About me, myself, and yourself Amol Mategaonkar6:34 AM 0 comments

About myself

The reason behind the epic success of popular blogging platform, blogspot is the simplicity involved in creating, publishing and monetizing your website. Moreover unlike paid hosting, blogger doesn’t charge 

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“There will come a time when it isn’t ‘they’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be ‘my phone is spying on me.”
Philip k. Dick

Phillip dick was so right when he said these words.
Recently i read a story about a man named matt in the east coast of united states who claimed that facebook somehow figured out his very deep personal secrets even before he shared those with anybody else including his family.  Read the story here. Tracking your personal data and popping up related ads is nothing new. The little cookies left on your computer by websites were used for this purpose. However, what scares me is that this has gone to a completely new level now. It’s no more as simple as deleting the cookies and getting rid of the hack.
What is backing this silent upsurge hunger towards your personal attributes and behaviour is a massive technology referred to as “big data”. Large corporations with heavy computing muscles - facebook, google, amazon and numerous other faceless ones as well - have built the capabilities of tracking every little aspect of what you do – not only in the virtual world, but also in physical world – and then run complex intelligent algorithms to figure out your deep rooted secrets.
In matt’s example, he commented twice on an article regarding “equality in marriage” on a website that was powered by facebook open graph apis. The website provided the facility to comment on its articles using facebook’s infrastructure. As a result facebook algorithms picked up those comments and presented matt with those recommendations concluding that matt was a gay. There are examples where the large retail stores in the us – like target, wal-mart, etc – track your “check outs” and derive a pattern about your preferences, likings and developments in personal life.
There are three very important observations that are very relevant from this example

• Matt’s behaviour was tracked from a normal website and not directly from facebook. The website used facebook apis and that’s how the comments reached mr. Zuckerberg
• The algorithms are now so sophisticated that they can identify very indirect relationships between two not so related things – something a human bran may also miss
• The data and its analysis is out there with the big giants. Its no more on your own computer like the good old cookies which you could clean up and get rid of them. Matt will never ever be able to erase the impression facebook has made about him.

Scary? Yeap.
Big data is here to stay and the pirates of the internet sea are equipped with huge engineering muscles and whether you like it or not, they know enough about you. Is there a way to hide? Well, the only option is to exercise little caution while in the virtual world. Think twice before liking a page, putting a comment and clicking on “plus 1”. Ask yourself whether it is really required? Are you ok if this is made available to everyone in the world? Most importantly to the most genius algorithm written by the best minds in the technology world?  If the answer is “yes”, you are safe.

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Woman's Day Special - Salute to the real heroes Amol Mategaonkar9:48 AM 0 comments

International Woman's Day. Its everywhere. Its all over on Twitter, Facebook walls, News Papers, TV Channels, WhatsApp, the good old SMSs, emails and so on. Recognizing outstanding achievements of extraordinary women is in the air. I wonder why we need a special day to do this. However amidst this trending topic of the day, I have been thinking about two ladies, who I feel deserve a mention. Both of them represent real heroes and a true spirit of what a woman stands for in our society. 

These two women are the domestic help that we have in our home. Nanda - a maid who does daily chores of cleaning, washing, dusting etc. And Kalpana- who cooks food for us. They deserve a mention not only because - they are excellent in their work, they are committed, trust worthy, take care of our kids like their own and have become part of our families since last 6 yrs - but because of their concealed mission. A mission to make their children educated, even though they themselves are hardly.

Both of them have seen extreme situations in life. Stayed in environments that we have only imagined and seen in Slum Dog Millionaires of the world. Have worked an average of 15 hrs a day, 7 days a week, from the age of 14 and still continue to do so after 3 or 4 decades. Their stories give goose bump to me even now. In such extreme situations, more often than not, it is so easy to take a short cut; get children earn some quick money by making them work. There are enough local shops, garages, restaurants, etc. ready to employ child labor in a city like Mumbai. Still, these two ladies, determined to educate their next generation, continued going through the grind that the life had put them though and came out with flying colors.

Children of both of these terrific women have either completed their graduation or are in the process of doing so. The life time efforts of these ladies have started to pay off. The graduate children have got decently paying permanent jobs in reputed companies. More importantly, the ladies did not differentiate between their sons and daughters and educated their daughters as well, passing on the mantle to them.

I can see tremendous sense of achievement each time they share the exam results of their children. Many times, they don’t even recollect and pronounce correctly the subjects their kid just cleared. But the sense of satisfaction abounds their faces. My guess is that the reason for their satisfaction is not only that their children achieved something they couldn't in life, or that their lifetime effort has paid off, but simply the fact that their next gen will not go through the same drudgery they had to go through in their life.

