Society from the top

Despite having all the materialistic things that are required for the well-being of a man, the net worth of it all comes down to nothing if he does not have his mind in the right place. One may have all the monetary and financial support that he requires to come up in life. But without the proper nurturing of the mind, the end result takes a different course all together. An incomplete or incompetent social circle, a broken family, an unstable state of mind, a sorrowful childhood, and other such causes may cause even the man with the greatest potential to plummet down into nothingness.

But still, despite all the rubbish that may be heaved upon the unfortunate sufferer, he/she may be revived, and may still reach his/her peak, only if the right guidance exists. It may not be an external guidance. But it may be the internal push. It can be the urge from within to get up, gather the courage and strength, and keep moving. For it does not take any effort to lay down where you got knocked out. It is great in itself to revive your senses, use the power of logical deduction of what is to be done, and keep moving.

Let me approach all the possible problems at once. As can be seen, any source that may drag one’s performance levels down has to do with people, and society. One may have had a hard time growing up in his/her home. Or perhaps one has not made any good friends in life. So to speak, it also may have been that a good relation has turned bad. All the factors affect the mind of a weak man, and affect his/her life. And all the factors have one common feature. Needless to mention, it is people.

If one wishes to take a break from it all and rejuvenate him/herself, the one advice that can guarantee his/her rejuvenation is “Get away from people!”

Let’s face it. The only way a person could be maligned, is by the wrong interaction with other people. Words of people could moralize a person to make him rise out of the deepest depths. All the same, those very words could demoralize a man, to such an extent as to drag him of his high position in life, and put him on the streets. People do not seem to realize how deeply they can affect one another’s lives. By simple words or acts of kindness, a man can be uplifted that he may perform tasks he would never have thought possible. But sadly, we live in a selfish society. Every man or woman must satisfy their own needs first. This is a very valid statement. It is true that one must look after one’s self first. But if one could spare a little bit of consideration for a fellow being, the world would be different. Once again, it is not being said that no one in this world is a fair hearted fellow. Such elevated people who see through the fog of selfishness, materialism, and immaturity may exist. But they are few and far. We live in a society where people have the crude tendency of fighting like animals over things that do not even deserve the least bit of attention.

But of course! That is the issue. How many people “think” before they act? Those who do may proudly stand out as an exception to the mass majority of people who mindlessly perform actions without even trying to be pro-active.

The technological development of man may appear very promising. But it means nothing to have a high-tech gadget if one has the understanding of a senseless moron. Similarly, we must see the fact that despite us getting more and more tech savvy, our morals, and common sense has spiralled down to an alarming depth. It is ridiculous to see a group of learned men trample over each other, and elbow one another instead of standing in a line, which may help the entire system be more organized. It is stupid to see an expensive and high end car driving down the freeway, only to tell you that there is an inconsiderate maniac who is ignorant to general traffic rules inside the very car.

In the end however, it is no one’s fault. It is just the course of learning. Only if one meets another person like him/her, and gets a taste of the mindlessness that one indulges in, will he/she truly understand the meaning and importance that exists in living a pro-active life. We can only hope that society doesn’t crumble before there are enough learned and pro-active people who can guide society along the right path, and somehow avoid the seemingly inevitable self-destruction of mankind.

-C.S.Sailendra

Messenger of death

Shattered is the shield of the earth

For comes the devil himself

Out of the fiery hearth

The messenger of death himself

Hot from hell and freshly burning

Comes the flag of skull and bones

The ghosts and evil spirits celebrate his returning

With a purpose of erasing humanity

Comes death himself

To this weak mortal realm

To pack human souls on his ivory shelf

Comes angry, fiery death himself

The burning devil, with his fire chain

Throws chaos, destruction and annihilation

Dead bodies are everywhere, lain

Once alive, now soul-less

The world burns, people die

As the havoc unfurled, works its anarchy

The dogs of hell make the world fry

And when it is all done, the devil,

And his dogs return to the depths of hell

With destruction in his path, and the

Dawning of a fresh corruption-less human era!

