EP-66 | Trapping ISI agents, cyber espionage & defending India’s digital assets with Pavithran Rajan

People like him are quietly doing their job to protect Bharath. Thanks for bringing them out.

Everyone knows Pavvi as a cyber expert, but very little is known about his sharp skills as an Infantryman. I had moved into the Valley as a novice with Pavvi as my company officer. He would analyze and forecast terrorist action, which i believed very little in until the autumn operation. On specific int of presence of terrorist (I was the team cdr with Pavvi) we cordoned off the target house. However, despite numerous detailed searches we drew a blank. Standing inside the house we were contemplating our next course of action. Pavvi suddenly yelled ‘Sir get aside, I can smell him, he’s in this room’. I immediately rushed out of the room (though I did not believe him). A thorough search of the room drew terrorist fire from a hideout and we finally neutralized him. I was totally intrigued and on later asking him, he explained that the body language of the house owner indicated terrorist presence while the pungent fear smeared sweat odour confirmed his presence. All thanks to him that I am alive to write this comment. After the incident I have started trusting him more than my life.

Respect for Col Hunny Bakshi just keep increasing.

This podcast is worth every second. Realised and understood several new lessons from this episode.

Love his line “ in international relations there’s no Vasudeiva Kutumbkam’ only ‘ Chanakya Neethi’ ❤️

This Colonel's one helluva guy; for all the groundbreaking work, he himself is so grounded, humble and positive. Also some of it may be coming from his intelligence training.

I never knew Pavi was so deep into the nuances of info warfare. I remember our association in late nineties in Rashtriya Rifles. He always had the kink in him looking for out of the box ideas. Highly energetic officer who was too sharp & unique in intelligence gathering. His transformation from an infantry man to a techi has been for the good for him & the nation. Looking for more such interviews.

This is your best podcast. Other military personnel were great but this person has far better clarity and articulation than any of them. Also i used to consider a lot of them slow based on what i heard from one of the friend in my college. This was further reinforced by hearing General/Colonel speaking on tv and twitter. It's good to meet few people with brain. I liked the bit where he was chatting with navy personnel, especially what it was about.

This is one of the best 2 hrs of content I have consumed is a long while! Fantastic attitude and work by Lt. Col. Pavithran Rajan!

For anyone interested, Books quoted in the above interview: Art of War - SunTzu Surveillance Valley: Yasha Levine Principles of Dealing with changing world order : Ray Dalio Also article written by Pavitra Rajan: The Fallacy of the Cyber Commons

I am still trying to digest everything Col Pavithran Sir said. Colonel Sir is so modest and such a patriot..This is such a superlative podcast...Beyond excellence. Thanks so much, Smita ji. Thanks for the splendid insights, Colonel Sir.

Really for being an IT professional for 13year and knowing most of it in back of my mind, I am still getting my mind blown ... Hats Off Sir. I really pray that these issues don't die down in political muck.

At the very least, I now grasp the concept of leverage. Creating

I often wonder if it is possible to have more (retired) military folks in politics/handling ministerial portfolios! They’re highly educated and knowledgeable due to their sheer number of years of experience! ❤

This episode just blew my mind. As an engineer and a technology enthusiast, I was knowing isolated things about cyber warfare, but to know about the holistic viewpoint was such an enlightening experience. I just hope there are many like him now working on these things to keep our country safe.

1:41:25 AI, Nano Tech, Genitics, Quantam Computing We from Indian IT are running behind outsourced development (like bonded labourers) and doing nothing in either of 4 fields (at least to my knowledge). Why….? This Gentlemen need to speak more… I love his talk. Thanks Smita ji for bringing him 🙏

Amazing..it pains me to see people like Col Pavi and Col Hunny Bakshi were overlooked for promotion, thanks to the Chandigarh Mafia and others in the Army ..such was the politics in the Army during UPA regime

The amount of detail that he goes into is just amazing. He is not a generalist, he is a Specialist. That too a polymath. Amazing.

"We are small cogs in huge machinery" This greatly sums up the world of intelligence and how if you take a piece out would have the power to disrupt the entire process. Brilliant analogy.

Smitha ji you hv proved again that yours is the most researched and intelligent podcast. Great respect for your thorough research into understanding the subject in depth.