Who’s Afraid of Spamming?

I believe spamming is now the fastest growing industry. There are companies whose core competency is innovative spamming, whose chief’s designation is Chief Spamming Officer, and they must be enjoying annual retainership from more than 1,000 clients each.

One of my duties is to look after a website called indiarace.com. As the Chief Editor of this leading horse-racing site, I get about 300 e-mails everyday. And the most-hit key when using my e-mail program is ‘Del’.

Take the example of yesterday. In the morning when I opened my mailbox, there were 272 mails waiting-to-be-read-or-seen in the Inbox. Spammers clearly don’t take holidays.

Of the 272, 26 e-mails were from contributors and readers of the site. Of the rest, nearly 100 mails offered assured help in length and growth of a very private male organ. They asked, “Why do you fall weak and slow?” and suggested “Some extra seconds will help”. It was all about “Enhancing your desire, pleasure, and performance”.

There were about 20 mails promoting some porno sites. They all carried the same text: “Hello! I am tired this afternoon. I am nice girl that would like to chat with you. Email me at …. only, because I am using my friend's email to write this. I would like to share some of my pics.”

Pharma vendors offered their ware in about 80 mails. You can buy Viagra to medicines for controlling depression at 81% to 95% off (why not 80%, I wonder). Most of them were customised offers for the Editor of Indiarace!

In 15 mails, various organisations and individuals from Nigeria to Canada congratulated me for winning lotteries or grants. There were also some Russian, Latavian and Romanian ladies who have inherited millions of dollars, but needed my help to retrieve that money. Tthey all promised to share half the amount with me. I totalled and saw that in a day I have gained more than $4500,000,000!

I don’t have a PhD degree. So I was tempted when four organisations offered me an accredited PhD in 30 days! Another e-mail said: “No test, No class, buy yourself Bacheelor/MasteerMBA/Doctoraate dip1omas, VALID in all contries”.

Being an Editor, I need magazines. So, 10 companies offered free Cisco magazine, Oracle Magazine, Gardener to Good Housekeeping. It just needs filling up a form giving quite a few personal details.

There were also “Loan offer at a very cheap interest rate”, offer to “Buy, Sell, Rent or Invest in Dubai Real Estate”, and 270 popular software programs to be downloaded for free.

Now, you would say, most e-mail programs use good spam filters; so why not click on the “Delete all spam messages now” button?

I did. Two weeks ago. And that night, around 2 am, my international editor who was then covering Kentucky Derby at Louisville, USA, rang me up and shouted, “Why didn’t you put up the article I sent 11 hours ago?” I shot back that we didn’t receive any such mail. His mail was tucked in the Spam counter, which I deleted.

Some friends suggested using one of the commercially available anti-spam packages, like POP File, eXpurgate, SpamPal, MailWasher Pro, or Spamihilator. There you mention the spammers whom you want to block. But not only that’s a tedious exercise, but how will that stop spamming from ME.

Yesterday, I received 6 e-mails, where I offered to myself free magazines, low-interest loans and cheap Viagra. Spammers now use my e-mail address (possibly password too) and send me mails.

Innovative indeed.

Read this before You Travel to Arunachal Pradesh

Arunachal Pradesh has mostly been “The Forbidden State” for tourists. Now, the government plans to ease travel restrictions to this beautiful North-eastern state. However, if you want to move around freely in Arunachal, and enjoy your visit, strictly follow this advisory.

1. Every Indian resident needs an Inner Line Permit to enter Arunachal Pradesh; for foreigners, it’s a Protection Area Permit. The ILPs are issued by the issuing authorities of Government of Arunachal Pradesh with offices at Delhi, Kolkata, Tezpur, Guwahati, Shillong, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur and Jorhat. You need to submit two passport-size photos, copy of residence proof and Rs 25. Foreigners can obtain the PAP from all Indian Missions abroad, all Foreigners Regional Registration Officers (FRRO) at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chief Immigration Officer, Chennai, Home Ministry, Govt. of India and Home Commissioner, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh, Itanagar.

