money for me. So that I can take care of you, give you shelter, food and clothes. I will buy you whatever you want." said Romeo.

I am Munni and I am 13yr old girl who was made to work in a brothel in Mumbai. I was 5yrs when I was taken away by child rescue group during Mumbai blasts as my parents died. I was 10yrs when my grandmother took me to her home in a nearby village. I was molested by my maternal uncle, I went to stay with one of my aunt who had not seen me since I was a baby. But unfortunately her husband started touching me, and when I told him to stop, he said I better don't say this to my aunt or else he would do more. I kept the abuse to myself and lost my virginity in this house. When the frequent molestation increased I had to leave that house and ended up living on streets and public garden. One day I got arrested at night by police when they saw me roaming after 12am. At that time Romeo saw me and appeared in front of police and told them that I am related to him. They left me with Romeo. I thought he is such a great person as he helped me with this. But I didn't know that I need to pay a life time tax to him for his favor. He took gave me shelter at this brothel and named me "Munni". My actual name is Minakshi.

Initially, i was taught how to dress up seductively... I had to even forcibly be in the room where one of the prostitute spent her night with her client. My job was to observe what she is doing and learn ! I hated everybody in this place. I tried to run away from this place but every time I got caught and my punishments were severe. They used to hit me with a hot metal that left scars on my back body. I cried each and every day for god and for freedom. But seems god doesn't listen to people like us.

I was taught swimming and also some western dance moves to attract sometimes at our place policeman or MLAs used to come and watch cricket match. We small girls were supposed to go n sit on their lap while they try to touch our organs. I started hating myself for getting this miserable life and decided to cut my hand and end my life. But for my badluck I cudn't do that either. I grew up and became 13yrs now. I was finally eligible to handle customers who were sick and who want to molest young girls. Even though I earned money I had to give it away to Romeo and our madam who still used to treat us worse than a street dog.

Slowly, I started drinking alcohol when i crossed 16 yrs and liked the idea of getting tipsy and living in a dreamworld. I was always told by my romeo that i would become a "world class escort", which meant prostitute for a high society. I had become suicidal and weak emotionally. I don't have an aim in my life. Girls of my age go to school, learn to be something in their life but for me life was worthless. I was not being taken to bachelor parties, clubs where I can drink to that extent where there is no looking back and people can do whatever they want to with me. But there was something in that drink that made me to vomit and to my surprise I found blood. I was taken to a doctor by Romeo where they found that someone mixed poison in few drinks to kill someone. Romeo and madam were trying to search doctors who could treat me. I was becoming blue and pale and I was clearly able to see death closely to me. They were crying, not because they loved me but they were going to loose a fortune of cash. But I was cool and enjoying my last days of this terrible life. I knew I was going to die but the fear vanished as soon as I understood that now i will be freed from this brothel and this terrible life of mine where nobody cared for me. So, before they could arrange a doctor I took a knife lying on the nurse's table and stabbed myself to death even faster. My last wish before I reach my final destination is "nobody gets a life like me"...

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Kashmir - becoming a neverland for Indians

Kashmir is known as a god's state of India. Some parts of Kashmir is disputed, claimed by India and Pakistan and some by china. Kashmir forms the head of India, if you see the map of India. But I am surprised to see the recent maps of India sold outside india. I couldn't find Kashmir as a part of India on the globe !!

It was a strange incident this year that some BJP activists were not allowed to hoist the Indian flag in Srinagar's Lal chowk. The state has been trying to get back to normalcy since few decades. But it seems that Kashmiri residents have to undergo lot of things yet. Our national flag depicts what our revolutionary leaders have done for our country. It is a symbol of their scarifies and self less life. Srinagar which is still part of India had to face this unseen situation. The reasons that were given for not letting the BJP activists to hoist the flag were ridiculous. Home minister P. Chidambram requested the activists not to escalate tension in the city. While chief minister Omar Abdullah feels that the state is trying to get back to normalcy since long time and this incident could add more tension and violence. While Lal chowk was the place where our first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had promised kashmiri citizens that they would have the right to vote and form the government. This incident has certainly created vibes in India. Not to be biased but any issue created by BJP or RSS becomes a questionable event.

When our government is stopping we Indians to hoist our flag on our land, then how can they allow a pakistani flag to be hoisted in Lal chowk. It is very disturbing to know that chief minister Omar Abdullah was giving contradictory statements. He mentions that Kashmir wants to return back to normalcy and thinks that if India's flag is hoisted there than it creates tension. But how can he allow activists to organize a meeting and also to hoist pakistani flags around Lal chowk ?? Double standards !! Also, was it an encouraging gesture from Chidambaram to give a nod to chief minister's decision? These questions will arise in anyone's mind.

