God Is Great

By Arvind Pavithran R

Rudra is a student of 9th grade & huge devotee of Lord Shiva. He doesn’t miss to go Shiva temple on the way to his school everyday. The temple priest and the elders in the temple know about Rudra and his devotion very well but, just like removing the slippers outside of the temple, once Rudra enters the school he removes all his good nature and turns into a bully in the school. Because he was tall and bigger than most of the students, he use to bully almost everyone of them. The students were afraid to raise a complaint against him as they would be beaten down and the teachers didn’t take this seriously as he also studied very well, so most of the students never got in the way of Rudra.

One day, after school hours, Veer(Rudra’s classmate) went to the school cycle stand to get his cycle and leave for home. When he got to his cycle he saw both the wheels were punctured and the tyres were torn. He looked around to check who did this and found Rudra standing and staring at him from a distance. Thinking not to invite more trouble Veer started pulling his cycle to leave. But Rudra pulled Veer’s cycle back and pushed him. Veer fell down and got injured badly. Rudra caught Veer’s collar and lifted him and came close to his face and said, “You should learn to ride your cycle better“ and smirked at him and left the scene. Injured Veer stood up weeping, picked up his cycle and left home.

18 years later..

Rudra, he has joined the Police force few years back but nothing was able to change his devotion to Lord Shiva or his bullying nature. Now with the police authority in hand, Rudra was incorrigible. He is bullying almost everyone he sees on the streets right from fruit vendors, passerby, even stray dogs. He gets behind a sleeping dog quietly and shouts from its back and scares the dog. If it tries to bite him he hits the dog with stones. No one likes his behaviour, but as he is into the force, people hesitate to stand up against him. He has turned into an outright sadist.

One day Veer was on the streets shopping and saw Rudra at a distance, he didn’t expect him to be any good and wasn’t surprised by what he has turned into. Rudra got into his car and drove past Veer.

Rudra was driving alone and he enjoys loud music while driving. He was driving at a speed of 60Kmph when suddenly the car came to a sudden stop and he hit his head on the steering wheel really hard and got injured & was bleeding. Rudra was sure he didn’t hit the brakes. He got down to quickly check whether someone else has hit the car but, it was an less busy highway and he couldnt see any other vehicle closer than 30 meters in the proximity. Thinking he might have accidentally stepped on the brake pedal, he got in to the car again and started driving.

After few hundred metres, the car was speeding even without him pressing the accelerator pedal, he was shocked & tried to slow down the vehicle, suddenly the windows started moving up and down, the wipers turned on automatically. Rudra is now horrified and clearly has no idea what is happening. He attempted to open the door to jump out of the moving vehicle, but to his surprise the doors are jammed. He tried to steering the vehicle to hit some tree and stop, but he was not able to control anything. Worried that he is going to die this way, Rudra shouted out to help and started praying to Lord Shiva. Suddenly the music from the speakers turned down and he heard a heavy and grumpy voice from it.

Voice: What are you afraid of? Death?

Rudra: Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?

Voice: You know me well. You visit me everyday.

Rudra: Lord Shiva? Is that you?

Voice: Yes

Rudra: I have been a true devotee of you and have served and visited you every day of my life. Why do you want to kill me?

Voice: Visiting me every day or your puja doesn’t cover up for the sins you have commited. I have been very patient, hoping to see some change in you. But you dont seem to realise your mistakes, you have become imbecile.

Rudra: Give me one more chance, please I beg you. I will not hurt a single soul from now on.

Voice: I dont believe you, I see no hope.

Rudra: Please, I beg you, I wont harm anyone here after, I beg for mercy.

By this time the Car drove to a hilly region and it was moving towards a cliff. The other vehicles on the road saw the arbitrary behaviour of this vehicle but couldn’t help. Rudra was begging from his heart to Lord Shiva to stop the car and save him. The car reached the edge of the cliff. The brakes were applied really hard and the car drfited, the tires were screeching against the road before it came to a stop. Two of the tires were hanging outside the edge of the cliff. The car was hanging like a balancing toy. Rudra got injured badly, but no fatal injuries. Rudra was relieved that the car stopped, but suddenly the air bags deployed just to scare him and then.

Voice: This is your last chance, If you touch any soul again, I will burn you down to ashes.

Rudra didn’t utter a word but was deeply hurt that the god he sincerely followed from his childhood has taught him a lesson in such a manner. People came to Rudra’s rescue and admitted him to the hospital. Veer was also in the crowd. Rudra saw Veer’s face and slowly closed his eyes.

After a week, Veer was out shopping and again he saw Rudra at a distance. Rudra was a changed person, he turned out to be the best version of himself. Being to other people and to the animals too. Neither he bully’s anyone nor he throws stones at dogs. Seeing Veer, Rudra came running towards him.

Veer: So, how are you now?

Rudra: Recovered physically and mentally a changed person.

Veer: It is clearly visible. It is good to see you like this.

Rudra: Yes, even I feel good. People are respecting me a lot. Lord Shiva has taught me a lesson in the hard way.

Veer: Good for you. Probably, you should learn to drive your car better.

Rudra: I apologize for my behaviour in the past.

Veer: No problem, everyone does mistakes. I am happy that you have realised it. Lets forget it and move on. God is Great.

Rudra smiled and waived goodbye and left.

Veer got into his car and opened his laptop and starts deleting the Remote Code Execution attack script that he wrote for hacking into Rudra’s Car. He followed Rudra and exploited the vulnerability he found through the infotainment system in Rudra’s car and took control of the primary ECUs. Through which he was able to control the steering, doors, acceleration, brakes, etc. He spoke like Lord Shiva in an encrypted voice and changed Rudra forever.

In today’s world, Cars are no more mechanical devices. They are computers on wheels and are more prone to Cybersecurity attacks. Veer is now an Automotive Cybersecurity Expert, who prevents such threat to vehicles.

By Arvind Pavithran R