Steve Jobs & Rashmi Bansal

I recently bought Rashmi Bansal's two best selling books - Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish & Connect the Dots.
Today i was browsing Rediff, when i stumbled across the famous Stanford speech by Steve Jobs. I was reading the speech, when I came across the words of Steve Jobs - the same words which Rashmi has used as the title for her books.

Some quotes from the same speech:

If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.

On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous.

Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Hmm Interesting, I had read this speech some years back, courtesy some forward from a friend, but never registered the same in my mind - remember those were the days of the famous forwards, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, APJ Abdul Kalam etc etc.

This speech was very inspiring, I guess the very inspiration from Rashmi to write about people who were able to Stay Hungry & Stay Foolish & who were also able to connect the dots in their lives.

On the Bhopal Tragedy

After the Bhopal verdict the Judiciary has, understandably, come under heavy scrutiny. As an ordinary citizen we should welcome this scrutiny in the hope that something good will come out of this.

At the same time we should not forget that Judiciary is only an interpreter of the Laws that the executive & legislature create. So blaming the judiciary is not going to solve the problem, the politicians should be blamed. I am of the opinion that judiciary inspite of all the rumblings of corruption offers us Indians the last hope of justice.

I also feel that the media is another important cog (Fourth Estate) in the wheel that drives our daily lives. 26 years back there was no vibrant media which could highlight these issues & reach such a large mass of people quickly. Today things are different. A highly alert media can actually create lot of pressure on executive & legislature. I am happy that the Nuclear Liability Bill has been shelved due to this.
So here is hoping that Bhopal victims get their due & our country learns from these mistakes, so that never will a Bhopal be ever repeated again.

Some random musings

Some random musings

1. Our apathy towards anything & everything is extraordinary. We Indians endure everything that is thrust on us without any murmur. Endless waits for flyovers to be completed, overflowing drains, corrupt governments & politicians.

2. Why cannot we do basics right? Look at the steel over bridge erected at KR puram crossing. Words cannot describe what an annoying amount of money has been spent without giving any thought how the pedestrians would cross the road. Did someone say penny wise, pound foolish?