The EVM Rigmarole

The current EVM challege makes a travesty of security testing.  It is surprising that nobody from the IT security arena is speaking up.  If the charges levelled by the opposition are true, one can be sure that a compromised machine will never be brought to the challenge.  If the EVMs were dumb terminals connected to a central server, then testing the server might suffice.  In the current distributed scenario each single machine needs to be tested for integrity.  How will the challenge ensure this?

I do not know whether EVMs were custom made to EC's specifications or just generic machine purchased off the shelf?  In either case, did the EC get the source code and security features examined by any experts?  How would the EC know if the motherboard or the stored program was changed in a set of machines by unscrupulous maintenance people?

In my humble opinion the correct way of ensuring correct functioning of EVMs should be as follows:

1. There should be a single executable running on all EVMs and its source code should be with the EC and also in the public domain.
2. Each political party should be given a copy of the compiled executable code.
3. All EVMs should have an USB port and connecting a pen drive should trigger a program to prompt the user to enter filename for comparison with the stored executable.
4. Each party should give its booth workers an USB with the correct executable and a couple of random files.
5. A willing worker at any booth should get an opportunity to test the machine by inserting the USB and comparing a few random files and the correct file with the resident executable.

This, of course, is only indicative and not exhaustive.

Views of IT experts are invited in the matter.

To Treat Or Not To Treat

I wrote about the sad demise of my cousin in my last post. The trauma faced by his family during the brief period between diagnosis and his death was painful indeed.  The diagnosis was metastasized renal cell carcinoma.

He contracted cancer for the first time five years ago. It was a growth in one of his kidneys. The kidney was removed and all neighboring lymph nodes cleaned by the surgeon. He recovered and started leading a normal life. Periodical followups were satisfactory and went on for three years. He was declared cancer free. Normal life, with his normal ailments of diabetes, hypertension and enlarged prostate, continued for one more year. In the fifth year he developed another problem. He started having bouts of dizziness and losing balance while walking. This was initially thought to be vertigo. He was also diagnosed with CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.)  However the haemo-oncologist reassured us that it had nothing to do with his renal cancer.

Unfortunately, what was thought to be vertigo was later found to be a cancerous growth in the brain. Further investigations showed a growth in one of the lungs too.  Biopsy results showed that it was renal cell carcinoma that had metastasized to other organs.

My niece is a doctor and member of a WhatsApp group of doctors with varying specializations.  She consulted the oncologists in the group and they were almost unanimous that it will be best to stop looking for a cure and go for palliative care instead.  They estimated the remaining life span at 3 to 6 months. They also described the likely and frightening after effects of radiation and cancer medication. In their opinion the treatment, even if it succeeded in prolonging life, will also aggravate the misery. The alternative of palliative care was likely to ensure a relatively better quality of life for the patient for whatever span was left to him.  Needless to say that this group had no commercial interest in the matter.

My niece also spoke with some of the families that had lost an aged member to cancer.  All of them regretted having gone for the treatment and were of the opinion that the patient would have been better off without it even if it had meant a shorter residual life.  Much later, after we were in the middle of treatment, I learnt of the sad death of a friend; again due to cancer.  His wife sorely regretted having gone for aggressive treatment thereby prolonging and intensifying his misery.  She strongly advised us to ignore oncologists and go for palliative care only.

It was too stark an advice to be fully shared with the patient and those closest to him.  Carefully worded soft disclosures and hints at the alternative course led to a state of indecision.   The local medical oncologist insisted that the patient be put through entire regimen of treatment which could extend his life by an year or more. He ordered umpteen tests too.  Finally he prescribed radiation therapy for the brain.  The radiologist decided in favor of whole brain radiation instead of one focused on the tumor only.  As the family could not decide on the option of palliative care, my cousin, the patient, underwent 10 radiation sessions. He was also put on a heavy dose of steroids for the duration of radiotherapy.

The steroids did wonders to improve the patient's sense of wellbeing and he sailed through radiotherapy without much visible adverse effects.  Though, hair loss did start by the end of the therapy.  We thought that those advising against radiation were a bit of alarmists.  Thereafter steroid was gradually withdrawn leading to progressive worsening of condition.  Next the cancer drug Votrient was started.  Oncologists in my niece's group again advised against it.

The attending oncologist had prescribed the maximum dose of 800 mg.  However in view of the concerns expressed in online consultations, it was decided to reduce the dose to 400 mg.

