Steve Jobs. When apples couldn't keep doctors away.

  

  Today, we all stand at the crossroads of technology. I’m listening to songs on my iPod Touch, and I feel depressed. They might call you a genius, a pioneer or maybe the best innovator the industry ever had. But I’d say that you are one of the best persons who ever walked on this planet. Some might rubbish you for not being the perfect person, but they might just be jealous of you. For now, let's assume you are near perfect. No, one doesn't don’t have to be a geek to appreciate you!

You are Steve Jobs.

     It’s true that we realise the true worth of anything once we have lost. Yes, I miss you already. I can’t help writing down why you were, are and will be of great worth to the whole of humanity. Life is a waste without knowing about you, without experiencing the elegance and simplicity that you spread. As a friend of mine pointed out, you might have died at 56 but there are more than 56 reasons to remember you.

    You were adopted right when you were born. Now I don’t know how that feeling is, of living your life and being cared for by people who share no blood with you. But I am sure it wasn’t the best that ever happened, yet you found paradise in it. That’s what being human is all about!

   You dropped out from college. No, that’s not a example that everyone should follow. There is no fun when a deviation becomes the norm of the game. Yet, you toppled all those who passed out from the best of the best universities in the world. But that’s not the fact why I look up to you. It’s the passion, the will to make an impact, the killer instinct that drives you to make the world a better place that got you up there.

   You taught me that the dots will connect looking backward. Sitting down on the floor besides many young people of my age, I was impressed yet skeptical when I listened to what you had to say at your Stanford Commencement Address.  One year down the line, I saw the video again. And it so much makes sense! In fact, your video was a part of the jigsaw, it was a dot by itself that I have connected today, all thanks to the soul-searching that I had to do for my MIT application. Things, both bad and good make sense to me now. They happened for a cause, and will happen. I have learnt to accept things, yet question them!

    Technology, you changed the way we define it! It’s an indispensible part of our lives all thanks to you! Yes, you are the Rajinikanth of Silicon Valley! I heard that you got kicked out by the person you got into your company. Ouch! Yet, you coped up with it and had the last laugh! How did you do that? How can anybody withstand all that mental and social agony and rise from the ashes? When people clap for your innovation and simplicity, deep down they are jealous. They know they will never be able to reach to your level. I bet heaven will be a better place from today.

      Stay hungry, Stay foolish. I found it difficult to comprehend such a statement. But with the passage of time, I have learnt that we should stop living somebody else’s life, that’s so not us! Wow. I am quoting you all over! Yes, you have revitalized me today. You have drilled the fact into me that if I carry on doing what I love, I will end up where I deserve to be!! Yes, I will! Why won’t it? I know what I love, and that’s what I am going to do. I promise you!

     People might look up stuff in the holy books to keep them going on. For me, it will be those 10 minutes of gospel truth. The truth of life! I wish I could paste it all here. But there is no need for me to do that. I will never forget those words.

    Lastly, it’s about your cancer. We were lucky enough that you could live and are extremely honoured that you served us and catered to our need to the best of your ability. Yet, there are times when the teacher has to stop teaching and let the students apply what they have learnt. Today, I feel like your student. Everyone does. Even in your death, I am sure millions will find an inspiration! Now that is the way anybody would love to bid farewell to the world. Yes, death is the best invention of life, I have played with it quite often. But overcoming death is one thing and overcoming it and changing the way people look at the world is another!

     My pretty words will do no justice to you. But I shall still cry. Will I never ever get to see you again? I really miss you.

I salute you,
I salute your spirit!
Shall never let you down!

iMidasTouch

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

-Apple Inc.

Destiny’s Children. Or another random post.

Life manages to be exciting, yet scary at the same time. But can we help it?

When words want to flow,
Things, they long to happen.
Sparks desire to fly all around,
Let them!

People, they want to be discovered.
Shooting stars await to be wished upon.
Roads, they hope you walk over.
Breathe life into them.

The present will soon be the past.
The past, which will always last.
You shall always remain who you are.
Destiny’s child.

   The above piece of poetry is nothing but the outcome of floating all ‘across the universe’ thanks to The Beatles. It’s much more than a song I say. Lennon, heavily influenced by the ‘Transcendental Meditation’ that he did in India, penned down one of the most poetic song that he has ever churned out. If you have not heard it yet, please do so!
                      
    On a philosophical note, life is like a roller coaster that you can ride only once. It’s free, and for every up there is a down. Reality, is an illusion. What drives you are your thoughts, your vehicle of perception. What white is for you, might be black for someone else. You might ask me what is so unique about being unique itself. Well, it’s not a flashy tag that you can wear around. It’s your attitude towards life, your nature and belief in humanity that rubs off. The more you become a part of someone, you can’t avoid that someone becoming a bigger part of you. If all of this doesn’t make sense to you, be happy. You are different from me. But if you do, take it for granted that you think too much!
     Ask yourself what you will do if you meet your mirror-self the very next moment. You feel that you are the luckiest guy around. But then, wait for a day. He does what you do. He has done and will do what you do. You have nothing to hide from him, no stories to tell or surprises to give. Will that be good or bad? I leave that question for you to answer. All I can tell you is that never touch him. If he is your anti-matter image, you both will end up as a hoard of photons, with no resemblance to your former presence.
    What I tried to convey is that opposites simply don’t attract. It’s the law of nature. It’s not healthy to search for a person just like you. Variety is truly the spice of life! It’s being different, having undergone a different set of experiences that makes this world tick. The rich and the poor, the bus driver and your favourite author. The Suppandi and the superman, they all have a niche for themselves in our life. Well, it’s time we respect these small differences. For if you look at the similarities, don’t crib over the fact genetically speaking that the ape you see in the zoo is 98.5% similar to you! Life might be an exam, but I can assure you that no two people will ever be made to answer the same paper. So it’s of no use trying to ‘copy’ or imitate someone else’s living. Be different and scream, roar aloud riding the roller coaster of your dreams. Well, or do this.

