iCon: Jeffrey young & William Simon

“An unauthorized and unflinching portrait of the phenomenon behind Apple” says the back cover. Unauthorized, it definitely is, but I am not sure about the unflinching part, because the book does not reveal anything that an Apple enthusiast doesn’t already know.

The book sketches Steve Jobs’ intriguing life. It begins with RSJ’s (RSJ stands for Real Steve Jobs. If you don’t know what I am talking about, visit this site.) birth and sheds light on his childhood, his college days, founding of Apple, and RSJ’s and Apples’growth. It doesn’t show the readers a personal side of RSJ. It only paints RSJ through events that happened in the public. List of events in RSJ arranged in chronological order interspersed with conversations with a few people - that’s what the book is about. The book paints a contradicting picture - it quotes a few people saying working with Steve Jobs was a nightmare, some people say he was a terror, the book also describes Jobs as a charismatic figure, who improvised on all his speeches and held the audience captivated.

A biography need not be just a journal of events in a lifetime. Readers want to know about RSJ from a different perspective, his human side, if I can say that. Boardroom meetings, RSJ’s charismatic talks in MacWorld meetings, his break-up, his addiction with Zen - all this is available elsewhere too. What a biography should give something that is hidden from the public. This book can probably be forgiven because it says it is unauthorized. If not from Steve’s mouth himself, but a different perspective could have been given by including conversations from more people who have worked with Steve.

My expectations from this book was different from what the book actually gave me. I was expecting to know how Jobs managed Apple, his management tactics and his style of working. I was expecting a peephole to Apple’s world through RSJ’s eyes. This is not what I got. In fact, there is hardly any mention of how Jobs built this company and took it to where it is now. This book is like reading lots of Page 3 articles on Steve Jobs. How much of Page 3 can you take in, anyway? This book has nothing that I could take back home. It only leaves me more knowledgeable about Steve Jobs. Were my expectations flawed? May be.

If you want to know Steve Jobs better, pick this up. If you expect to know how Steve Jobs managed Apple, this is not the book for you.

Tribute to Hrishikesh Mukherjee

August 27th marks Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s death anniversary.

They say comedy is a difficult genre and it is very difficult to make people laugh. Hrishikesh Mukherjee probably would not agree. With movies like Chupke Chupke, Golmaal, Kisi se na kehna under his crown, one can say comedy came easily to Hrishida.

I remember my first glimpse of Chupke Chupke - those stomach-wrenching guffaws, tears-filled eyes but still wanting more of it. Think of watching a movie on any Sunday lazy afternoon and the first movie that comes to mind is a Hrishida movie. The main reason Hrishida’s comedy movies became such a rage was because of their clean humor. In these days, where comedy has become synonymous with adultery, clean humor is almost non-existent.

While he was the unquestionable expert in the comedy genre, Hrishida gave us serious and thought-provoking movies like Anand, Abhimaan, Alaap and Sadma. If Hrishida’s comedy movies gave us much laughter, they were compensated with ample tears in his serious movies. Who can forget the ending scene in Anand? Or the one in Sadma?

Hrishida’s movies have given us numerous memorable characters. Cinema goers remember Pyaremohan and his obsession with Hindi even today. Raghu, the all-rounder cook, who had a solution to any problem, inspired Govinda’s role in Hero No.1 and continues to linger in our minds. The dying Anand with his undying spirit inspires us and teaches us how to make the most of our lives. Not to forget, Bhavani Shankar, with his philosophies on mustache, continues to entertain us even now, 32 years after the movie came out.

Music played a very important role in Hrishida’s movies. One of his earlier movies, Anuradha, had a singer as the main protagonist. Pandit Ravi Shankar composed music for this movie and gave us some memorable numbers. Hemant Kumar created magic in Anupama with songs like Dheere dheera machal and Ya dil ki suno duniyawalo. Aanewala pal jaanewala hai continues to be the philosophical song that the younger generation listens to even today. Songs like Ae ri pawan dhoonde kise tera man, Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye, Saawan ke jhoole pade, Mein shayar badnaam, Badi sooni sooni hai, Zindagi kaisi hai paheli, Bole re papeehara, Tere mere milan ki yeh raina tell us the appreciation and importance Hrishida had for music.

