Steve Jobs’ speech

Steve jobs on Life

An excellent speech by Steve Jobs that I came across while looking for something unrelated, successes, failures, life, death, love… connecting the dots.

Ingrid Betancourt rescued.

Source: cnn.com

Former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt has been rescued, the country’s defense minister Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday. cnn.com

She was kidnapped by a militant group in Colombia known as FARC in 2002, when she went to a FARC stronghold area for her presdential campaigning.

I’m a big fan of Ingrid’s struggle in Colombia that qualifies her as a real hero and a true leader. I had blogged about her nearly two years ago, here expressing the hope that she is brought out of captivity somehow.

After 6 years of captivity, Ingrid is finally back among her people and I hope she remains the fighter she is, recovers back to full health and jumps right into Colombian politics.

One hundred again.

I’m a blog, 100 posts old. An uncompromising, sometimes radical, often ranting, supposedly satirical, barely humorous, BLOG. Born out of the deepest desires to do something useful and, many things useless, a getaway, a place of solace, a test of sanity, bearing the burden of the unexplainable. The writer likes to make people laugh, he has made people cry too, and some have literally wept over his laziness and oversight of poor choice of words, punctuation; grammar, shpelling mishteks and topics, like this one.

He thought he made people laugh, little did he know, they laughed at his inability to be funny. They thought he made people cry; little did they know, he cried with them. Some thought he scared them, that was his worst fear, worst fears do come true and you live through them, somehow.

Joy and Sorrow, sadness and laughter, tears of either kind. Words queuing up, tripping over, long and short sentences, good and bad paragraphs, as random as tears of either kind in a lifetime. Sometimes making sense, other times making sense only to the writer, rarely saying something, while indicating something else.

There have been metaphors and smilies used, without knowing the proper distinction or caring about them. This is my personal diary. Metaphor.
This is like a spiritual diary. Bad Simile.
Worser example.

See.

I’m as clueless about the readers as I’m about the writer. A recently written film review generated 174 page views a single day, none commented. Readers come in randomly from all over the world, the power of the internet rather than the skill (if any) of the writer. Hardly a purposeful blog, but in the hope, a skill is being developed. A log of interesting things happening in the world, happening in the writer’s life and sometimes in his heart.

Past, present, future and, stark reality. This moment. A part of the present that’s finished before you have seen it, or known it. You have just lived it, and it’s over. There, it went by again. And you are still looking at me, it won’t be long before you close this page.

The unpredictability and the stuff being written about it. Sometimes direction less, sometimes too complicated to reveal the direction, most of the times, lost in translation from the idea to the keyboard.

In spite of this, THANK YOU. I wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for you. And for the writer’s friends and their families. And some really special people who do check it out regularly.

In the next post however, I won’t be a blog that is 100 posts old. I’ll be a blogger, 26 years young, who thinks he wants to be a writer. One who writes with mediocrity because of the need, rather than one who wrote with the same mediocrity, but was once inspired.

POI - Missile Mommy

In the Persons of interest category , we have India’s Missile Mommy.

India’s Agni -III missile project, has a woman in the position of Associate Project Director.

Source: India Today

The story of Dr. Tessy Thomas, a 45 year old from Kerala who has been given the monikers of “Agniputri” and the “Missile Woman”. And in here she quotes,

Here, I am considered as a scientist and not a woman. But it has to be taken into account that the job with DRDO [Defence research and Development Organization] comes with a responsibility; it is for one who can understand the criticality of the work,[...]

Read more here - Link

Attitude 101

A few answers that cross my mind for questions asked at a WRONG time. Do not intend to hurt / demean any entity. Humorous people proceed below. Others press ctrl+w on your keyboard. 

—

Idiotic guy on road: Hey you! Hey you! Welcome to America. Where are you from?

Smart Alec: Birmingham, Alabama (in reality, East / West Godavari, India). Where are YOU from?

IG: Me?? I’m American. How long have you been here?

SA: 4.5 (eff’in) years. How long have you been in Birmingham?

IG:  um…2 years.

SA: Well, welcome to Birmingham.

–

Idiotic guy2 on road: Amigo, English?

Smart Alec: Why?

IG2: I need a dollar.

Smart Alec: Para Español

–

Educated idiotic guy1: So how does caste system work in your country?

Smart Alec: It doesn’t.

–

Educated idiotic guy2: Is it true that untouchability still exists in your society?

Smart Alec: Back off 3 feet, lower your gaze  Add a ‘Master’ to the sentence and repeat the question in a pleading tone.
–

Ee Jeevitham

Jeevam leni jeevitham edi ra, gamyam leni payanam edi ra
Maranisthu jeevisthunna ee lokam sthithi gathilemira
Svardham tho aarjistunna ee lokam “ardham” emi ra

- by Naveen Reddy Jonnalgadda, friend from college in India, in Jersey right now. A budding poet and an inspirational person. Just a minute sample of his talent, 3 lines of a beautifully worded Telugu snippet.

