Despite having a lot of time to prepare for my departure to Sweden,  there were quite a few things that I left undone/underdone in India.  One of those underdone things was setting up my machine in India to auto-install security updates.  I also failed to install an easy means by which my parents could, on my request, enable me access to my machine in a secure manner.  This shortcoming proved to be quite troublesome.  Over the past week, I'd started to worry about the security of the machine.  I didn't want script-kiddies or crackers from the wild sniffing around my machine and causing mischief.  More important than loss of data was the fact that my parents might not be able to use the machine in the event of any mischief.  In the event of any trouble,  I also didn't know anybody with Linux know-how who could actually drop by my place and fix my machine.  This meant that I had to do things the hard way: I had to coax my parents into sitting and typing commands that would allow me to access my machine, and that was definitely going to be hard!

I called them yesterday and told them my idea.  Needless to say, it was met with a lot of grumbling but my mom did oblige.  Unfortunately, it was really hard for me to both think up plans and communicate it at the same time.  Also, the poor internet connection meant that my instructions were often unclear to them and we gave up the effort after a lot of trouble.  I thought long and hard about the means by which I could achieve what I wanted.  I called them again today with a much clearer plan in mind.  Even then,  there were quite a few challenges, but I was at last able to log in into my machine and a quick look confirmed my fears: while the machine had been pretty effective at keeping me out, it had been fairly open for malicious entities to sneak in!  I quickly plugged in the holes and updated the machine. I also accessed my mother's desktop and set up a shortcut for her that she could use to provide me secure access to the machine, anytime I needed it.  It was tiring, but ultimately very satisfying.  I must be extra nice to my parents over the next week, for putting up with my impatience and frustrated outbursts when the going was really tough.  My mom is well and truly a Linux chick now, and of that, I'm super-proud!