[ubuntu-in] A nice feel good story with Ubuntu and Linux playing a good part

[Ramnarayan.K]

Hi

Just came across this story of "Mayank Sharma" also known as geekybodhi.

Am wondering if he is / (you are) on this list or have being in and
around the irc channels.

**
Article and link is below


http://www.ubuntuvibes.com/2012/08/after-complete-memory-loss-mayank-gets.html

After Complete Memory Loss, Mayank Gets It Back Using Internet and Linux

The Times of India, an Indian newspaper featured a story today about a
young man who lost his memory because of a chronic disease and then
how he gets it back Using Linux, Internet and other modern gadgets and
services.

The story was on front page and it caught my attention when I got hold
of the newspaper in the morning. Below is a summary:

Rakesh Sharma, a New Delhi resident, gets a new Intel Pentium 166MHz
desktop PC in 1997. Together with his two sons Mayank and Shashank, he
installs Linux on it.

Life was going good for them but unfortunately in 2009 Mayank was
diagnosed with tubercular meningitis (TBM), an infection of the
central nervous system. By the end of January 2010, Mayank had lost
his memory.

After recovering from the disease, Mayank still couldn't remember
anything. He was told he was a technology writer by profession,
published in several international magazines.

Mayank decided that he will do anything to relearn everything and find
clues to know who he was.

His father and brother taught him to read and write. Then he started
off with mobile T9 dictionary that taught him new words. He downloaded
and watched BBC radio programmes on pronunciation and grammar.

He had a Linux computer to play with. He Google'd himself and
discovered articles he had written for various publications, such as
Linux. com, IBM developerWorks and many others. He found couple of
books he has authored for a UK-based publisher on Google Books.

Then he searched for his username, 'geekybodhi' that showed him all
comments he had posted on forums.

Gmail and Facebook were his next stop. He searched into more than 9000
emails and chat logs on Gmail, found his personal and professional
contacts and got to know more about himself. On Facebook he connected
with his old friends specially using 'People You May Know' feature. He
created a Facebook Page called 'Help me build my Memory Palace', where
his friends wrote about him.

Next he finds his Flickr page only to rekindle his passion for photography.

Apart from these websites he also used old CDs, Linux ebooks, Youtube,
Wikipedia, Twitter etc. to get his memory back.

Today he uses Ubuntu on his computer and Ubuntu's cloud storage
service, Ubuntu One to put up links on his website. On his blog, he
writes about Linux, Ubuntu, Wayland, Gnome 3, XFCE, Debian, Fedora
etc.

Some of his comments, taken from The Times of India article:

My family has helped tremendously in my recovery. We still have that
166MHz desktop. When I saw that computer, I recalled some of the
details about the day when we first got it, and the Linux OS that we
were trying to install.

I had to relearn everything like a new-born. Chronologically, I am 29,
but if you ask me I feel no older than a three-year-old - except that
I have the ability to articulate my experience.

Be it the exhaustive threads hashing out articles and book edits with
my editors, or sending out music recommendations to friends, every
email tells me something about myself in my own words.

Without Facebook, I can't imagine connecting with the people I have
connected with. Even if I dug up old phonebooks, how would I reach out
to batch mates in Manchester and California or my editors, former and
current, in USA and England?

Since I didn't know the roads, I used OpenStreetMaps to find my way
around. I now record my GPS tracks too.

Wikipedia was invaluable in finding out more about any subject. And
its "See also" section points you to other related topics, giving
context.

I had KeePassX set up on my computer which remembered all my old
usernames and passwords, making it easy to log into services. I now
use LastPass for the same purpose.

Apart from helping me in being more creative with my words, I use
Twitter to connect with neurologists from around the world.
Thanks to The Times of India


**
regards
Ram