Evescape

...until we meet again "I am not ashamed to say that no man I ever met was my father’s equal, and I never loved any other man as much.” — Hedy Lamarr Dad, my dearest ... Your thought makes me break into tears. The sense of your loss is overwhelming. Time has passed by but the trauma won't leave, pain won't dull, grief won't subside. The world seems to have lost its shimmer without you. Memories of you float in my mind. Some rich, some comforting, others haunting. I can write volumes on you. This note is only a brief summary of my unparalleled love and appreciation for you. Dad, Daddy, Father, Popsi, Papa...I called you by so many names. You lovingly responded to all of them. You were kind, thoughtful, gentle, loving. Your joy contagious. Supportive, encouraging, inspiring, full of wisdom. Your love, steady and real. Your will power, amazing. Selfless, humorous and handsome. You were an accomplished engineer, extremely intelligent. You lived your values fait...

Regulating social media Recently, a minister of the Goa government, on the sidelines of a political topic, told me that some fake news about him was being circulated widely on social media implicating him in a serious offence, as grave as child abuse. The minister while sounding agitated, further told me that the cyber cell or police was helpless as it had no mechanism in place to book culprits of such online fake news. The minister was feeling frustrated that though he knew the perpetrator, he could not book him for the offence. I casually suggested that he, along with his colleagues, should attempt to bring about a policy to regulate fake news on social media, in a bid to deter `online predators.' My own experience has not been pleasant. A fake account, operating as Sanjeev Naik on Facebook tried to run smear campaign against me during the runup to the 2017 elections. After elections he stooped down to the level of spreading rumours about me joining some political party, A...