It is so true. Nanda and Kalpana are the examples of how a woman can make a difference to her family, if she is determined. The tremendous zeal within a woman can make her achieve impossible missions in spite of all the odds.

These two women are real heroes in their own life. I hope our society has many more Kalpanas and Nandas like these. My salute to these wonderful women.

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My Experiment with Reverse Transition Amol Mategaonkar8:54 PM 0 comments

I was watching the movie "Do Dooni Chaar" the other day. It is about the struggle of a family to transition from a two wheeler to four wheeler. I guess during the last decade the entire middle class in India has undergone this transition. Gone are the good old days of Bajaj Chetak. Every family has at least one car - a distant dream of a middle class family - not many years back. I for a change, experimented with a reverse transition. I moved back from a car to a motor bike. The results are quite positive.

It all started with an intention to reduce the carbon foot print as a family. Ever increasing Petrol price in India was also a factor. The final push came when my office moved to a farther location and my commute time doubled. I awaited for the rainy season to get over and decided to move to a Motor Bike for office commute. It has been more than a month and I am very happy with my decision.

Here is some data

Carbon Footprint has been computed from here.

The ROI on my new investment will impress any CFO. However, I am right now content with the time that I am saving and a feeling of doing my bit to reduce Carbon foot print. I am also happy that I find myself below the peak hr per-capita road space consumption in Mumbai. All this matters to me.

I realized some non-tangible benefits as well. The exception management is simply beautiful with my new machine. Unexpected traffic? No issues. I can easily maneuver my way through the roads of Mumbai without getting stuck for Hrs, waiting for the traffic to clear out. Parking is a cake walk. I am giving away my dedicated car parking in office. This should make at least one colleague of mine happy.

The bike does come with some challenges as well. I don't think I will use it so regularly during the Mumbai rains. I have factored in 8 months usage per yr in the above calculation. I am not sure about Summer as well. Secondly, unless you are careful, bike driving can be risky as well. However, I am pretty old school when it comes to driving.

I think its time we give a thought to our consumption patterns and optimize it keeping all factors in mind - including the mother earth. I am not suggesting to get rid of the car. But do give a consideration of reducing its usage. If two wheeler is not an option for you, look at alternatives. Car pooling, public transport or simply working from home. A friend of mine, who heads a big factory, is thinking about making company bus mandatory at least once a week for everyone. How about no car day at least twice a month?

For now, I am happy to see my car parked for most of the week-days and love to drive it with the family during the week-ends. This initiative has encouraged a few of my friends to seriously think on these lines. I hope some of them turn around. How about you?

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HSC Results for a Maid Amol Mategaonkar4:25 AM 2 comments

The Maharashtra State Board declared the results of the HSC (12th Standard) exams yesterday. Today's Newspapers are full of stories of those topped the exams, passed in flying colors in spite of several challenges like dissabilities, living conditions, health issues, financial conditions etc. Many of those are tall examples of what one could achieve in spite of extreme challenges in life. I vitnessed one such example this morning - when our "Bai" (maid ) walked in with a little smile on her face. Her daughter passed the HSC exam.

She is our maid who comes everyday - all days a week - works for around 2 hrs every day in our house. Does similar work for many more homes. Stays in a 1 room house given to her family by Slum Rehabilitation Authority. She possibly works for more than 12 hrs a day cleaning other's houses, washing utensils, dusting thier expensive furnitures, sweeping floors all along the day.
She speaks very little. I realized today that behind her quite dedication and extreme hard work, is a much larger goal - to educate her three children so that they don't have to undergo the same ordeal which she did through out her life. Her youngest daughter passed HSC exam yesterday. The elder is in the final year of graduation and the eldest son is already employeed.

The lady who could not even pronunce names of the subjects her kid just passed with decent marks, had a sense of achievement for her daughter. I think more than her daughter, it is her own achievement. She never went to school herself, but has learnt the importance of education through hard lessons of life.

I asked her, "so what next?". She replied without any doubt, "Pudhcha Shikshan" (Further studies) and moved into the kitchen to complete her work.

My salute to the spirit of the this woman. The respect for her in my mind has just gone up.