A meeting was hosted by Kashmiri separatist leader and chairman of Hurriyat conference Syed Ali Geelani, called 'Azadi - Freedom the only way'. In this meeting inflammatory anti Indian speeches were being given, what was our honorable home minister doing on that day? Probably gone out of India for vacation, ehh !! He didn't take any measures to prevent this meeting to happen. BJP slammed the central govt for allowing the conference in New Delhi.

These are the double standards of our government officials and the chief minister of Kashmir. This incident has left all the Indians stunned. This political drama unearths their real faces. What about the national security and integrity which should be the main concern for the government?? You keep sensitive issues pending for years and let the outsiders to crash in !!

Apart from political issue, this incident is also subject to the matter of self respect for the nation. I have never seen any country preventing their people to hoist its own national flag. This incident is a real sham for the government and we all condemn on it.

References:

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Public_divided_raises_concern_over_flag_hoisting_at_Lal_Chowk-nid-77884.html

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/bjps-ekta-yatra-chidambaram-speaks-to-jaitley-omar-to-defuse-tension/articleshow/7354756.cms

http://www.merinews.com/article/bjp-slams-govt-for-allowing-azadi-conference-in-delhi/15833441.shtml

You might also like:

http://www.himanshushekhar.com/2011/01/tiranga-and-politics/

Plight of temple priests in India

We all know that India is land of gods and we are blessed to have many amazing temples around the country. Temples in south like Tirupati, Annavaram temple, Rameshwaram; in west like dwarika temple, somnath temple; in north Varanasi, Ram temple etc; Kolkata Kali temple, Sun Temple, Jagannath puri temple in Orissa are some which are always flocked by tourists and worshippers. These are just famous ones which are in my mind. There are innumerable temples in each metro city and at least 5 in each towns and villages.

After getting a clear picture now lets talk about the temple priests and their situation. Some temples like Akshardham temple don't depend on any funds from the government to pay monthly salary to the temple priests but many temples are controlled by state or central government who pay minimum wages to the priests. Inflation is rising so much in India and things are becoming expensive yet they think its okay to pay only Rs-3,000 to the priest. It is world known fact that India is dealing with the problem of corruption in its system. If you follow Indian politics and news, you will always hear about some sort of scam which involves crores of rupees. The government says that it needs funds for military, sports, communication etc and hence there is very less portion of the fund left for the temples. They have in their records that they have spent some crores of rupees in temple repairs and renovations but it is applicable to just few temples

When the government has resorted to getting corrupted in other fields then why not the temple authorities. You will find nowadays that if you want to visit whole temple or you want to see the lord properly in the tirupati temple you might have to pay for doing this. Nothing comes so easy now! There are many people who have faced this situation where you won't get prasadam or teerth if you don't pay money to the priest. I have seen the worst in Lingaraj temple, bhubaneshwar where we ended up giving Rs100 to 4 different priests for various reasons. This was the case in 2002 btw. I can't imagine what would be happening now in those places.

It is said that priests shouldn't expect anything in return. They should offer their prayer to god and worship for the well being for everyone. But they are human beings too. They too deserve to get paid. Government has been ignoring this issue and has kept its eyes shut. As a result, common devotee who goes to visit god ends up paying huge amounts sometime. Dakshina is not mandatory for everyone.

But what do you think guys, is this behavior from the temple authorities and priests acceptable ?

Pied-piper

Ever heard of the story Pied-Piper of hemlyn, the guy who plays the magic flute which lures rats and children from what they are doing and they just blindly follow him. If we put this concept in our real world scenario then yes we are these children who are running blindly in the rat race of these advertisements and media. If you still don't agree with me then let me put across some points which will make you to realize what I am saying.

Advertising and media is pushing everyone in every aspect of their life to attain the so called modern-ness. I coined this word as wherever I see people are trying to change every decade and all they say is "We should change according to generation." But ever wondered who is setting all these levels for us?? Advertisements, newspapers, hyped celebrities or these hypocrite leaders?? Every time we read or hear something unique from their parties, we try to do the same thing in our life.

Some companies in the market have blind followers. Whatever products they release people jump off and buy that. Even if the product is expensive or its not really that great compared to other products. Because of this blind following the electronic sector companies benefit alot. They come up with some funky features in the phone or laptops and people just go and buy them. They don't give a thought that do i really need this product? Does it really benefit me in my day to day life or its just an added possession? They just stand in the line and buy the product as soon as it is released in the market. Many people just have so many electronic gadgets in their home which they don't even use it.