From here it was downhill all the way.  Many of the after-effects of radiation started showing.  Votrient seemed to do little to slow down the growth of the cancer while it aggravated the downfall.  The patient suffered from hypersomnia (sleeping most of the time,) severe weakness in limbs and loss of control over bladder and bowel movements.  Other complications like urinary tract infection (UTI) and thrombosis developed and required hospitalization for treatment.

No improvement was noticed even after a month of taking Votrient and other treatments for infection and thrombosis.  The doctor finally decided to stop Votrient for a few days and we prevailed upon him for discharging the patient.  We made arrangements at home for administering intravenous drugs, started using adult diapers and finally arranged an oxygen kit too.  In the last two-three days the patient stopped interacting with people altogether, ate very little, was extremely restless and his limbs were trembling all the time.  He died in the wee hours on 18th April, nearly three months after the metastasized cancer was detected for the first time.

All of us are convinced that it would have been far better to go for palliative care.  We were told that such care could be given by a normal MD to relieve symptoms and pain and steriods could be given to impart a sense of wellbeing.  In this scenario there was little sense in considering the long term adverse effects of steroids.

My niece's husband, a doctor himself, summarized the whole thing quite succinctly.  He said that the family could not bring itself to accepting the sane advice of putting the patient on palliative care; and that any other family that was unfortunate enough to consult us in this matter, would surely ignore our own advice based on our harsh experience.  In the choice between quality of life and painful longevity, howsoever little, the latter, unfortunately, always seems to prevail.  And thus the practice of oncology goes on.

I have a feeling that all practicing oncologists treating a patient advanced in age and suffering from metastasis, should be mandated to compulsorily offer the second option of palliative care only.  Few do so currently.

My cousin Late Sri CB Upadhyaya (1947 - 2017)

Since Chandra Bhal bhaiya was the eldest amongst all the brothers / cousins, we used to call him Badke Bhaiya.  I will use the abbreviation BB to refer to him.

BB did his Masters in Maths from Allahabad University and was married off at a rather early age.  He served as a teacher for a short while before joining the Central Bank of India as a clerk.  He rose to the rank of a DGM by the dint of hard work and he richly deserved the position.  Though he worked in operations most of the time, he did two stints in the training division.  In the second of these, he headed the Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala Bankers Training College at Mumbai.  I think that given the opportunity, we Upadhyayas are hardly able to resist the urge to take up our hereditary profession of teaching!  Now that BB is no more, many of his colleagues from the Bank recall how knowledgeable, reliable, upright and incorruptible an officer he had been all along.

BB played the role of an elder to all of us with great love and affection.  Whenever the family had to congregate, be it a joyous occasion or otherwise, BB would invariably show up with his family in tow, and take charge as an elder.  Often he had to travel long distances to do so.  And he did that despite his younger daughter being a spastic child.  His presence was always so reassuring! He never demanded any special arrangements for himself and was ever so composed, calm and serene.  None of us have ever heard him raise his voice and his office colleagues too agree on this.  He was the binding force that kept the extended family together.  The mantle has now fallen on the next sibling whom we affectionately call Majhle Bhaiya.

He was an ardent devotee of Hanumanji, our family deity.  With advancing age some of us started going easy on traditions and religious matters.  But BB stuck to the faith and traditions and kept the family from drifting too far away from these anchors.

BB was fond of reading fiction and a great connoisseur of music and had a huge collection of albums.  He especially loved ghazals and bhajans and enjoyed listening to radio broadcasts too.  His elder daughter works with Aakaashvaani and often brought him rare gems from their archives, much to his delight.

He was very attached to his younger daughter and because of her disability he himself had developed a sedentary lifestyle.  He had had Diabetes and high BP for a long time. Despite these he lead a healthy life till and a few years past his retirement.  He was 65 when he was diagnosed with renal cancer.  The tumor was removed and subsequent periodical checks showed him to be free from cancer.  It was five years later that the dreaded disease made a reappearance.

It all started with a problem that was first diagnosed as vertigo but later discovered to be a tumor in the brain.  Investigations showed that the renal cancer had metastasized to brain and lung.  Radiations and medicines didn't help and he lasted less than 3 months after the diagnosis.

The whole family sorely misses and fondly remembers him.  May his soul find salvation that he richly deserves.

