Recent content on Sriram Viswanathan
Meet me at the dawn To escape the silence, the wrong Teach me how to nurse So that we can both reverse On the ground, I felt the cold Not my feet, it was me being bold A forgotten glimpse of what happened Did I do something wrong or did I break the pattern Following the line, is not easy Yet the line is what saves us from feezing In the darkest hours, in the gaps of time The pleasures unbounded,…
Turn around...I hope you do Listen now... I hope you do Far away... Its the feeling Far away... Can you come closer.. To me.. We surf the night While they were asleep... The blackest skies were blue It was just... Me and You... Time stood still.. As we shed our skins Fools we are What good we are If we can't love ourselves ‘Cause how far we are The lights are fading out Can we…walk… Can we…talk……
Let’s talk ‘documents’ containing sensitive personal information When we share copies of our documents such as Passport, Driving License, Educational Certificates and other types of personal and sensitive documents, they can primarily fall into two ways - ‘Non-digital’ forms of data - ‘Subsequently’ digitized physical forms filled up with PII data…
Lets talk Ads The advertising/ad-tech ecosystem (or programmatic ad ecosystem as it is called nowadays) is what underpins the revenue model for most websites, including the biggest tech companies (e.g. Google, Meta, Twitter etc.). Of these companies, the one company that dominates the ad networks market by far is Google. Current stats show that Google Ads is used by almost 48.7% of all websites…
Preface If I mention the word security, the usual connotations that come to mind are - confidentiality, integrity and availability (CIA). This is usually the first definition anyone in the security domain would come up with. Ask the same question but now about privacy, usually people would talk about things like online tracking, surveillance, how they are being shown these creepy ads etc. The…
Preface The Government of India has tabled a proposed bill titled Digital Personal Data Protection Bill or DPDP 2022 for short. You can find the draft bill at the MeitY website - https://www.meity.gov.in/data-protection-framework. There are really detailed explanations of the bill in its current form by newspaper TheHindu at - A first look at the new data protection bill New draft of Data…
And there you stood The most beautiful Tip toeing through A bed of colored dreams The more it passed The more it enlivened Like the gentle kiss of the dew or the breeze that called for you At the end, it was more than a dream With open arms and open hearts Embracing, alive, the drizzling sky Maybe the skies were watching for us Maybe we were meant to be there So long our friends To a different…
Context The Indian government’s cybersecurity wing is called Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). In April'22, CERT-In published directions to address gaps in incident analysis. Most controversially, this includes the following - Maintenance of logs of ICT systems; subscriber/customer registrations details by Data…
In the follow up To the free you Did you decide on What to be, as you... Together we shall find A hiding place To shed, uncover, define Till one of us is whole Rest now, for we are one The path is here, for us to take Let's step ahead as we break And heal, forge, shape Once again we are singular Our insides, our lives Step out, rewind Here we are, lets redefine.