       If you are still awake, let me tell you how the past few days were.
My geology practical examinations took place on the 29th of September. Well, the time limit stressed me out. And yeah, I came home with a bad mood, put on the internet and hunted for peace on my iPod. And naturally, I Facebooked. There, I met this crazy girl who hates veggies, her name being Saloni Sardessai and somehow ended up chatting about Sagittarius. Here is how the conversation was like.

She : Sagittarians are an amazing bunch!
Typical Me : Have ever seen the constellation itself? The Milky Way is soo beautiful!
She : Wow! I’d loveeee to see it!
Me : Do you have a terrace?
She : Not one, but two!
Me : See you tonight!

Yeah, that’s how stuff is with me. I’m pretty instinctive and a man who lives for the moment. And when something is remotely related to astronomy, I don’t see why I won’t jump on it! We added two more people to the list. Maithili ‘sorry’ Shankhwalkar and Akshay ‘oxy’ Juwarkar were ever-willing to join in to do some astronomy for the first time in their lives. It was truly fun, and I naturally can’t describe it in words!
Here is a list of what we saw.

The Summer Triangle. Cygnus, Aquila et Lyra.

Teapot eh? well, our ancestors thought that this was a centaur and named it as ‘Sagittarius’!

   This might look like a M, W or a Σ. I leave it to your imagination! This nineteen century old constellation is known as Cassiopeia and she is supposed to be the Queen! Well, Maithili couldn’t help herself from being happy as her initial is up there in the sky!

     One of the only constellation that actually resembles the object that it is named after is Scorpio, the scorpion! The α star, Antares was as red as a traffic signal. What a sight it was, this majestic constellation!
I saw a sporadic meteor streak past, but unfortunately these people didn’t get to see it. They were all pretty much amazed at how small and insignificant we are on the cosmic scale. Yet, we cry over small things. I just can’t stop getting philosophical!!
Although we did not see the Milky Way, we had an amazing time at Saloni’s place! If not for astronomy, we always had some gossip! And the best part is that the girls built up some curiosity about Greek mythology into me! Life was at its best. I had my chemistry practical exams the next day, but I was pretty much confident about them. Moreover, I had a life to live and constellations to hunt on Akshay’s iPad!!!

These Facebook statuses sum it all up.

Yes, I am using Facebook’s new ‘Timeline’ feature before it is even released! Boo you!
     Talking about yesterday, there was this quiz organised by the PTA of GVM’s Higher Secondary School and was quiz-mastered by Wilson Vaz, who is an amazing physics teacher and person besides being a really cool quiz-master! It was to be my last school quiz ever!!! Now that’s something really emotional!
   Now what is life without a little bit of thrill? So let there be spice. Me and my partner Pradnya Rane were told by the school authorities that the quiz beings at 10:30 am. But on the day of the quiz, reading the circular I realized the time for the preliminaries was 9:00am. I looked at my watch. It was 9:01 am. And then we just panicked! But we had a lot of luck, so we made it.
     Me, Pradnya, Shantanu Kulkarni and Akshay Juwarkar finally reached Kala Academy, the venue for the quiz. I was participating in a GK quiz after a year. I had lost my ‘Midastouch’ in quizzing, or at least that’s what I thought! As per me, we fared badly in the prelims. Little did we know that others had it worse! Akshay constantly told me that people there feared me more than anybody else. I had developed a killer reputation two years ago, and that is still imprinted on their minds! But I was like “Dude, I am no longer THE quizzer! I have come here for fun, and not to win it!”.
     But destiny had some other plans for me. Fast forward, it was a easy ride and I scraped through with a mere lead of 5 points. I felt that I had won this quiz merely on my past experiences and not on terms of my usual heroics and buzzer tearaways! But it counts as a victory!  The second place went to Mushtifund-Aryaan HSS, it’s all in the Mushtifund Saunstha I say! Shashwat and Tiwari were amazing competition and Akshay along with Shantanu proved to be a real good ‘support staff’! Not to forget, Mushtifund HSS wouldn’t be up there if it was not for Pradnya! Hats off to her! Yeah, that’s what they called themselves! I am leaving the field while I stand at the peak.
     Quizzing was, has and will be an integral part of my life. I dedicate the nearly 15 state victories to all the people who make me up. If you think it is you, give yourself a pat on the back! Thank you!
     That’s a small part of what all happened this week. It was really exciting. Like nothing before! And yeah, I have some amazing announcements to make and will blog about them real soon!

Till then, Clear skies!!
thebiggerbang

The ‘Baalti’ List.

The name says it all. It’s my bucket list. If you still don’t have a clue what that is supposed to mean, click here.

Items are in a random order, those in bold are already put in place. Shall fill in more very soon!!

• Inspire and give quality education to a 100 people.
• Experience weightlessness.
• Go backpacking all over Europe just to eat.
• Stop being picked upon for being thin. Grow stout and plum.
• Lush fields, a million stars, the Milky Way and a hand in my hand.
• Stay for a month in Varanasi.
• Meet Lance Armstrong.
• Complete reading Roger Penrose’s The Road to Reality:A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe.
• Get a doctorate. Two, three or four perhaps.
• Adventure sports. Who wouldn’t want to do that?
• Serve cancer patients. Make them happy.
• Produce a soothing music album of my own. Videos too. Single handed.
• Die with a smile.

Thebiggerbang