An Obituary

This is an obituary for my brother-in-law (bahnoi) Sri Prem Narain Pandey who passed away on Sunday, the 2nd April, 2017.  He was on his regular morning walk when he was hit by a speeding Activa.  We later learnt that the driver was an youngster.  He was, perhaps, trying to overtake a heavy vehicle from its left and revved up and hit Mr Pandey with massive force.  The force broke both of his legs, one of his arms was slashed through by the iron fencing runnind alongside the shoulder of the road and the back of his skull was broken.  He died on the spot.  A most unfortunate death for a person so full of zeal, in very good health and enjoying his retired life to the fullest.

All of us are unique in one way or the other, but Pandeyji was known for certain qualities that are rather rare amongst us Indians.  He was an Electrical Engineer and got employed in the far away state of Mizoram and spent his entire working life there.  He worked with the Electricity board, a department of the state government.  Electricity Boards all over India don't rank very low when it comes to corruption.  Pandeyji was truly like a lotus in the muddy waters of the Board.  He was honest to a fault.  Not only he did not accept any bribes, he never allowed personal use of his official vehicle even by his wife - my sister.  Sons of soil in Mizoram are exempt from Income Tax.  At the time Pandeyji joined the board there were very few outsiders working there who were liable to pay tax.  There was no TDS and many outsiders took undue advantage of a weak Income Tax presence in the state, but not Pandeyji, never!  Mizoram is a rather small state and though some thought that he was an eccentric, his honesty and professionalism became legend and were known not only to the power ministers but even to the chief ministers of the state.  And it was respected by them too.

Pandeyji once  confided to me that as he progressed in his career he became a little disillusioned.  He would find that despite his personal squeaky cleanliness, the subordinates continued in their ways.  At times he was very sad when he had to acquiesce to decisions that he didn't think were in the best interests of the department or the state.  He had to do so under tremendous pressure from the very top.  He told me that once some new contractor, who perhaps didn't adequately know his background tried to bribe him.  He said to the contractor, "You see, it is not that I can't do with some more money.  Nor is my personal honesty making much difference.  But I have built up a tremendous reputation for myself and have an overly sensitive conscience and there is no way I can even think of hurting them."

He was very reclusive and an introvert.  He enjoyed and relished solitude.  He used to say that I was one of the very few persons whose company he enjoyed and I feel honored in that.  His demise is a personal loss to me in more than one way.

Pandeyji retired a few years earlier than my sister who was a professor of maths in Aizawl.  He moved to Lucknow a little more than an year before my sister retired.  He carried a recipe book with him that he had himself penned down after learning the recipes from my sister.  He could cook excellent meals though he had never done cooking earlier in his life.  And though he missed the company of my sister, he thoroughly enjoyed the solitude and had his new home organized in an excellent way by the time my sister retired and joined him.

He was finicky about punctuality.  He had a strict schedule that he followed all his life and wanted people to be just as punctual.  At times he refused to entertain people who took punctuality very casually.

He had an excellent self-control.  He used to smoke occasionally, chew paan, and even enjoy a rare drink. But he wasn't addicted to any of these and could and did give up any or all of these for extended periods.  He was a light eater and maintained a very healthy weight till the end of his life.  Though a man of very limited needs, he was a real connoisseur and appreciated quality in whatever he used or consumed.  Whenever he gave me a gift it was invariably of the highest quality available.

He never developed a taste for modern IT gadgets and stuck to the print versions of books, magazines and newspapers.  He was an avid reader, used to gift me books and give me cuttings from newspapers and magazines.  His choice of the material that he regularly gave and our subsequent discussions clearly showed how deeply he studied all that he did.

All of his acquaintances, friends and family agree that none of us have ever met a person who was so well organized and methodical in his personal and professional life.  Just to illustrate the degree to which he organized his belongings and everything around him, I will narrate a recent incident.

Way back in 1990 my wife had suffered a severe bout of sciatica and finally got some relief from an Unani medicine prescription that was obtained by Pandeyji from his uncle who claimed to have been cured by it.  Recently, 27 years later, a family member enquired about a home remedy for her sciatica pain.  I could vaguely recall the names of the medicines.  My wife suggested that I check with Pandeyji.  I was skeptical despite being aware of his superhuman capabilities for storing and retrieving things and information.  I called him, he said he will call back.  And I couldn't believe it when he called 10 minutes later and said that he has been able to retrieve the prescription!!  Even in his office, if some information could not be retrieved from the huge office records, he could be relied upon to get details from the records he maintained personally in his office.

He used to miss Mizoram where he had spent 4 decades.  He was full of praise for their social customs, the way church influenced all spheres of life in a very positive manner, and, of course, the excellent climate.  Though spiritually oriented he abhorred all rituals and orthodoxy.  This made him give a miss to many events in the family and some found his ways strange too.