Hrishida, with his highly entertaining movies, with no violence and simple plots ruled the Hindi film industry from 1957 (Musafir) to 1998 (Jhoot Bole Kauwa Kaate). Any Hindi film director trying to make a comedy movie uses Hrishida as reference. They dream of making a comedy movie which comes anywhere close to Chupke Chupke. With the king of Hindi cinema’s comedy genre gone, the industry has incurred a big loss. The magician who made us laugh and cry with the same passion has left a big gap in the Hindi film industry which no one can fill.

Do visit Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s official website. They have a very interesting collection of Hrishida’s photographs.

Gali Mein Aaj Chand Nikala: Zakhm

Song: Gali Mein Aaj Chand Nikala
Movie: Zakhm
Music Director: MM Kreem
Singer: Alka Yagnik
Lyrics: Anand Bakshi

I have been hooked on to this song since morning. I have already listened to it some fifteen times, but still can’t have enough.

Gali Mein Aaj Chand Nikala from Zakhm. This beautiful song had slipped away from my music radar until I was recently reminded of it when I heard someone sing on Voice of India.

The song celebrates life - the lady is happy that her lover is arriving and she finds the whole world celebrating with her. The mukhda summarizes her feelings very well.

Tum aaye to aaya mujhe yaad, gali mein aaj chand nikala
Jaane kitne dinon ke baad, gali mein aaj chand nikala

The moon has arrived to brighten her house on this joyous occasion. Anand Bakshi’s took me by surprise. I haven’t found his words that interesting until now. The whole song is full of lines which you want to stop and think about. See this:

Maine tum ko aate dekha,
Apni jaan ko jaate dekha

Such beautiful lines. Not a single extraneous word - just perfect. When Alka sings these lines, the background music grinds to a halt. The magic and aura that these lines create is just awesome.

Though Alka Yagnik is not one of my favorite singers, I adore her in this song. She adds the right emotions to this song. The way her voice dances, sways and curves - I imagine her dancing in the studio while singing in the voice.

MM Kreem’s music makes you want to get up and dance. The song is so full of energy - you suddenly start feeling happy about everything around you. It begins with a soft and mellow note, and picks up speed and energy as it progresses and it ends with a shehanai piece. What other instrument can have a celebratory mood like shehnai? The song ends on a perfect note!

I was surprised to note that none of the people associated with this song are my favorites. Neither the composer, nor the singer, nor the lyricist, but still this is one of my favorite songs. This is one of those situations where three random people come together and make history. For me, this is one of the perfect songs, where everything is just right.

PS: Apologies if this post doesn’t make sense. You see, I am still swaying to the song. As they say ‘Mein nashe mein hoon’.

The Moon and Sixpence: Somerset Maugham

Accepting my friend’s recommendation, I read Somerset Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence. I hadn’t read Maugham before, didn’t know what he writes about, I didn’t read the backcover of the book, so I didn’t know what to expect from the book. This was probably good for me, because I was pleasantly surprised by the book.

The first thing that took me was the writing style. The Shakespearean English, the choice of words, long, flowery sentences - the book takes you back to where the action was. My friend calls it a ‘true piece of literature’! What the book is about is immaterial. I don’t think one thinks about the story in Maugham’s books. That does not mean that the story is not worth talking about. In fact, the story had me completely engrossed from the very beginning. The story is unique in itself, simple, yet powerful. What gets you is the characterization.

The main character, Strickland, is so strongly etched that one can start guessing what his reaction will be in certain situations. His wife’s character is so realistic - I guess women haven’t changed much since those days - she is just like any one of us. Maugham is known as the master of characterization and after reading this book, I realized what that meant.

More than the story, more than the characterization, what I personally found engaging was the narration. The story is peppered with generous amount of soliloquy of the narrator, in which he puts forth philosophy of life in his own terms. These paragraphs are interesting and thought-provoking. I often found myself putting the book down and pondering over what I had just read. The story of the doctor in Alexandria and his friend is so strikingly relevant even today. We, city dwellers especially, should stop and think about the narration that follows this story.