Disclaimer: There are probably a lot of cake related metaphors in this post, you might feel like ordering one by the end of this post, which is an unintentional side effect :) A well-defined story Creating well-defined stories is an essential part of software development nowadays, specially if you are following any of the “Agile” methodologies where the key motivation is to…
Context Some dictionary definitions “completely confident that one is right” “sure of/to do something” “certainly (used for emphasis)” “true beyond any doubt” used to show assent (agreement): ‘Are you serious?’ ‘Sure.’ NOTE: Not going into parts of speech, that will make things more complicated. Examples Example 1 Q: “Do you think you can do…
Context Google’s main revenue stream is Ads and thus collecting the data that enables this business. Everyone is online nowadays, and it (in many ways) defines who we are - specially what can be considered private. Our window into this online world is our web browser, and we put a lot of trust in the companies that build these browsers to do the right thing by us and protect what is private…
Having gone through a recent period of job search and a sequence of interviews, I thought I’d pen down what I think of the different styles of tech interviews and why I think this whole process needs a complete relook. Personas - Who are the people involved in the process ? Recruiter(s) (can be multiple in some cases) Future Colleagues (More and less experienced) Future Boss (e.g.…
Am I too weak to walk Or stone deaf to all the talk Trudging along towards infinity Scarlet rays light up our eternity To walk amongst the grieved You felt... you were alive The day was towards an end An end...to a great ire The wounds are beneath us The wounds are alive The past can't be relived We still want to try Tired are these eyes The burnt souls that washed them dry The dusk is painted red…
She went through the motions As if she were in the lap of her mother Drifting through time With the pureness of heart that none could find Spread across the land were her deeds Who will be the blessed that didn't agree Tired arms, tired legs, a still smile The long way back to the earth that she calls home Another day, yet not the same The faith nor the night could help her while the meek and the…
Goal of a privacy policy Intended Protect consumer’s interests and in a digital world, their data and identity form mis-use. Actual Protect companies from consumers suing them - written by a lawyer for a lawyer. Readability of a privacy policy This nytimes article is the best research and visualization of how readable are privacy policies of some of the services we use on a day to day basis. For…
Disclaimer I am going to simplify a lot of concepts to a great deal so as to reach a broader audience and not make it very very tech oriented. Encryption? In simple terms, it’s about ‘obfuscating’ or ’encoding’ or converting plain text information into a form that is not human readable and is based on mathematical properties/proofs. Some Basics Principles Basic aims which any good…
Let’s start with a hypothetical situation - You are craving ice-cream and it’s midnight. You open your phone and go to Zomato or whatever app to order your ice-cream and to your amazement, the app shows the ice-cream shop as “not available to order”. You can click on this text to get more information - it says “Your latest health report says that you are type-II diabetic and should not be eating…
Disclaimer I am not a legal expert or even with lay legal knowledge, so please do your research before drawing conclusions from this diary entry. Pretext According to Indian constitution, every Indian citizen has 7 fundamental rights (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_rights_in_India). As per the wikipedia entry above - ⇢The right to privacy is an intrinsic part of Article 21 (the Right to…
What is a cookie ? Pieces of data that a website uses to ‘remember’ your activity so that it provide ‘better’ services. Types of cookies First party - basically from the website you are visiting. Third party - from other websites (not from the current domain/website). E.g. Google Adsense, Analytics, Facebook Like Button. The most common use of third-party cookies is to…
A day, an ending To seemingly go quiet The heart dwells in silence To ache upon the miles That we walked together Turn on the lights We maybe out here tonight To mean, to rhyme Maybe its you, maybe its me How we pretend, its a dream.. How would you know If I was asleep How can I breathe This time... Maybe its a dream Maybe you are mine The songs ending Do I leave this time.
How wild... this all... In strange lives that we make How high... would it end... In a leafless path, never seems to end Cold eyes... can see through The trials of many, the faults of few To this day, to our today Could it be, would it all be ok What I ask is not strange What I feel is not inane What I fear is not a blur The still, the moment, for what its worth.
Repeat, repeat, the empty release The tangled voices that want to be free Repeat, repeat, what stems in me The higher meaning of what we could be Depart, descend, see the pretense Decay, destroy, the threads of false joy The construct, the being, of whats unseen Caged, scarred, the vision, the fallen star A freedom from this skin, from the alter self The simple, the plain, the outer crest, the…
To the hue of a vibrant roar To a distant desire left untold Hidden many are the many paths Where meaning finds its past I've fallen in love again To the sea of empty skies To the leaves that yearn the light 'Cause you're a dream... That never saw time... 'Cause you're a dream... That taught the night... 'Cause you're a dream... That feels only mine... 'Cause you're a dream... Where everything is…
Tonight I walk away From what.. you might ask.. From what.. I ask... Tonight I felt sorrow From what.. you might ask.. From what.. I ask... Tonight.. the time.. it looks at me... Like what.. you might ask.. Like what.. you might ask.. Keep... moving... The lights... Will never die upon you... Like i'd never walk away... Keep... moving... The night... Will never die upon you... Like i'd never look…
Caught in the waves of time Just another start... Hiding in, in these words of mine To a different self... Colors color the night Beauty ain't always bright The distance of our horizons The fall in our vices Hiding in, in the center of the world Hiding in, in the center of the world... While I dream our dreams, inside our walls... The touch..., the breath..., the smell... Is that all I long for.
