Things to learn from Rahul Gandhi's Twitter Account Hack

I am not sure how many of you know this, but Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter got hacked on 30^th November, 2016 around 9 pm. This hack opens a complete can of worms and makes us wonder and question a lot of things.  Some claim this was done by Rahul Gandhi’s team to malign opposition, who are focusing on digital India. Some claim it’s done by the opposition to malign Rahul’s image. We’ll leave that discussion there and focus on what the title suggests.

I’m a complete twitter junkie and watched the account closely. The person/group who hacked the account put out a lot of tweets. Some tweets mocked the political part he supported, some mocked his family and some of them mocked Rahul Gandhi himself. What baffled me the most was the way the situation was handled by agency who handled the account.

The agency figured the account has been compromised and must have probably changed the password immediately, but within few minutes those derogatory tweets were up again. This clearly showed lack of knowledge on the agency’s part. Keeping all these things in mind, I’m sharing few hygiene checks that could help in ensuring your account isn’t compromised similarly.

Setting up the basics: It’s always good to have some things handy before setting up an account. The following check list will definitely help you in securing the account and reducing the chances of it being misused.

•           Have a very strong password: Yes, you guessed it right, this is the most critical thing one should keep in mind. It should consists of small letters, capital letters, numbers and special characters. It shouldn’t be associated with your account, name, spouse’s name, etc. This will make it difficult for people to have access to your account.

•         Security checks: Ensure the email id you’ve put in doesn’t have the same password. Put in your number. These will ensure more security.

•        Credentials: Ensure you don’t give away the credentials to anyone. Don’t write it down and leave the paper randomly. If you have to note it down, make sure you keep it secure.

•          Third Party Apps: Do not log in to third party applications using your account until and unless you are 100% sure about its authenticity. Even if it’s trusted, do check their data the app can access. Never allow apps that can see/use/change your password.

Crisis Management:   Let’s assume your account gets misused despite all these precautions. If such a situation arises, here are the things that’ll ensure the situation is handled properly.

•         First things first, ensure you have the notification on for the account you manage. It’ll ensure you’re notified as soon as your account is compromised.

•      As soon as you feel your account is compromised, change the password, security measures like email id and telephone number. This will ensure the hacker doesn’t get a chance to hack the account again.

•      Once that is done, ensure you revoke access to all devices, apps etc. You can check for this in settings. The reason for this is sometimes the account stay logged in devices for some time, despite change in password. 

•  Contact Twitter as soon as possible, giving a detailed explanation to the situation.

•         Check your email id for any mails received for account login etc.

•          Write to cyber-crime as soon as possible giving out as many details as possible.

While these things won’t guarantee 100% security, they’ll definitely help in some way or the other to ensure the account is safe and your agency doesn’t get fired ;)

Please feel free to give suggestions in the comment section and also let me know if I’ve missed out anything.

P. S. I don’t support or like Rahul Gandhi at all, but I’m really against this. Invading and disrespecting someone’s privacy is as low as it could get.

Exploring Matheran on a budget!

Bored of the routine? Tired of going clubbing every weekend? Want to enjoy nature at it's best without burning a hole in your pocket? The thing you read after this will definitely have yes as an answer to all of these questions.

So, come Friday evening, my friends and I were discussing and cursing how skewed our lives have become and how badly all of us needed a break and that's when the idea of heading for a trip/walk was planted in our heads. With little research, we ended up zeroing Matheran for a single day trip and trust me, it was one of the best trips I've had in the longest of time.

How we reached?

We started quite early and took the 5:48 am train from Kurla to Neral; Kurla being the closest central railway station for all three of us. After about 90 mins of travelling in an almost empty train, we reached Neral from where we took a share cab that took us Dasturi Naka, beyond which no vehicles are allowed.

Cost: 160/person (40 pp return ticket between Kurla and Neral + 70 pp from Neral to Dasturi Naka+50 Entry-taken to maintain the place)

What we did there?

We had barely slept and needed some energy so we just stopped for a light breakfast after a short walk to the market from the the entry point. With some food and tea in our system we were all set to head to our first stop- Alexander point.

Alexander Point: 

Alexander point was a quiet, peaceful place overlooking the beautiful hills all around and that soothes your mind and body like nothing else.

Rambaug Point:

Yet another beautiful place; just reminds you of how nature can bring back the lost calmness in you.

Chowk Point:

Next up was Chowk Point that offered a view that is mesmerizing! I fail to find the right words to describe it's beauty. With some tea to give us company along with this beautiful view, we were surely lost in a beautiful zone.

One Tree Hill:

As the name suggests, this hill just had one tree and trust me, it looks beautiful! We would have missed getting closer to this place had our tour guide(a dog) not taken us there. Yes, a dog! He was with us all along the route and a chat with the tea stall owner confirmed that dogs in the area move around with you from a point to another, helping you explore places like never before and the least we could do is offer him some food. The happiness on getting some food knew no bound and he wagged his tail left, right and center. It brought a smile on our faces too. All this for something as low as 20 bucks.