This is not intended to be a book review; one cannot review a classic. Reviewing Maugham’s work does not serve any purpose. No one is going to pick up a Maugham book depending on some review. This is penning down my thoughts about what I felt about The Moon and Sixpence. If you are one of the rare species like me who hasn’t tried Maugham’s books, I urge you to pick up one now.

The Blue Umbrella

It is seldom that a Hindi film meant for children makes news. The Blue Umbrella grabs your attention and rightly so. The film is based on a novella written by Ruskin Bond. Set in a small village in Himachal Pradesh, the story is about a girl possessing a bright blue umbrella which no one in the village has seen before. The girl, played by Shreya Sharma, is exultant because of her prized possession and does not waste any chance to flaunt it. Nandakishore, owner of a small shop in the village, has his eyes set on the umbrella and wants to get it at any cost. Does he get it or not? Watch the movie and moreover, that's secondary.

Vishal Bharadwaj showcases Himachal Pradesh in all its glory. The picturesque mountains, the snow fall, the snow capped houses - the story couldn't have asked for a better place. The simplicity of life, the innocence of the people, the clean and pure way the villagers lead their lives - these are the best parts of the movie. Music, by Vishal Bharadwaj, adds spice to the movie. Gulzar's lyrics is as original as ever. The first half is fast and tight, while the second half drags a bit.

Shreya Sharma does justice to her role, but it is Pankaj Kapur who walks away with the cake. His acting is effortless and brilliant.

The movie is entertaining and refreshing. Go watch the movie and awaken the child within you. If this is not a reason good enough for you, then the movie won this year's National Award for Best Children's Film. Now at least, go watch it.

Moaning Meme

This post is a result of Anuradha's tagging me.

5 people who will be annoyed you tagged them

Since the rule is to be honest, the answer is I don't know. I hardly have any committed audience, so I don't know my audience enough to know who will be annoyed. Moreover, somebody has to end this chain!

4 things that should go into room 101 and be removed from the face of the earth

1. Cigarettes. On a broader sense, tobacco in any form.
2. Eve teasing.
3. Dishonesty. Lying, stealing, killing - everything included.
4. All those idiotic mother's day, father's day, friend's day business.
5. Mobile phones. Yeah, I do carry one, but not by choice.

3 Things people do that make you want to shake them violently

1. People who keep their reverse horns on even though there is not a soul around who could be harmed because of their reversing.
2. People who don't have a backbone. Not literally, of course. Those who cannot stand up for themselves and their actions.
3. People who send me spams every hour and think they are actually doing a favor on me by doing so.

2 things you find yourself moaning about

1. I am wasting time watching TV instead of reading a book.
2. I don't drive enough.

1 thing the above answers tell you about yourself

That half the people on Bangalore roads are morons? On a serious note, these answers say that I can't stand people who don't think before acting. Be it about dishonesty or smoking or honking. I can't stand people who don't give a moment's thought to what they are doing and how it affects others.

It doesn't make sense adding the rules here, because I haven't tagged anyone. Here it is anyway, just to follow the rules.

RULES OF THE MOANING MEME
- Link to the original meme at freelancecynic.com so people know what it’s all about!
- Be as honest as possible. This is about letting people get to know the real you!
- Try not to insult anyone - unless they really deserve it or are very, very ugly!
- Post these rules at the end of every meme!

A tribute to Rafi

An article on Rafi's death anniversary.

The Speaking Tree: True relationships and its meaning

If Times of India does one good thing, then it is publishing the column 'The Speaking Tree'. It is a daily column aimed at providing insight into spirituality. Today's article is an interesting read, it talks about the relationship with oneself. In this chaotic world, if one has to find inner peace, one should have a strong bonding with oneself. Sounds silly? Well, then you don't know what solitude is.

Here is the RSS feed for The Speaking Tree column, for those interested.

Test Blog for my RSS reader

Ignore.

A nitwit on Orkut. There are many, you say?

While doing my routine channel changes, I caught a news clip on a news channel (I forget which one it was). Orkut was the object of attention and with the amount of firing hurled at Orkut, I thought my television set will go up in flames.