—

Rough Translation by Browsekid (pardon my below average Telugu literary skills and just average English literary skills)

This life.

What does it mean to exist, rather than live, like a journey with no destination?
What is it like- to be in this chaotic world that seems to be living and dying at the same instant?
Is it really a meaningful life, if one just craves for things of materialistic value? Reflect on it, my friend.

Now, the italicized part is almost an addition or an exaggeration, but I thought it was necessary for the translation to look complete. However, no translator for this couplet can actually bring in 100% value to the reader like if you could read the Telugu version. Please do comment about any better translation in English if you can speak Tinglish (Telugu+English).

Happy Holidays.

The grapes are sour

Around 1986-87, I was in Kindergarten and Vaidehi Ma’am was explaining to us kiddos one of the stories in an English text book. This one was about a fox that wanted to eat grapes and because it couldn’t reach them, it decided the grapes were sour. This was among the first instances of I failing to understand something in my life that my peers understood. I asked my parents and sisters and they tried explaining it to me with little success.

I don’t really know when the meaning sunk in, but this was probably one of those stories that have a major impact in one’s life.

Easy to despise what you don’t get. I don’t know with what intention Aesop might have written it, but this is probably the most common thing we see today - starting especially with a college someone wants to get into and then majoring-in field, visa, graduate school, assistantship, job, raise, car, girl and so on…

Ain’t it easy to discover a reason for something we tried and didn’t get, may sound a valid reason, may not sound as one. But the fact remains we did try for it, and then figured out a reason as to why we can’t be upset over not getting it. The proffesor will make you work like a dog - so it’s good you didn’t get the assistantship. May be valid. The girl I asked out had an affair with two guys before, good that we didn’t pair up. Invalid, and this is called character assassination. Those who agree  with the reason might just be helping you out emotionally.

The example I’ve taken stemmed out from this link that I found in Wikipedia for The fox and the grapes entry. The illustrations are tiny, yet good. While I think, to despise something you don’t get is actually good in some cases because you won’t loose your confidence, this must not lead to character assassination or any such thing that might hamper other’s views on a specific subject. SO if you didn’t get into majoring in English literature, do not ridicule it saying that’s not a good program or there are no future opportunities. Someone else might think it to be true as they don’t know the whole story behind your statement.

And just an FYI -  foxes do eat fruits, I really don’t think grapes are an exception, but I did feed pieces of apple to a fox. In more than once instance. They also eat insects (crickets), mice,  and other small creatures. I wonder that the fox would have said about the crickets it couldn’t catch. Insects are nasty and gross anyway. Pah.

Chiranjeevi in the fray

Technically, I don’t usually talk about film stars in the positive sense, especially those who are known as movie actors but do not act proper in movies because they don’t need to anymore. However, when a national daily like the Times of India writes about Chiranjeevi starting a political outfit in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the news must be pretty reliable. Not that this is a surprise, not that this is good or bad, but this could be important.

 

Politics in Andhra Pradesh is as crazy as everywhere else in India. It is influenced by regionalism, caste divisions and party politics. Most Chief Ministers of the state have been either of the ‘Chaudury’ Caste or the ‘Reddy’ caste.

Taken and complied from K.C.Suri’s -  “Democratic Process and Electoral Politics in Andhra Pradesh, India”. The statistics indicate that Chiranjeevi’s caste (Kapu’s) share a 10-12% strong population in the state. Higher than that of Chaudury’s (NTR/Chandrababu Naidu’s caste) or Reddy’s (Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy’s).

 

Brahmins – 2-4%

Vaishyas – 2-4%

Chaudury’s – 4-5%

Scheduled Tribes  - 7%

Reddy’s – 8-10%

Kapu’s – 10-12%

Scheduled Castes – 16%

So called ‘Backward’ castes – 35-44%

Others - < 3-4%

 

–

And by religion

 

Hindus – 89%

Muslims – 9% (while in Hyderabad, the percentage is 26% of the population)

Christians – 1.8% , the number is harder to figure out as Scheduled castes and tribes are included in Christians too, and there are upper caste Christians in general, who form part of the 1.8%

Others – 1-2%

 

There’s no prominent Kapu personality in current political scenario who could rule the state by himself (ladies, by default omitted in AP politics, Renuka Chowdury could have been an option, but she’s too much of a man-hater to be the CM of a state)

 

29 March 1982 was one day when history was made when N.T. Rama Rao formed a political party that shook up the strength of Congress and became the first non-congress led state government in the state. Naming it ‘Telugu Desam’ (Country of the Telugus) and fighting for Telugu Atma-gowrawam (self respect of the Telugu’s), Telugu desam party won the riot and came to power.