In the wildest dreams The distance isn't gone In my firey being The truth doesn't come out And so I lie to myself That what is after Is better than now Is there a day That makes this go away Of what I am afraid To cross the line To explore whats mine I cannot touch you I cannot feel you I cannot breath you Whats holding me back Is it me or is it my self.
And I saw somebody else In our design For all it means And I felt more than just In our hearts For all it seems Color me to an endless night Until truth comes over Sever broken ties Until the leaves blow over Thoughts and mind and all thats us Different forms of an ending The head rush Spiral down before it takes you Tired eyes wouldn't speak If at all its all true Color me to an endless night…
Even though I try And tried, I must have Even though I lied And it hurt, it must have Towards a dream Towards a try Towards a hope Towards a lie Towards a self Towards a meaning Towards a sound Untoward my own Even though I cry And cried, I must have Distant wars I decry Decried, I must have And I couldn't even hide This empty pretense The want to give meaning The want to make sense
In our heart, in our minds In our thoughts, intertwine In our lies, in our hate In our conscience, in our fate Discharge the wounds that feed Come around to make me feel The Hyde once said that hurt was near Truth be told I couldn't hear There's a why, to our distance The ways to sound to be To my instincts, to my song To lead... To be told, to lie To behold, the why And all the while it just…
All the cobwebs are lying at the scene Circling to a higher conscious, scream Watering them down and down it must be To a low, to the light To the fore, to the fight Don't ask the weight to fall Don't mind the mob, the call Here in the lights of certainty Lies the hole that hides endlessly Don't fall away this time Trust all the way in mine Fear all thats inside The tide is turning now A duty to…
Hero, want me... Trying hard to please... What is that you read Add it towards The thoughts we breathe Come alive now... To know the cards To know the wars... Don't stop to color The mind, the calm How we wound Wait, step forward, wait Delay the hours Delay the thought Truth gives up The truth surrounds A step, a two We all come around...
Hope is, what is an unknown Hope is, falling down the throne And freedom... is all I ask Trouble... is all that lasts In your heart In our minds In our secret Thoughts intertwine Colors are Color off In it's reason To find the cause Until it's you..who Walks the line Telling truth To stay behind Hope is not what I seek It's you who makes me weak... Hope is not what I desire Without reason we walk…
Decide over me How far we have got to go Listen to the world How much we've got to know And time without a season And why without a reason They came in all the forms To wake us To know whats wrong Faster, arrive To calm the race of fire Decide, old enough to lie Fight the colors inside True the meaning True the sound And faultless I am raged The turn of the fall I can't erase the lie I can't feel…
Together we are afraid Of what has it come down to A silence, a lonely place The fear of a sound that begins to erase The kindness of an open heart... A beginning that went too haste Delayed are our lines that start and end The words that never meant to pretend They spread like the wildfire Without a vessel, they expire Does it make the world a better place To know that it was not right Does it…
Tell me the wise ways I could be wrong Stare into night space Follow me down Glimmering on the horizon A thousand lights Smoke in the air The roar of a flight Towards a dream Towards a try Is it more than me And you and I Awake are we now Too late are we now To start a new day..
To cry in vain or do I smile in pain Words do not say the thought Thoughts do not speak out loud Too few are the interactions The trouble of unmet expectations Or the myriad reactions Sudden spike of troubled minds Abstract trails of past finds Little can I do to mince the facts They are there if you ask Tonight is heavy and I am glad it is At least makes me realize That I am still capable of…
Fade into to you... I am fading too soon... I am waiting for you... Turning still... I am leaning in... I am alive.... Farther and deeper into a dream... You've become more alive... Than what could be seen.