The gist of the story: A girl met a boy on Orkut and they became paly-paly after some time (I refuse to use the sentence 'She was befriended by him', that's utter nonsense, he can't be friends with her if she doesn't want to). She shared her personal details, including photographs of her family, her phone number, her address etc. After a while, there was a tiff among them and the boy went ahead and 'published' all her details on Orkut. The girl claims that the boy put her name and phone number on his scrapbook for everyone to see.

The news channel invited the Managing Director of Google India and what surprises me is that the MD agreed to it! If a girl is stupid enough to give out her phone number to strangers, what can the MD of Google India can do about that? If she didn't know that the rules of real life applied pretty much the same way to the internet life, whose fault is it? How can she claim that Orkut was responsible for the mess when she didn't her own boundaries? How can she ask the MD to make scrapbooks private? If scrapbooks are private, then how do they differ from emails?

I am not pro-Orkut or anything, I know there are many pitfalls in using Orkut which many people don't know. (Read my older posts on about Orkut to know my opinion.) All I am saying is, don't point a finger at Orkut to justify your stupidity. If you are a nitwit, abstain from using Orkut.

PS: I really wonder how net-savvy this particular news channel is. For the above story, the headlines being shown was: 'Orkut hacked'. This news channel should have 'How computers work' and 'How internet works' on their wish list.

Admiration at zeroeth sight?

How often does it happen that you meet a person and start liking her instantly? Well, it had never happened to me until yesterday.

I saw this girl in one of the numerous trainings that I have to attend as a new joinee. We didn't exchange words - oh, even our eyes hadn't met! She was introducing herself to the rest of the team and what attracted me towards her was her language and her simplicity. She was totally care free, not a hint of hesitation or consciousness in her voice. She was talking as if there was nobody else in the room. Her English was impeccable and she was oozing with confidence.

I switched places so that I could sit next to her and we exchanged a few words. The admiration was mutual - she too seemed quite impressed about me! Well, I don't know why she was impressed - I can't praise myself!

We have decided to meet over lunch so that we can take this forward! Gosh, do I sound like I am in a romantic relationship? Oh no, I am married and I am a girl.

Live a happier life

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

When these words figure in the About section of this blog, the blog can't be anything but interesting.

Zen Habits is a blog which strives to make its readers happier, inculcate good habits, share tips about leading a simple, yet fruitful life and in general, improve their quality of life. These might seem to be harder to achieve goals, but the author with his simple-to-read and easy-to-follow posts makes it look like a cake walk.

I had been trying to wake up early everyday. As a godsend, I found a link to this article on lifehacker. The post is so powerful that it tempts you to wake up early and catch the sunrise. I am going to follow the tips given in this post and see if I can make waking up early a habit.

Another gem I found is the article on developing compassion for others. I just love this quote from His Holiness Dalai Lama:

"Today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can." - Dalai Lama

Fell in the well... again

After burying my Shuffle with tears in my eyes, I dared to buy another Apple product. Even after burning my fingers, I still went ahead and bought an Apple iPod. It's black, it has 80GB of memory and it can play videos! You guys think I should be stupid to buy this! Yeah, I think so too, but hey I can't act intellectual all the time. A little stupidity won't hurt.

The mouse wheel is as good as it was claimed to be. Just slide your finger over the glossy surface and iPod is at your service. It’s heavier than I thought. It’s black skin shines and it’s steel body is cold to the touch. It can play movies, it can store photographs… more than what I asked for. I was happy with just the music part.

I can access songs based on playlists, album, composer etc. Shuffle option is of course there. It comes pre-loaded with a few games. One of them is this cool game where a random song is picked and a part of it (not necessarily from the start) is played. You need to guess the song from the four options given. Probably boring for some, but for me, it sure is engaging. I could play this for ever.

What I really hate about this product is that it doesn’t have a stop button. Nope, I can’t stop playing a song. I can pause or start some other song, but I can’t stop. It’s official, it’s there on the site: iPod doesn’t have a stop button. I guess Apple wants to keep the music flowing. Don’t stop… let the music play.

There are two ways to pause the song. Hit the pause button or just the plug out the earphones. Neat design or what?

It has gapless playback feature, which means the iPod will play music back to back with no gap in between. When switching from one song to the other, you will have absolutely no lapse. This does support the previous ‘Let the music flow’ philosphy, doesn’t it?