 

Come 2008, Chiranjeevi’s entry could for the second time mark the entry of a cinema star into AP politics. NTR relied on his image as a demi-god who acted in roles depicting Lord Krishna and Rama and other mythological characters which were the norm in 70’s and 80’s. Chiranjeevi steadily built his image as a hero of the masses, with films starting late 90’s where specially penned dialogues in movies would be on the lines of “I’m born for the people” while two heroines whose combined age would still be less than his age would be fighting for his ‘love’. People, obviously are blind or squint eyed.

 

In late 80’s/early 90’s while I was at my grandmother’s place in Bhimavaram, coastal Andhra Pradesh, the news was that NTR would pass by in a procession, I vaguely remember the reason or the situation but sure remember the commotion it caused and the hundred thousand people that turned up out of nowhere in the wee hours of the morning. I preferred my sleep to NTR much to the surprise of the elders around me, but I know there were a thousand enthusiasts waiting to catch a glimpse of NTR.

 

In 2003, I happened to pass by Bhimavaram again, my grandparents are long gone, I do have lot of memories of the street though, one of my Aunt’s still lives at the end of the street where I spent the first 3 years of my life. Around 12-14KM away from the area I’m talking about, lies another small village –Vempa, where my eldest sister’s new relatives came from. It was but natural as her brother to follow up with all the new relations and get to know the families better, I did go, and I occasionally passed by a tiny place called ‘Mogalthur’ which was quite close to Vempa. Now the difference is, people in Vempa prospered instantly on aqua farms, overnight all paddy fields were converted to aqua farms and prawns raised, returns were quick and very high but not stable. Everyone made enough money for the next few years, lifestyles changed from Amabassadors and Maruthi 800’s to TATA Safari’s instantly, then dollar value dropped and foreign importers started complaining of a ‘mud’ smell in the prawns. Demand dropped. The thing with aqua farms is most paddy fields can be converted to aqua farms overnight, aqua farms cannot be reverted back as crop growing fields again for a couple of years.

Mogalthur on the other hand was very undeveloped, a road ran through the center of the village connecting vempa to other tiny villages around. Mogalthur had no big houses, or proper roads, but yes it had a specialty. It was where Chiranjeevi was born.

2003 is not too long ago, I doubt if anything has changed around Mogalthur, I sometimes wondered why the place wasn’t fully developed or at least had a proper road. Chiranjeevi could sure put one in place if he wanted in a matter of days. He did not, until now.

 

So if Chiranjeevi does become a CM, what essentially will change? Nothing. I can reasonably expect he is not pro-hindutva. He should have a sizeable following among all religions, especially Muslims. No leader outside the old city of Hyderabad has won the hearts of people inside the old city. Apart from ryot suicides, terrorism will be the primary obstacle that any future CM will have to face. It’s really impossible to expect someone to be good at ‘handling’ terrorism in Hyderabad. No one can, not even with years of experience as a state or central intelligence officer. Many other things will not change, the way bribes are given and taken, for every single little thing related to government. It won’t change.

 

And Chiranjeevi sure has an uphill task ahead, there are problems, problems and more problems. He has had to face reputation problems with his youngest brother’s first wife. Ironically, though most people would agree his brother wasn’t at fault nor did he cheat anyone. Someone just wanted to get back at him, she did.

 

And of course, the new teen sensation, Chiru’s second daughter, Srija – most people view her as the person who brought down the decades strong reputation of her father in an instant. Chiranjeevi’s successes make him super human; his problems make him human.

 

Above all, the challenge of politics itself, Chandrababu is lying low, but he is one of the shrewdest politicians in the history of Andhra Pradesh, and now he is the father-in-law of Balakrishna’s daughter. Chiranjeevi by default has two opponents, one an able administrator with the experience of two consecutive terms as the CM of Andhra, the other his primary opponent as an artist and son of the legendary NTR, viewed by many chamchas  as the unofficial first family of the state. AP politics have rarely played an important part in politics at the central level, Jayalalitha in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu usually keeps hogging the limelight, Chiranjeevi sure has a lot to learn in the coming days, as long as he keeps his office honest, free of personal vendetta, keeps his family out of his political spectrum and makes able decisions, he can be a good leader. So simple, yet so difficult. Chiranjeevi in the fray.

 

References:
K.C. Suri - Democratic Process and Electoral Politics
in Andhra Pradesh, India.

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/working_papers/wp180.pdf

Mein Zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya

What an excellent complilation…….

And a warning of course, Smoking is injurious to health, your’s and other’s too.

Lyrics are here

Flash news on facebook. Cure for AIDS?

 

 

A cure for AIDS and it breaks out on facebook, that too on a local network with a few hundred people. Heh heh. Babubhai Thakkar …”regsitered” author on Amazon.com.

Right, I’m a registered joker on Santabanta.com and am writing a book on Yeti.