2. There is no rail service in Arunachal Pradesh, so be ready to spend a lot of time on the car (Arunachal is the largest of the North-eastern states). Hire a vehicle before entering Arunachal, and preferably get two drivers if you plan to cover much of the state. A Tata Sumo would cost Rs 1200 per day (plus fuel charge), a Bolero Rs 1800, and an Indica Rs 800. A 4-wheel drive Jeep is preferable for the Bhalukpong-Bomdila-Tawang-Dirang circuit,, since you have to cross mountain passes above 13,000 feet. Food and lodging of the driver/s is your responsibility.

3. There is a Helicopter service to the district headquarters/state capital. But it is a little irregular.

4. Carry chains or thick ropes to tie over the tyres, so that the vehicle doesn’t skid on hard ice at Sela Pass, Madhuri Lake or Indo-China border.

5. Carry emergency medicines for hypertension, stomach upset, fever and cold. If anyone feels altitude sickness, bring the person back immediately to the planes.

6. Fill up your tank and carry as much extra fuel as possible before entering Arunachal. Though petrol/diesel is cheaper in Arunachal, it is heavily adulterated with Kerosene oil in most of the pumps. If necessary, contact the Army or local PWD office to get clean fuel. Also, fuel is available only in major towns like Bomdila, Tawang, Zero, Daporijo, Along, Passighat, etc. No petrol pumps on the way.

7. Similarly, if your vehicle develops a snag, get it checked in a major town. You won’t get any repair shop on the way (which means a stretch of 150-200 km).

8. Try staying in Circuit Houses, PWD Inspection Bungalows and Forest Bungalows. Good hotels are available only at Bomdila, Dirang, Tawang, Passighat and Itanagar. Also, eat at Circuit Houses, because good restaurants are hard to come by.

9. Do your hotel/circuit house bookings much in advance. Send a fax giving details of dates, persons to stay and expected arrival time, even if you have received a confirmation over the phone. Book room/s also for the driver/s.

10. If you’re travelling in the winter, carry firewood. Some circuit houses have improvised fireplaces in the rooms, but no firewood. Room heaters are available only at Tawang.

11. Only BSNL provides mobile phone service in Arunachal, so your cellphone might remain dead during the entire journey. However, there are STD/ISD/PCO booths in all big towns. Cybercafes are available in Itanagar, Tawang, Bomdila and Along.

12. Ask the caretaker of the circuit house about local tourist attractions and taboos prevalent among the local tribes. Avoid going out of the hotel/circuit house at night.

13. Don’t try to whip up conversation or counter any person of the Nishi tribe. The situation may turn violent.

14. If you face any kind of trouble, contact the Deputy Commissioner’s office in the district headquarters.

Happy journey.

Was Carly Fiorina a Victim of Gender Bias?

The The NewYork Times today published a story about how the ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina, planned to buy a computer services company eight years ago. Now, HP’s acquisition of EDS $14 billion vindicates Fiorina.

I interviewed Carly Fiorina in 2000. The article was published in Smart Inc, the IT magazine from the India Today Group. But here is an answer that wasn’t published, as it didn’t have anything to do with technology. While going through the transcript today, I thought it would be worth sharing with the readers.

I asked Fiorina, “Why are there so few ladies in top management of big companies? Do you face a gender bias?”

Surprisingly, Fiorina was straightforward in her answer.

She said, “Atanu, it’s a man’s world. Beyond the middle management, very few women are allowed to rise. You can feel it your peers’ reactions, moves and comments. Women will continue to remain fewer in top posts, unless the attitude changes. And that’s quite unlikely.”

In January 2005, the HP Board of Directors questioned Fiorina's performance, and proposed a plan to shift her authority to HP division heads, which Fiorina resisted. She was dismissed next month.

Did gender bias have anything to do with that decision? We’ll never know.

Support Looms Large

How a simple, rectangular piece of wood brought smile to thousands of women at Arunachal Pradesh

It was first pointed out to me by Aditi, a researcher on the cultures and tradition of the north-eastern states in India. A post-graduate from Guwahati University, Aditi has also spent his childhood in Shillong, Meghalaya. Last month, while criss-crossing Arunachal Pradesh, and soaking in the beauty and cultural diversity of “the forbidden state”, we spent one afternoon at the Industrial Training Centre at Zero.

In the Weaving and Knitting Section, we found two ladies sitting in front of handloom machines. They were weaving Galles, the square piece of bordered cloth that most Arunachali women wear as a wrap-around long skirt flowing from their waist to the ankles. The two ladies were bringing in a dash of colour in the otherwise dirty and derelict building.