All in all, my satisfaction meter shows thumbs up for this new addition in my kitty. Bring on the music.

Disclaimer: This is not intended to be a review of iPod. This is just me drooling over my new found joy (or toy?).

Happy New Year

He was an infant a year back,
Now he is grown so old, he can hardly walk,
He is done with his share of joys
And his burden of sorrows

His body's frail but twinkle in his eyes,
A sweet smile and laughing lines,
Furrows on his forehead that
Show how learned he is

As he packs his bags and turns to leave,
He can't help but think
Of all the days that he brought along
And of all the things he taught us

He turns back to take one last look
Of the world that he is leaving behind
And sees an infant in his place
All ready to take on the world
He gives a warm smile, pats the infant
And says "Welcome, 2007"

Another year comes by
And I know not what it brings
But I do know it offers the same number
Of days, hours, minutes and seconds
And I plan to use it wisely

Time to say good-bye

As I take a backup of the required things and clean my PC, I have a heavy feeling in my heart. The place where I spent 8 hours a day, five days a week for more than two years is going to be alien to me. The same place where I could come and go whenever I wanted, will demand my credibility the next time I come here. Funny, huh?

I spent 2 years and 7 months in this place which I call my work place. It has taught me a lot of things. It has shown both the good side and bad side of the corporate world. Not only has it helped me add weight to my resume by teaching me technical jargons, but also groomed me on a personal level. I take people's words with a pinch of salt now. Yeah, you can say I have become wiser.

Will I miss anything when I am gone from here? Certainly not the cafeteria food. I will miss the magnificent view I got from the office terrace. I will probably miss talking to a few of my colleagues. Oh yeah, I will miss the comic books that my colleague used to lend me. Now, that's a big loss. I will miss his witty remarks, his irritating PJ's. But, more than the people here, I think I am going to miss the building, my desk, my machine, my shelf, my phone and my board markers. Ironical, isn't it? People react, non-living things don't. But, I'll still miss these dead things rather than my co-workers.

As I pick up my bags and turn back, I see a place which made me wiser, stronger (and definitely richer), but above all I see a place which I can call my second home.

Adios, friends. Thanks for bearing with me for so long.

Your humble abode, no more?

Of all the other things I did over the last weekend, I visited my Mom's place. It's an ordeal for me. Not because I don't like visiting her place, but it is so far away from my house, that I call it a little picnic. Pack your bag (no lunch required, that's taken care of by Mommy dear), grab a book and off you go for a long, long ride. My husband is patient enough to ferry me all the way and back while I spend the time judiciously reading. I drive sometimes, but that's quite rare.

Nothing special about this visit, but it led to a start realization. A revelation, in its own sense. I was helping my Mom in the kitchen and every time I wanted some thing, I had to ask her where it was. Want a kadhai, ask her. Want the lighter, ask her. Need water to drink, ask her. As this ask and fetch went on for sometime, I felt so sad that this is the house where I spent more than 20 years of my life and now I am a stranger! Yeah, my Mom has moved to her own house now, but that's not enough reason not to know where things are located, right?

The sorrow that engulfed me after that, didn't leave me for the whole day. My husband tried to console me by saying that I have got my own house in exchange of my mother's house.

A girl's life is quite weird in that sense. She grows up in a house thinking that it's her own and one day lightning strikes and it's no longer her house. She has a sparkling new house with new and not-so-friendly faces in exchange, whether she likes it or not. From that day, everything changes.

Belgaum

This weekend, we ran down to Belgaum and back. Not literally, but that sums up our trip quite well, considering that we were in Belgaum for just 12 hours.

We traveled by Pai Travels, Volvo and it was extremely comfortable. No noise of the other vehicles on the road, good, comfy seats with leg support. They even give you a warm shawl. Nice, huh? Talk about customer car. VRL, are you listening?

I woke up to the lush, green fields of north Karnataka. The beautiful trees and the mist greeted me with a wide smile. The road seemed to dance along with our bus and looked like a small kid who is excited to have guests come over to its place. The whole place was covered with light mist, giving it a very hill station look. My eyes reached out till the horizon to take in as much beauty as they could.