:-C.S.Sailendra

Ethical Hacking Seminar

Ethical Hacking Seminar

A seminar on Ethical was held here in Manipal last Sunday. Well, to be honest, when I saw the price for the pass for the seminar, I was almost sure I’d be skipping it. But “somehow”, I did end up attending it, and to put it plainly, R.S.650 was worth it! Now, disregarding all the controversy circling the presenter of the seminar, I could in all fairness say that the information that one could absorb from the 3 and a half seminar was worth the money. And let’s face it, it was a Sunday. And if you think about it, all people do on Sundays is waste the entire day sleeping in late, while away time by doing nothing meaningful (Most of the cases in general. There are people who use their Sundays wisely), and catch the Monday blues before sleeping. Hence, it could be fair to say that learning something on a Sunday is a break to the weak monotony.

But moving on to the seminar, Mr Fadia was definitely a good orator, and he did have a quiet and enthusiastic audience clinging to his presentation. The main theme was meant to be “ethical hacking”, but to be honest; it turned out to be more like a “cracking” seminar, followed up by a talk on ethical hacking. Just to clear a misconception, cracking is basically the job of the people who gain unauthorized or illegal access to the system; whereas hacking is actually what the good guys do to prevent it. Anyway, what ethical hacking is, is basically pointing out the loopholes in a computer security system, so that steps can be taken to remove these vulnerable points, and prevent crackers from exploiting the lapses in security. The seminar started off with a talk on how hackers do what they do: Hack. A few precautionary methods to safeguard him/herself before actually proceeding anywhere else were explained, such as methods to hide one’s I.P, after which methods for getting the I.P of other P.Cs were explained. Other methods to hide one’s self were pointed out too.

Once this has been done, a criminal would be prepared for an offensive move. A briefing on “Trojans” was given, which would allow the hacker access to the target system. A demonstration was given on how a hacker could completely control the host’s system. This included access to data on the host’s memory, and other basic control such as locking the keys on the keyboard, inverting mouse clicks, opening the CD drives, and switching on the web cams of the host system (Extreme violation of privacy indeed). Other techniques such as password cracking, blue-tooth hacking, and data sniffing, USB hacking, SQL injection were also discussed. I’m avoiding putting down any technical details here, mainly because I’m not sure whether I’m allowed to do so.

But all in all it was a successful event hosted by the “IE-CSE”, which ended with a brief question-answer session. After attending the seminar, it really makes me wonder how safe we actually are when we’re browsing the net. The privacy we believe that we have was totally ridiculed. The possibility that you’re being tracked………right now…..is nowhere near low. It really makes me feel insecure nowadays every time I connect to the net. The only thing I can agree with, is that everyone who does browse the net must indeed provide themselves with adequate amount of security, by installing anti-viruses, anti-spywares, and the likes. Trust me; it takes extremely basic knowledge of hacking for one to hack an unsuspecting layman’s computer. On a lighter note, for those of you who considered attending, but missed it, you did miss something worth attending!

C.S.Sailendra

The Leap Of Fate

A day will come in every soul’s journey

When one shall be thrown to the test

A leap of fate after every lesson in life

One that shall put all doubts to rest

A plunge based purely on one’s decisions

And the wisdom one has acquired

A plunge to check the worth of a mind

Whether it has the strength required

To believe in what one trusts

To have a faith in the power one has

And to move forward without a doubt in mind

That this test, he will pass

Indeed results may go both ways

The light of success may caress one

With the utmost sweet embrace

That may leave one with the impression of being “The One”

But one must be mindful that

One glance at the illuminating light at one’s side

Must not send one, plummeting

Into the darkness of ego and pride

Hence let go, fearless of the ground

If one has elevated to his moral heights boundless

And if indeed, these heights he trusts,

The ground below will be soft and harmless

For it is not, but where we land, after the leap

But it is, whether or not where we have landed

Is the spot of our personal choice, for if the heart

Has been followed, true bliss will be granted

: - C.S.Sailendra