A dream, a sound A wait for all we could be Turning in rounds To an endless serenity Fading, descending Parallels drawn apart Too few are the lights Too soon are the nights Dawning desires and the fear of fall End of the line The morning walk
Trouble finds me in varied phase Not knowing the time or the place The two ways to a higher conscience Deeper and farther, towards an unending defiance Steps too far, towards a broken desire Ending in places that soon expire Truth deceives the meaning of conception A flowing reality of myriad reflections Reaching for the unknown and the final A day, a night, the constant fight Seeming to hide the…
We walk around Enough to hide the pain In truth we abound For the meaning of same The telling way to our desires Fewer mutating thoughts that rise to aspire Into a fiction that is yet to be born A dream to understand the gone What begins now is a new wave Defiant, wiser, transient in thought Gently pushing the walls So that I can breathe
Drowning, hear me fall Starting, to feel the draw Waiting, a call that never was Dreaming, to a joyful... What surrounds is all too numb A touch, a scream, a voice Quietly dumb Deafening, being, solemnly sane Am I what you wanted Am I wanted too A low rise is all I could ever make Carefully studying a different take Truth be told I am ok With how life has turned Into this wild run Deafening,…
Would you last if I didn't stay To realize whats beyond the farthest lights Sparkling in the dying moments The breeze warm enough to dry the sand Embracing the souls that pass by In a wall of noise and a thousand dreams To the un-relished anger that came before the realization Rewind the tape to understand the path That leads to the lonely door At last the calling was heard That opened the mind to…
The moment went still As seconds crowded the gaps Where every thought became a gamble To an analyzing mind Never liked this game Of laying bare but to no avail Where the past doesn't count for much And the future is the prize Turn by turn, the cloud thickens As conversations come and expire Sometimes leading to one And sometimes none Casual and light - not how I'd describe it What does that say if…
Down with the sunrise The music, it fades away Drowning in the busy lights Am I alone in this fray Every step, a bit too far Every thought, a bit too sour Nearer to the horizon Than the shadow would say Too far, too long Am I about to break As I watch back Its all a blur Due drops on the teary eye A haze of violent incurrence Of consequence, only a few to please The pieces I kept collecting…
Grains of noise reflecting from the walls You can hear them from afar Tunneling through the ambiance Stuttering to mask the voices... Voices that were heard only in whispers Just a little louder than the distant stars The ones that can't hear us Little pebbles soaked in yesterday's rain Make a bed for the faded remains Of the day that has just made its way Into the dark and the silent bay Solemn…
Still on a one off Caught in a storm And I played it still Feel all alone I try to fall off The cold divide My faith is torn Between the lines And we break out To listen in And we can spread out To hear the spin Don't you know I am still the same Talk within the rhymes That dissipate Faded under the morning sun Too close I get to my only one Feel the sorrow thats come out from you Shatter the…
Slow dance under the fading light Delicate balance of our imaginary flight Seeping through the corners are the whispers That echo a thousand memories Some that pull the moment towards infinity And some that make it still To forget the now would be a crime Cherish this song and all that is sublime
Find me now Through an empty space Call me now A different phase Steal the fire And pave the way My inner is cold For so long, I wait Dig me out The stone is born on me Scream and shout Tell the world What I see Forlorn are the dreams That sustain this soil Come by and feed Let it uncoil Don't whisper, just talk Into the void of between Closer, in and out To our differences To the life machine
A shudder to end the demise Of our long winding path Where the night says more than just a whisper Delving deeper as it sings the past To break the cycle In this trial of hope The footsteps slip In the midst, the breath slows Just enough to steal the moment And the solitary unknown Standing still to analyze the scene Tasting the rain and the has been Momentary lapse follows the split in the song…