I found Belgaum to be a peaceful. laid back city. Not much traffic on the road, all people seem to have all the time on their hands. No hurrying off to work or to catch a bus. What's the hurry, let's take life slowly, right? With Marathi words falling on his ears, my husband felt at home.

The best part of the town is the military camp, of course. The camp spans over a wide area (I don't know the exact figure, but it sure is huge). British military were based here in those days and this area does have a very regal look. It's green everywhere, houses peppered here and there, one black road runs in between as if ripping the greenery apart. Houses have a vintage look, black stone walls, red roof and so calm and quiet as if nobody stays there at all!

Wouldn't it be nice to stay in a place like this? You bet.

What is the time, Mr. Software Engineer?

What is it about software industry and punctuality? When the software industry was born, was there a deal made with punctuality that both of them can't exist together?

I myself am in this industry and the one of the few things I hate about it is tardiness, not being punctual. Meetings are scheduled at 10 AM and it always starts atleast 10 minutes late. This not only reflects in the professional life, but it also sneaks into personal lives.

Movie starts at 6 PM and you reach the theater at 6.15. You fix a time of 10 AM with other people and you end up coming half an hour late! You don't even bother informing those waiting that you will come late.

Why do people take others' time for granted? All these sloppy people should spend a month in Mumbai. When they miss trains by seconds and lose pay by minutes, they will realize what time means. They will understand the fact that time can be measured in seconds and not only in minutes (or for some people it's in hours).

It's time people respected others and other's time.

A touching gift

For our second wedding anniversary, my husband gave me a wonderful surprise. He bought a cute little barbie for me! Yeah, I know I am 20+, but a toy won't do any harm.

My family was not very well off. I wouldn't call ourselves poor, but we didn't spend money like water. Every penny was accounted for. If I wanted to buy a pencil, I was never denied one, but my parents would ask me an account of what happened with the rest of the money they gave me.

Coming from a family which didn't earn more than 5K a month and which didn't believe in lavish life style, it was natural that I didn't spend my childhood among barbies and stuffed toys. I grew up in a small village where there were no shops dedicated for toys. Well, I don't think there were any good toys in the general shops either.

I had never touched a barbie in my life. None of my cousing, none of my friends, nobody I knew owned a barbie. I would watch the delicate barbie dolls and the cuddly stuffed toys on TV and dream that I too will own one of those one fine day. And that dream of mine has come true. Thanks to my husband and my dear mom.

My mom bought a cute, cuddly bunny for me from Singapore. Mr. Bunny has a cute pink nose and a pink bow around its neck. My husband bought me a dancing barbie, Genevieve with a little barbie called Lacey. Lacey spins and barbie twirls. They even have a pet cat called Twyla.
It shows the drastic change our lives have gone through. There was a time when my Mom would think twice before buying me a Rs.35 frock and now my husband went to a shop, picked a barbie worth Rs.1,500 and didn't even think once if it was really worth it or where that money was coming from.

All thanks to the education that my parents and my husband's parents gave us. Without our education backing us up and without our parents' blessings, we wouldn't be here where we are. I hope we end up giving our kids such a bright future and lovely life.

Hunting business

I am at it again. 18 months back, I did once and I am doing it again. What? House hunting. With time, we change jobs and with jobs, we change houses. Ad mag has a lot to offer. I can query by property type (independent house/ apartment), sale type (rent / sale), area (JP nagar, Benson Town etc.), requirements (2BHK, 3 BHK, with car park) and voila it gives a neat list of items that match my query. It even has a camera icon next to properties which have photographs! Neat, huh?

It's good time-pass to read the descriptions. Some ads have good descriptions like 2BHK, pooja room, 2 fans, 1 geyser, 1 bathroom, 1 car park etc.Some have weird ones: 3 bedrooms & 4 bathrooms (You people bathe more often than you sleep?)Some are terse: 2BHK flat jayanagar. Good location. Call immediately.Some owners go on to include a nifty photograph of their proud properties.

I have short listed some of them, picking the 'Brokers excuse' over the 'Brokers welcome'. Next step is to call each of them and find out if the property is still available and if yes ask questions that are not answered in the ad.

That's scheduled for today. Let's see how it goes.