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The two extremes in Aruna’s Story Amol Mategaonkar10:17 AM 1 comments

Yesterday the Indian Supreme Court passed a historic judgment in relation to Petition for Euthanasia for Aruna Shanbaug, who lies in a vegetative state since last 38 yrs after she was brutally assaulted by a ward boy. The SC has made Passive Euthanasia legal, while still ruling against mercy death for Aruna. Story of her life (really?) has inspired many documentaries, TV programs, News stories and even a book – “Aruna’s Story” by Pinky Virani. This is possibly the first case  of Euthanasia in India that has received this significant coverage in the media and has been debated and discussed at length through various channels. Along with this, Aruna’s painful story has also reached common people and has been a topic of discussions everywhere. I feel the story has two absolute extremes of human behavior.

Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse in KEM Hospital in Parel, Mumbai was sexually assaulted by a ward boy Sohanlal Walmiki in 1973. In an horrific demonstration of brutality, he throttled Aruna with a dog chain. The sever strangulation disrupted blood supply to Aruna’s brain. Physical and mental trauma was so severe that Aruna entered into a vegetative state and till date remains in the same. Sohanlal was an extreme example of brutal, cruel and inhuman behavior. I would wonder what conditions would trigger a human being to treat another with such ruthless deeds. It is fearsome for me even to think and imagine. I would think one would cross such limits only if he is insane or lost his senses under the influence of alcohol/drugs.

On the other hand, Aruna’s story has a demonstration of other side of human behavior -  Care, Love, humanity and dedication. It was a couple of yrs after the assault on Aruna that the BMC wanted to move Aruna out of the KEM hospital so that the bed is available for other patients. She had no family support, no friends, no relatives. It was the staff of KEM hospital who came down to streets against this decision and made sure that she has a bed permanently allotted to her. It has been 38 yrs since then that the staff at KEM has been taking care of Aruna who does not even know what’s happening around her. The lady who was in her late 20s has now turned 65 lying on the bed without any senses, emotions, reactions and movements. The nurse staff does everything for her, day in and day out, every day, for last 38 yrs. Aruna is a family member for them. For last 38 yrs, they have ensured she did not have a single bedsore . This, even after knowing that she is possibly not going to wake up one day and offer a vote of thanks. Here is an example of extreme dedication, altruistic care and love driven by a pure noble intention of serving a life.

While Walmiki shows us the dark, cruel, fearsome and inhumane dimension of Aruna’s story, the KEM staff shows us the light of love, care, selfless service and most important - hope.

Salute to the spirit of the KEM ladies. You are a great inspiration.

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No TV Day–I mean it Amol Mategaonkar10:26 AM 1 comments

Last week the School of my children sent out a note about a drawing competition, inviting parents to join along with children. I wasn’t particularly keen, especially since it was on a Saturday and I was looking out for a relaxed weekend after a damn hectic week. The note also had some brochure titled “No TV Day” advertising Hindustan Times. That even put me down further as I already dumped the concept as some marketing gimmick from HT. However, I was not given an option to give it a miss by my kids and I was forced to join.

The overall experience was quite contrary to what I had expected.

Firstly, the entire environment was made quite conducive for an event like this. The big auditorium of Udayachal School was packed with parents who came along with their children and they jointly painted their imaginations about “Mumbai”. The results were quite amazing. Gateway of India, Juhu Beach, Marine Drive, Bandra Worli Sea Link, and even Kala Ghoda Festival - we had everything covered. Apart from the end result, I enjoyed the whole process. Given our background, we do frequently spend time with children on Music. However, this was probably the first time we actually participated jointly with my kids for a drawing competition. It was quite enjoyable. I have almost concluded that I am not that bad in drawing as I assumed earlier .

Apart from enjoying the time that I spent there, I liked the concept itself. No TV Day. Instead of wasting time watching TV, spend time with your children by letting the creative juices flow free through drawing and painting. This time it was painting. Next time it could be Games. Could be Music. It is important to realize that the idiot box has intruded into our lives possibly much more than it ideally should. I have seen families where people do not even speak to each other for hours when Ekta’s characters are in full swing in the evening. Or children who do not eat if the Cartoon network is switched off. There is a need to seriously relook at this addiction that is catching up our society big time. This has exponentially increased over last 5 yrs with digital cable services, HD content, LED TVs and what not. Children, instead of playing in the ground, prefer to waste their times watching Shinchans of the world. The broken knees are soon getting replaced by spectacled eyes.

We followed the “No TV Day” instruction quite well that day and came out quite satisfied. Have decided to follow this as a practice. Not sure about the frequency though. But have made the beginning at least. I am forced to extend this to other devices as well that have intruded my personal life. My children are behind me to follow “No Laptop Day” and “No Office Cell phone Day”. The thought process has begun. I am willing to follow.

How about you?

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