Thanks for sharing that. A wonderful read. But such a creepy take on the wonderful phrase 'someone to watch over me'... Reminds me of a haiku I had once read: They held hands and necked On a stone floor; a sign creaked: 'God is watching you.'
Nishant On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 10:16 AM, Gautam John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME > By Ariel_Ramchandani > Created 11/03/2008 - 20:58 > > * Miscellany > > HOT ON YOUR TRAIL | March 11th 2008 > Kapungo/flickr [1] > How can you tell if you're being followed? Don't bother looking for > men with turned-up collars, who peer round corners or keep tying their > shoelaces, says Alan Judd. The secret to identifying a tail is all in > the shoes ... > > From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, Spring 2008* > > So, you think you're being followed. Two questions: first, who do you > think you are? Are you really so secret and important that someone is > prepared to spend time and money watching where you're going? During > the 1980s miners' strikes the press reported that an associate of > Arthur Scargill fled the United Kingdom, convinced that the British > "secret police" were following him. Why should they? It would have > been perfectly obvious where he was and what he was doing: organising > strikes is hardly clandestine. (He took refuge in East Germany, of all > places.) > > Second, is there someone out there who very badly wants to know what > you're doing, who believes that surveillance is the only way to find > out, and who is able to follow you themselves or pay someone else to? > Unless such a person or organisation exists, forget it. > > But if all that does apply to you, how might you tell you're being > followed? Don't bother looking for men with turned-up collars, who > peer round corners or keep tying their shoelaces. Real surveillants > will never be seen doing anything odd; they are chameleons who strive > to look ordinary, matching whatever environment they're in. At Ascot > they'd look smart, in King's Lynn they'd look like Norfolk shoppers. > They won't dawdle or stare, but will move purposefully as if hurrying > about their business. Anyone who draws attention to himself is almost > certainly innocent. It's ordinary people who do strange things. Take > 15 minutes to watch a street and you'll see people go in and out of > the same shop three times, pausing at an empty road then crossing when > it's busy, retracing their steps, catching buses at the last second, > dropping things, listening to "War and Peace" on their MP3 players, > staring about as if they've just fallen off the moon and gazing for > ever at a hairbrush in a shop window. > > If you must check for surveillance, don't keep glancing over your > shoulder. Appearing to suspect you're being followed suggests you're > doing something to merit it. Anyway, if you're being tailed by a > serious outfit they won't only be behind you, but ahead and to the > side as well; there won't just be one or two people on your case, but > a whole team, with others in reserve. Maybe the whole street is > following you. And your followers will keep changing their appearances > in ways you won't notice--women particularly can use a scarf, a > shopping bag or a coat to alter themselves in seconds. > > If you want to identify a tail, look at their shoes: they are hard to > change. Move frequently between crowded and empty places: this forces > them to keep closing for fear of losing you, drawing back, then > closing again. This makes them conspicuous. But don't jump on or off > trains just before the doors close--that's for the movies; and anyway, > a good surveillance team will already have someone on the train, as > well as on the platform. Remember they're not trying to catch or chase > you, just to "house" you--to see where you live, where you're going, > or whom you're meeting. > > The same principles apply on the road. That solitary black Mondeo > following you doggedly round the M25 (assuming you're moving at all) > is not a tail; instead, your followers will be in many different cars, > some near you, some ahead, some behind and out of sight--and some not > on the motorway at all. Don't try to shake them off by > speeding--they're better drivers than you. In fact, you cause them > more problems by going slowly because anyone else proceeding at your > snail's pace will be conspicuous. > > The exception to all this is the stalker. He'll be a loner, and he'll > almost certainly stay behind you. If you suspect you're being stalked, > use the crowd-space-crowd trick until you find a place (a shop with > more than one exit, say) where you can observe if he tries to close > in. Note everything--shoes again--and tell the police. Or, if you're > confident, become the hunter: follow him and house him. You might find > you enjoy it. > > THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY > > Even professionals are fallible. After the second world war, new > recruits to MI5 were trained by a martinet who took justified pride in > his invisibility. When the martinet died, his followers decided to > attend his funeral--secretly, of course. One of them told me how their > cars joined the procession at a distance--not easy because slow > vehicles, like slow people, are hard to follow discreetly. Sometimes > they had to overtake, at others drop back or take a parallel road. > They performed these manoeuvres with a professionalism they were sure > he'd have been proud of. But they lost the cortège, missing the > funeral entirely and leaving--they imagined--the old boy raging in his > coffin. > > (Alan Judd is a novelist, biographer, and former soldier and diplomat. > His latest book is "The Quest for C: Mansfield Cumming and the > Founding of the Secret Service [2]") > Intelligent Life | Copyright (c) The Economist Newspaper Limited 2007 > | All rights reserved | Disclaimer | Terms and conditions | > Intelligent Life magazine FAQs > Source URL: http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/node/897 > > Links: > [1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/kapungo/ > [2] > http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quest-Mansfield-Cumming-Founding-Service/dp/0006530257 > > -- Nishant Shah Ph.D. Student, CSCS, Bangalore. Research & Development, COMAT, Bangalore. # 0-9740074884