He was an evolved man and if there are other universes where the consciousness migrates based on one's merits and degree of evolution, he must be in the highest one.  All of us down here will always miss him. Adieus, dear brother-in-law.

What winnable: Not even knowable!

I am writing this post on 13-Feb-2017 and will be casting my vote for Assembly elections on 19th in the Lucknow - East constituency.  Today morning I was chatting with my elder cousin and he wondered who are the candidates from the main parties in our constituency.  The only one both of us could immediately recall was the BJP candidate.  Well, unlike others, the BJP candidate and his organization have made some minimal efforts to reach out to the voters.  After scratching our heads for some time we could recall another name, that of the BSP candidate.  The name, Saroj Shukla, led to speculation about the candidate's gender.  As regards the SP candidate, no amount of scalp scratching helped.

So finally we decided to Google out the information using the free data on our Jio enabled phones.  BSP candidate's full name, Saroj Kumar Shukla, resolved the confusion that we earlier had about him.  And it was a surprise to find that SP had not fielded any candidate from our constituency.  It seems that this one has gone to their ally, Congress.  We found a few independent candidates and also discovered the existence of a few parties that we had never heard of.

Yes, there is a total lack of communication from our candidates.  They aren't using even the low cost channels like SMS and other sundry messengers.  But then it could be my DND subscription that is to blame.

What is clear is that there is no canvassing whatsoever from individual candidates: Well, at least, not in the urban areas.  All our inputs are either from televised rallies or the debates on TV channels.  If the rallies, which are a big public nuisance, could be eliminated the present scenario will represent a very low cost electioneering with costs far below the prescribed limits. Another desirable change in such a case would be to give some airtime to independents and nearly unknown parties too to level the playground.

As all canvassing is being done by party chiefs only, one fails to understand why the parties are fielding tainted candidates in the name of winnability.  People are focussing merely on the parties and not even looking at the candidates, (nor are the candidates looking to the public for winning.)

I think the time is ripe for implementing the suggestion that I had mooted earlier in THIS POST.

My cousin did point out that the scenario could be very different in the rural areas where perhaps bulk of the election expenses were being incurred.

Air(ports) and Water

Recently I had to stop over at Delhi airport on my way from Bengaluru to Lucknow.  I was traveling with Indigo, a low cost airline with high cost onboard food.  Like a true mango-man I was carrying my own paratha and subzi for lunch.  The transit period was a good time to have my lunch.  After lunch, I looked around for tea / coffee and spotted Star Bucks.  I asked for brewed coffee, the lowest cost version of the concoction, but was informed that no creamer or milk will be available with it.  So I moved up to a Cappuccino.  The difference in the price of a small and the grande was very disproportionate to the difference in the sizes and  grande offered a much lower per cc price.  So, I opted for grande which I shared with my better half and co-passenger.  The price I paid was almost the same that I would pay in USA, the equivalent of USD 4.

After a while we felt thirsty.  There were no water fountains to be seen and so I went to the food court and discovered that bottled water was available only at the Pepsi counter.  A small bottle labelled Himalayan, perhaps 500 ml, was available for INR 50!  I checked at Star Bucks too and found that they had the same bottle to offer at the same price.  So I paid up and got a bottle.  Both of us took a few sips of the precious liquid with full awareness of its khas aadmi price, and saved some for later.

This makes me wonder whether the likes of Pepsi have anything to do with water bottles not being allowed past the security check.  Why can't the security staff just ask the passenger to take a swig from the bottle to make sure that it is water and not some explosive?  Then again, why aren't cheaper options of bottled water available in the airport?  Is this a case of one monopoly (airport) promoting another monopoly (water?)  Why can't water fountains be installed in good numbers, say outside each toilet block?

But a bigger question is how has Pepsi managed to keep its arch rival Coca-Cola out?  Is there a Rail Neer like scam going on in our airports?  Finally, as Himalayan is from Tata-Pepsico, does Mr. Mistry or Mr. Tata has anything to say in the matter?

A Visit To Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary.

I recently visited the Bird Sanctuary at Nawabganj.  It is a little less than 30 kms from Lucknow Airport (Amausi) towards Kanpur. Though I have lived in Lucknow for a long time, I had never earlier visited this place.  I had always imagined it to be far from the hustle-bustle of the highway and difficult to access.  So it came as a pleasant surprise to find that the sanctuary lay right next to the Lucknow-Kanpur Highway.  The sanctuary is on your left if you are travelling from Lucknow towards Kanpur and the very first gate is the way to enter.  From Kanpur, it is on your right and the first gate is at the end of the sanctuary from your point of view.