Same thing with feminine products. There are wide range of companies manufacturing products like perfume, cremes and other makeup accessories. They all promise to do something good, and women who are the soft targets go and buy them. Sometimes they buy just for the heck of stocking things up.

What bothers me is when people fail to question themselves, "do we really need this?". Everyone is more or less running blindly behind the pied-pipers in the market. I hope people who read this post would at least now start questioning "do we really need to buy this?" before buying anything from the market.

One of my related post on this topic is - Advertising & media, which talks in a different aspect though somewhat similar.

P.S. This post is written as a part of Leo's Z-A writing challenge for the month of November.. for other posts visit this link

The Social Network

This story is based on a real life incident

This post has received appreciation from Blogadda:

"Varsha has addressed a very real concern in today’s world where people seem to live virtual lives. While we all know that it is important to be careful while making “friends” online, as Varsha rightly says, better safe, than sorry – be cautious what you say. Because the internet has the good, the bad and sometimes the very ugly. Very good read, Varsha! Keep writing."

I am sure many people have read the incidents related to cyber crime or internet stalking. But I want to narrate a real life incident related to this.

This incident happened at the time when the social networking sites had just emerged in the internet world. People were getting used to the sites like orkut, facebook and other sites like Google sites etc. I was living in a shared accommodation with my friends. One of my friend was bit naive for this internet and world wide web and she decided to open her account in these websites. I was bit reluctant though for creating my account. I asked her the advantages of using this online social site.

"Well for starters we get to know where our old buddies are and we can get in touch with them", she said. I agreed to this. " Next is we can share our thoughts and feelings and also this gives us a chance to connect with some new people you see", she said. Well for me I don't need new people in my life through internet. I don't even know where they are located and I feel these kind of relationships sucks. I thought for me its a bad idea so I wasn't still convinced about creating my account.

"Hey see this.. I made 10 new friends online", she told me one day. She showed their info and what they were doing. Couple of them shared their email ids with my friend and she had already added them in her yahoo messenger. I warned her that it might not be so safe to chat with some unknown person. But she didn't care about my words and she started creating her detailed profiles and shared her personal information as well.

She told me about a guy who is interested in her. She was talking to him online since one month and she felt like she is falling in love with him - ONLINE !! After couple of days she told me that she was going for a date. It was with the same guy whom she met online. She didn't know about the guy much and that was their first official meeting. I saw her laptop and found out where she was going. Somehow, I sensed some danger and I went out with couple of my friends to the place where she was supposed to meet him. When I went there I found out that she was made to take drugs at a local pub and the guy with whom she was hanging out had all her belongings. She was in an unconscious state when he took her inside a hotel, we immediately informed the cops who came to the site within couple of mins and we were able to track him down ! They came to know that the guy was a local city resident who is a criminal. He used to trap pretty girls in the pub and allegedly raped them and stole their belongings.

We all were so relieved that our friend was safe. Later, I found out that she was too much into the networking sites and she had made so many online friends and shared all her information. The guy had come to know that she is alone and looking for a new relationship. She used to post all her pictures in the profile album which anyone could access. We traced couple of fraud profiles who were using her photos to do illegal things like prostitution. She felt a deep remorse for what happened due to the misuse of the social networking sites. This was an eye opening incident for all the girls in our group.

Social networking is the invention that has attracted many youths and adults in this generation. They bring all kinds of people from any race or religion in one place and let them interact. But as we know, every coin has two sides. The negative shades we can find in using this technology is online dating, free broadcast of news that can be used by others to blackmail you, scams & harassment etc. We should be very careful while posting our information on these sites. Nowadays, because of the security reason the sites provide good features like you have the control on allowing people to view your information. You can block anonymous people in getting your information. There are eyes everywhere on the internet. The content you post is read by many people so its our responsibility to make sure that we restrict people reading all the information.

Moreover, stuff like online dating and building relationships is crap. We don't even know the person who is talking to us is giving a genuine information. Unfortunately, the internet has made it easy for individuals to claim to be someone they are not. This not only leads to disappointment when we find out, it could also lead to danger. We cannot foresee what is going to happen but at least we can prevent ourselves by not falling on any of these traps. We should realize that there is no truth in online dating.

There are many youngsters out there these days who make online friends and find online dating interesting. They make new friends by accepting friend requests sent by people who have joined same community or just anonymously they find your profile. Please be very sure before adding any anonymous person, since he is going to get all your personal info like name, email address, place etc. Also, keeping identity theft in mind we should not be providing all our personal details on our profile. There are so many people involved in stealing identity and making use of that in all types of illegal activities that might cause added trouble.

So people, stay online but be safe ! Remember its always better to be safe than sorry !!!!

This article is written for "Good over bad" contest at BlogAdda.
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