Achilles and Hector of Troy - legends killed by their own blood!

Yesterday I was watching Troy. That was not the first time and I believe that will not be the last time either. I'm one of those people that believe there is a lot to learn from our past, be it the mistakes or the best decisions that had changed the course of human history.

I have not read the book but the director, Wolfgang Petersen, had done an awesome job with Troy. The opulence and magnificence of yesteryears was vividly captured in the movie.

Everytime I watched the movie, there was always something new that hit my eyes. This time was no different. The legendary Achilles and the prince of Troy, Hector, I realised, were killed by their own blood! Achilles was single handedly killed by his own mother while Hector's killing was a collective achievement of his father, wife, brother, commander and the least you expect, Hector himself!

I know! If you had read the book or watched the movie, you would say, 'No! Achilles killed Hector and Paris killed Achilles. Wait! Hear me out!

When Achilles was invited for the war, he goes to his mom for advice and this is what she had to tell him; if you stay back, you will have a happy family and a loving wife; you will have children and they will love you; they will have children and they will praise you; they will have children and in turn they will have children of their own; you will be forgotten slowly. On the other hand, if you leave, you will never come back, but the world will sing your praise; you will be remembered forever! Going by the almost-gayish intimacy shown between Achilles and his cousin, the 'marrying-a-girl' part must have had beaten the s--t out of Achilles! So he decides to leave for the war and his mom kisses him goodbye. What a mom! And what a lousy way to start a lifetime mission! In the end, he does not seem to participate in the war happily. He dies a sad man. Of all the people, the mighty Achilles had to be killed by the weakling, Paris.

The other sad story was that of Hector. When Achilles calls Hector for the ill-fated fight, none of Hector's relatives believe or at least pretend that he will come back alive, including his wife! As if that is not enough, Hector himself strongly believes that he will not survive. I would have been surprised, if he came back alive after all these ill preparations. What a far cry from today's Stephen Covey, Robin Sharma, Robert Kiyosaki and a host of other authors and their money-minting books on positive thinking and self-hypnotism for success!

Having said that, it was no surprise that the weakling, Paris, kills the mighty Achilles, because Hector tells him, you are the prince of Troy now, my brother, I know you will make me proud! Helen, with a face that launched a thousand ships, tells him, I love you for what you are! You are more man than my ex-husband.

It is a wonder what positive words can do and negative words can undo!

Living together!

Don't be surprised if you heard that this seemingly a western practice is not alien to India, that too in what is touted as 'the' traditional Chennai! My wife and I came to know of a couple who are living together. They have a five year old child from this relationship.

Neither me nor my wife thought ill of this relationship. In fact, this is only a problem of the middle income class, the torch bearer of countless traditions. They try to live their lives in whatever time that is left between these traditions. What a life? Anyways, neither the supper rich nor the lower income class care about these traditions. They have their money and day-to-day life to chase for, respectively!

We were only wondering what would happen to the child's future in the Indian setup. In India you cannot declare someone as your partner without a formal ritual. A ' life partner' is not a legal relationship! At least, you must have registered your marriage.

We were wondering what challenge one might face. Be it the legalities involved in the dependency, inheritance, guardianship, traveling abroad for fun or education; as we discussed more, what appeared or we thought as a problem, is not really a problem. At least, all these problems can be solved with proper documentation of legal nature.

It so appeared that except for the social stigma attached to this relationship, there are no other problems. Or are they?

Anti-virus Software is a scam!

After five years of smooth running, my laptop crashed unceremoniously one fine morning, no warning what soever. The hard disk had developed a number of bad sectors. After many hours of browsing and tinkering, I was able to recover my data. However, to avoid the problem from recurring, at least for the time being, I had to reformate my laptopand reinstall the operating system.

As my Anti-Virus Software (AVSW) had expired a couple of years ago, I was exploring the options available. Thats when a friend of mine explained how he is protecting his laptop without the support of an AVSW. He is so resolute that he is ready to take the challenge in any open forum that his laptop cannot be infected. His argument is that the AVSW does more harm to the computer than to protect it. He is totally pissed off that the AVSW hogs the processing unit and probably reduces the hard-disk's life with frequent disk reads. His point is, the pros are not worth its cons. He has enabled a plethora of operating system provided features to protect his laptop.

It was not only his strong argument against AVSW but also the cost, the number of options available, the irritating need to renew it every year, that have made me go ahead with only the operating system provided security features for my laptop.

Well, it is not that simple. Now I use only limited-access user login. Whenever I need to perform an admin activity, I not only need to login as an administrator but also undo a number of protections before I can do any worthwhile administrative tasks. It is a pain, of course.

Now, how do I feel about it? I dont know. Its a bag of mixed feelings. On the one hand I feel exposed! Im not sure if I have turned on all the possible protection mechanisms that the operating system provides (AVSW is a score winner here! Whether it really protects our system or not, it gives us a warm feeling that everything has been taken care!). On the other hand, Im happy that I dont have to choose between the anti-virus softwares available in the market. I dont have to shell out every year. We have heard a number of times how an operating system's vulnerability was exposed or a browser's weakness was used by the hackers to do something nasty. However, how many times have we heard of an anti-virus software failing to detect a virus or its variant? Are they (all of them) really that good? Too good to be true, isn't it? Given that, how one makes a decision on which AVSW is best forone's needs.

Anyway, this blog isn't about whether I have protected my laptop fully or not. It is, certainly, not about how you can protect yours. The question is whether AVSW is a scam?

Let us look at the anti-virus software's biological counterpart. The similarity is not only in their behavior, but also in how they are challenged. Once the system is infected, just like our modern medicine, the AVSW addresses and cures the symptoms, leaving the cause of the problem dormant, waiting patiently for the next opportune moment to rear its ugly head. I do not understand! In stead of creating the operating system robust in the first place, we were given a buggy system, leading to a multi-million industry that develops anti-virus software. We, the users, are fleeced in the end.