Charlotte Lake:

Our next halt was Charlotte lake that is a bit commercialized and that wasn't something we were really looking for. None the less, it was a good halt and we refueled our exhausting bodies with some moderately priced food here.

Louisa Point:

After a good rest of over an hour, fueling our body with food and tea, we headed over to Louisa point. The incline from the lake it a bit tiring, but the visual delight you'll have when you reach there will take away all the tiredness. This one is my personal favorite, offering a view like none of the above mentioned places. Not taking away anything from any of the places, but this just calmed each and every nerve of my body. Hadn't been this calm in while. We sat there for over an hour; doing NOTHING! Like literally nothing, but just absorbing the beauty of nature.

Porcupine (Sunset) Point:

After spending over an hour at Louisa point and having a small chat with one of the tea stall owners on the way, we headed to Sunset point. The name pretty much explains everything and me being obsessed with sunsets, I just couldn't miss this! However, luck ran out and it was too cloudy to witness that. This place was beautiful too with hills all around.

We were there till 7 pm, which wasn't the best of things to do as it started becoming dark on the way back. While we were almost right on our path, couple of people had lost their way back and helping them out occupied quite a lot of our time, and we ended up reaching the market area around 8, completely exhausted! We were super hungry so decided to have some food before heading back. The railway tracks were pitch black so carry a torch/phone with flash light. 

We paid about 400/person for the food and snacks during the entire trip.

Our ride back to Neral was slightly expensive as compared to the morning ride. Share cabs compile only if there are 5 people or if you're willing to pay for 5 people i.e. 350 INR.

Total Damage*: 650/person.

All in all, Matheran is a great place to visit when you're low on budget and want to explore nature's offerings. 

Note: 

1. The train prices may vary as per the individual's location. 
2. Share cab subject to availability.
3. Entry charges as of 20th August, 2016.
4. Food charges subject to the restaurants chosen and can be avoided if you prefer homemade food. 
5. The entire trip was about 27KMs and it's not advisable to follow this route if you're not comfortable walking this long. Another alternate to this is taking a horse but the budget will rise up by another 1000 bucks and you won't be able to spend as much time as we did at each place. 
6. Be careful of monkeys! They are really aggressive in that region.
7. Don't let the craziest selfie of your life be your last selfie.Be smart, alert and careful! 
8. The content/images are my intellectual property and cannot be used without my consent.

Feel free to drop in your experiences, feedback, stories, suggestions, etc. 

Have a happy Trip!!

An obsession worth keeping?

'Bhai,  paise nahi kya shave karane ke?' 
'Girlfriend ne chhod di?'
'Himalaya mein jaake baba ban ne ka irada hai kya?'

and other questions I'm just tired of hearing because of this obsession of keeping a beard. I mean why can't a person keep a beard in general? Why does everyone have to be so judgemental when it comes to beards? The other day some relative told me,  'Convert karne ka soch raha hai kya? Dusri jaat wali koi dhoond liya?' I mean why the fuck would you even associate it with a religion or belief. Has the whole thing called personal choice disappeared from the face of this earth? I guess it has for people like them,  who'll constantly tell you what you should do and what you shouldn't. Is everyone's thinking still stuck in 19th century?

Anyway, I'll still keep a beard and I'll tell you why. I don't know how you guys would take it,  but keeping a proper beard has somehow helped me become more patient. I was one short tempered guy who would get furious for any and everything. And for some weird reason,  it has reduced a lot since I've started keeping a beard. I'm not giving the entire credit to it,  but the fact doesn't go away that keeping a beard requires some insane amount of patience. I'm sure the above para very much gives you the reasons for the same. And no,  I'm not talking about those 10-15 days stubble. I'm talking about anything that has been there on your face for at least 40 days.

Also,  it helps me when I'm bored and out of ideas. Just stroke the beard for some time and wisdom just flows through it. No,  no,  it's a fact! Haven't you seen girls play with their hair too? I wonder which hair do guys with no facial hair play with.

However, there are a bunch of dumb fucks who associate this with manliness. I mean it is,  in a way,  but there are other things that define manliness too. I mean you can have all the beard in the world,  but if you don't know how to treat women respectfully,  then I'm sorry to break your bubble,  but you're not a man! Growing a beard comes with some responsibilities:
- Treating women respectfully is on the top of that list.
- You need to be patient and should avoid losing your composure.
- Your preferred language of conversation shouldn't be stupid.
- You should let gossiping be enjoyed by those who don't have a beard. Don't be a part of it.
- You're not allowed to break anyone's trust.

There's more to it, but I guess I should stop for now. Adios!

-A beard obsessed human.