Idhar Udhar Ki Baat

“Dadu, you were really stupid,” said my eight-year-old granddaughter, her head nestled snugly in my armpit. Now, I’m used to hearing that kind of thing from my wife. But coming from my sweet little angel? That was unexpected. “Why do you say that, darling?” I asked, summoning all my courage. “Well, you said you had a narrow escape when terrorists fired at you while you were traveling on the boat. How often were you on that boat?” “Almost daily,” I admitted. She lifted her head and gave me a look that only a eight-year-old armed with logic and sass can muster. “So, you made your moves predictable! That’s just asking the terrorists to attack you. Honestly, Dadu, not very smart.” I swallowed hard. “Uh… well, it was my job.” “And you said you killed two terrorists when they attacked you while you were moving on vehicles. Where were you going?” she pressed. “To return a movie cassette,” I replied hesitantly, realizing too late where this was going. She raised her eyebr...

  “Abe bewakoof, dhakan, tum katwa loge!” (Hey idiot, you’ll get yourself cut!) exclaimed my village friend Nikka back in 1975 when I told him I was getting a pair of trousers stitched with a zipper. His concern came from a place of genuine ignorance—Nikka didn’t know that something called underwear existed. His reaction amused me and ensured that I never go around without an underwear. So, I owe him for a life lesson. I recalled   Nikka while listening to a podcast criticizing an MOU. The mix of concern and colorful commentary felt oddly familiar. And surely like Nikka I was not angry with the podcasters for the language used. They were simply doing what they knew best—raising concerns. What troubled me, however, was the superficiality of their analysis. They focused on one narrow issue while ignoring far larger problems, like potential data leaks through popular apps such as Zepto, Swiggy or railway ticket booking platforms. They also failed to mention vulnerabilities in ...