While I was more interested in the patterns and motifs that the weavers were creating, Aditi diverted my attention to the rectangular (about 6-inch by 18-inch) piece of wood that tied the women’s waist to the loom. On her request, one of the ladies unfastened the wooden piece and demonstrated how to wear it.

The process was simple. The piece of wood has holes in each corner through which the ropes bind the wood to the backstrap loom. To begin with, the weaver opens the rope from one side, slide in and reattach the rope. It looks almost like a belt or a backrest. The other side of the loom is attached to a stationary bamboo structure. Tension can be adjusted simply by leaning back.

Aditi explained that even five years ago, women used to hunch before the loom, attached on both the sides to a stationary frame, and weave for hours at a stretch. Weaving even a simple Galle takes about 5 days, with 10 hours of work every day. As a result, the weavers used to suffer from acute gynaecological problems, pelvic girdle disorders, spondylitis and other spinal ailments. They faced severe problems during and after childbirth.

Now with the backstrap in place, much of these sufferings are things of past. In fact, the use of the backstrap has become universal. May be not always a wooden piece, but a thick belt or a piece of cloth. We saw it not just in the government-run training centre in Zero, but every house of Apatani or Nishi villages, on the small balcony of houses on stilts in Kiming or Inqiang, or at the community centres of Along.

A simple innovation has changed the face of healthcare industry in Arunachal Pradesh.

Touch wood.

Do Men Also Menstruate?

I spent my schooldays in the biggest residential school in West Bengal, India. Every building within the 200-acre campus had its own kitchen and dining hall. When I was studying in Class IX, the person in charge of our kitchen was Gopal Thakur, a native of Orissa, huge, dark and pot-bellied. One morning, during a usual visit to the kitchen in search of some crumbs of extra food, I found Thakur taking out the daily quota of rice, cereals and vegetables for the lunch. Nothing new, but what surprised me was the quantity of the raw materials. They were much less than that of other days.
I asked Thakur the reason for this inconsistency.
Gopal Thakur told me, as if sharing a secret, “As far as food consumption goes, men follow a monthly cycle. For three weeks they eat the normal quantity of food, but during the fourth, they eat much less. So, if I prepare the normal quantity of food during the fourth week, there would be wastage. But if I continue to cook this much during the next week, there would be riot.”
Let’s talk about Abani, the husband of my friend, Lakshmi. During the early days of their marriage, Abani had a job. He was the senior sales executive in a computer accessories company in Delhi. However, since his childhood, Abani dreamt of getting into business, and floating his own company. So he claimed (and got) the money and jewellery Lakshmi had brought from her maternal home. He quit the job, and floated a shop with a friend, which went belly-up within a year. Abani came back home like a prodigal child, took to drinks, and started living off his wife’s income (Lakshmi had found a job in the accounts department of a training institute).
These days, Abani’s body clock has developed a cycle. Once in every two months, his urge for starting a new business reaches the crescendo. He asks for money to start a new business and Lakshmi says no, as a) she doesn’t have that much of money, b) she knows the family including two young children would starve if money is given to Abani; and c) Abani doesn’t have the ability of pull off any business venture. So, a dejected Abani takes further to drinks, beats Lakshmi up mercilessly, and crashes out. And wait for the next bout about two months away.
The inside walls of my home needs a fresh coat of paint. The cornices of the drawing room have got black patches with the seepage of water; and the walls of my son’s bedroom have so many relief maps that, he says, he doesn’t need an Atlas. So, I contacted a few painters, asked for a list of materials needed (which they promptly furnished) and promised to engage them “as soon as possible”.
It never happened. The spectre of moving all the furniture, taking down thousands of books from the floor-to-ceiling book cases, the thought of flying dust, the acrid smell of paint, the chaos make me sick. I have given it up.
But Nekram painter didn’t.
Nekram would ring me up on my mobile phone around 20th of every month, and ask, “Sir, I am Nekram painter. Did you decide? Is your son’s exam over? Can we start now?” I would scratch my head, and say, “Eh-uh…Nekram, some guests are coming from Calcutta…Why don’t you give me a ring, say, just after the summer gets over?”
Nekram would. Next month itself. Around 20th. He has been doing it for the last two years. Sometimes I wonder whether Nekram has synchronised his “men-struation” with his wife’s menstruation cycle!