I had booked a room online in the Rahi Tourist Bungalow (RTB.)  The manager told us on enquiry that it was inside the sanctuary complex and that we had to enter from the first gate.  My wife is a little finicky about cleanliness and the hotels that we can afford seldom offer the kind of cleanliness that will meet a half-hearted approval from her.  I was quite apprehensive as it was a government run hotel.  However we were pleasantly surprised by the overall upkeep and quality of service which were good if not great.  The lone housekeeping staff willingly removed the old sheet, used it to wipe the headpost of the bed and then spread a fresh and clean sheet.  Towels were clean too.  The bungalow also has a big and well maintained lawn and a Shiv Temple in that lawn.

The housekeeping man who was my namesake, told us that it used to be a great lake some three decades ago when he got employed there.  He said that the lake has now turned into a number of small ones separated by patches of dry land.  He said that a lot of money was being poured into maintenance of the place but the authorities were using it building structures and other wasteful things instead of cleaning up and reviving the lake.  Some borewells had been repaired and a couple new ones were being constructed to feed the lake which had, unfortunately not received much rainfall over past several years including the current one which saw a good monsoon elsewhere.

The RTB has its own restaurant and there is another bigger restaurant with a beer bar about 100 m away from it and next to the ticket window and entrance to the sanctuary.  We walked up to the ticket window.  There is a semi-developed park with play structures across the road.  It is infested with monkeys.  We sat there on a bench for a while watching the monkeys and then proceeded to the ticket window.  There is a small museum like room next to the ticket booth.  It was locked.  The gatekeeper opened it at our request.

The man at the ticket window cautioned us that there were not too many migratory birds and issued a ticket when we insisted nonetheless.  A valid id was required to purchase the ticket priced at INR 30 per person.  For foreigners it is a steep INR 575 if I remember the figure correctly.

The entrance starts with a walkway adjacent to the restaurant, named Surkhab.  The walkway is fenced on both the sides with what look like wooden logs but is actually made of RCC.  But the look of wooden logs is pretty convincing and it must have taken much effort and technique to simulate the real thing.  The tiled and fenced walkway runs for perhaps a couple of kilometers and has observation towers and resting platforms with benches every 200 m or so.  Each platform was occupied by a couple engaged in amorous activities.  It reminded me of Residency in Lucknow.  There too, each nook and corner is occupied by young couples.  I am sure that boys from Lucknow and even Unnao will not be so surprised as we were when we visited the Law Gardens in Ahmedabad about 45 years ago for the first time.

The walkway lines the lake on one side and on the other side there is a green forest patch separating the sanctuary from the highway.  Though, you can see and hear the traffice from the walkway and it reminds that you are not too far from what you tried to escape.

We didn't find many birds except the usual geese.  Finally we made a digression on to a dirt track which was yet to be tiled and fenced.  Some distance away we could see some Saurus Cranes.  However there were no migratory birds to be seen.

We returned and enquired at the window the time it opens in the morning.  The replies ranged from 7 am to past 9 am!

Next we entered Surkhab restaurant.  It looked good.  We ordered lunch and I started chatting with the cashier.  He too repeated the same story that we had heard from the housekeeping man.  He also added that many migratory birds have stopped coming to the place as the villagers from surrounding villages hunt them down.  The few surviving ones must have carried the message back to their flock.  This is what the cashier felt.  The food that was served was quite good and we paid using an INR 2000 note that the cashier happily accepted and returned us the balance in INR 100 notes.

We went back to RTB and sat in the lawn chairs enjoying the feeble sunshine.  The manager exchanged greetings and asked if we could see any birds.  We told him that we wanted to try our luck again early next morning but the ticket window opened quite late in the morning.  He said that it was possible to enter the santuary from one side of the Bungalow even though it wouldn't be proper to do so without a ticket.  We thanked him for the information and said that we would purchase the tickets at the time of exiting.

So we got up early and got ready.  We entered the sanctuary from the unguarded point next to RTB much to the shock of the RTB watchman, and roamed along the walkways.  However, though it was pleasant and the sight of sunrise was charming we didn't see anything that we hadn't already seen.  It was 9 am when we finally walked down to the ticketing window.  It was still unmanned and the front gate closed!  We walked back to where we had entered from and exited.

Then it was breakfast, packing up and a drive back to Indira Nagar.  Home, sweet home!