... the world doesn't need to fixed, it only needs to be balanced.
And the art of balance demands you tread lightly, not leap about in a continual frenzy. The art of balance demands you know your designated role in the game of life, not start muscling in on everyone else's. The art of balance demands an absence of panic, a rippleless internal calm. The art of balance demands knowledge of timelessness, of birth and death and rebirth. The art of balance demands that you know the world cannot be fixed, it must be endured; it must, simply, be kept forever in splendid play.
PAANCH!!!!
can't believe i never tried to get these songs before... combine ideas from anurag kashyap and music from Vishal Bharadwaaj... and you are bound to get some whacky things... here's one of the songs from the never approved movie "Paanch".. trust me you need to hear these songs...
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Baith Ja Yahni Tu Ja Mat
Baith Ja Yahni Tu Ja Mat
Abey Gheen Aati Hai Khuja Mat
Abey Oh Besure Tu Gaa Mat
Aye Aye Kya Karta Hai Bujha Mat
Baith Ja Yahin Tu Ja Mat
Aye Aye Eey Aye
Aye Murgi Maachis Hai Kya Maachis Nahin Hai
To Aa Aa Aa Dil Se Laga Ke Jala Le
Aye Pondy Sutta De Sutta Abey Hut Chal Hut
Dabbe Se Tota Utha Le
Abey Kyon Sulgaata Raheta Hai Hamesha
Ghud Ghud Ubalta Rehta Hai Hamesha
Chup Reh Warna Kya Kare Ga Mare Ga
Mar Haya Mar Gaya Mar Gaya Re Mar Gaya
Mar Gaya Hoon Maine Jila Mat
Abey Gheen Aati Hai Khuja Mat
Are Oh Besure Tu Ga Mat Are Kya Bujha Mat
Aye Jo Kya Sochta Hai Boy
Kuch Khaas Nahin Luke To Soch Soch Soch
Ki Gutne Kahin Akad Na Jaaye Oye Luke
Solid Lagi Hai Bhook
To Kha Kha Kha Bheja Tera Baap Ka Hai Khaale
Bol Chikni Ko Pakka Degi
Abey Saale Tu Bhi Kutta Hai
Bow Kaategaa
Kaatne De Kaatne De Kaatne De
Kaatne De Tu Dhoom Hila Mat
Abey Gheen Aati Hai Khuja Mat
Abey Oh Besure Tu Ga Mat
Aye Aye Kya Karta Hai Bhuja Mat
Baith Ja Yahin Tu Ja Mat
Aare Aye Bujha Mat
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Nish Sampa Mare Ga
Baith Ja Yahni Tu Ja Mat
Baith Ja Yahni Tu Ja Mat
Abey Gheen Aati Hai Khuja Mat
Abey Oh Besure Tu Gaa Mat
Aye Aye Kya Karta Hai Bujha Mat
Baith Ja Yahin Tu Ja Mat
Aye Aye Eey Aye
Aye Murgi Maachis Hai Kya Maachis Nahin Hai
To Aa Aa Aa Dil Se Laga Ke Jala Le
Aye Pondy Sutta De Sutta Abey Hut Chal Hut
Dabbe Se Tota Utha Le
Abey Kyon Sulgaata Raheta Hai Hamesha
Ghud Ghud Ubalta Rehta Hai Hamesha
Chup Reh Warna Kya Kare Ga Mare Ga
Mar Haya Mar Gaya Mar Gaya Re Mar Gaya
Mar Gaya Hoon Maine Jila Mat
Abey Gheen Aati Hai Khuja Mat
Are Oh Besure Tu Ga Mat Are Kya Bujha Mat
Aye Jo Kya Sochta Hai Boy
Kuch Khaas Nahin Luke To Soch Soch Soch
Ki Gutne Kahin Akad Na Jaaye Oye Luke
Solid Lagi Hai Bhook
To Kha Kha Kha Bheja Tera Baap Ka Hai Khaale
Bol Chikni Ko Pakka Degi
Abey Saale Tu Bhi Kutta Hai
Bow Kaategaa
Kaatne De Kaatne De Kaatne De
Kaatne De Tu Dhoom Hila Mat
Abey Gheen Aati Hai Khuja Mat
Abey Oh Besure Tu Ga Mat
Aye Aye Kya Karta Hai Bhuja Mat
Baith Ja Yahin Tu Ja Mat
Aare Aye Bujha Mat
Good or Bad?!?!?!
Read an article on the new movie 'Tum mile'... and realized something very weird... I have been writing an exact same script ... A couple falls in love during a calamity .. in their case its 26/07 Mumbai floods... in my case its 26/11 Mumbai terror Attack. The film, in both cases, revolves on how in this danger to life they realize their love for each other. And the similarities don't stop on the date only... in my story as well as this movie both the girl and boy are ex. They have been in a relationship in the past ... and have broken up due to some reason. And now realize how silly they were.
This happened a few months ago too... although not to a very developed script but the idea was exactly the same. It was for a tv show.. where the whole plot is 'Reality show Big boss goes wrong'. There is a murder in the house... and the show must go on .. coz TRP's are sky high... so how are the participants convinced and how is the crowd fooled... and how is the culprit found.
Lo Behold a month later after we thought of this idea a Show started with the SAME story!!! WHAT THE HELL!!
Made me wonder ... Am i actually thinking of good commercial ideas... which is very good.... or is it that i am thinking of very common ideas that every other writer can think up?!?! WHICH IS BAD
This happened a few months ago too... although not to a very developed script but the idea was exactly the same. It was for a tv show.. where the whole plot is 'Reality show Big boss goes wrong'. There is a murder in the house... and the show must go on .. coz TRP's are sky high... so how are the participants convinced and how is the crowd fooled... and how is the culprit found.
Lo Behold a month later after we thought of this idea a Show started with the SAME story!!! WHAT THE HELL!!
Made me wonder ... Am i actually thinking of good commercial ideas... which is very good.... or is it that i am thinking of very common ideas that every other writer can think up?!?! WHICH IS BAD
passing thoughts
I am in fact ... after all that has been ..... JUST A CUPID WITH THE ROSE IN HIS HAND ... still....
24-23
I never enjoy my trips to Pune in a train. The time it takes to travel from Mumbai to Pune is really very annoying. Its not short enough to ignore like in local trains and Its not long enough to catch a nap or to chat with someone in the train. Even though the it’s a reserved compartment its treated as a general one, with the TC nowhere in sight.
I was dreading the trip that day even more. I had gotten seat number 24, Side UPPER, which I sure has been designed for kids. Anyways the Train from Kalyan was crowded like always. The day being a Friday never helps either. I was just wishing my seat be wind facing, so that I can just put on my ipod and doze off for some time. But Alas! It wasn’t. I HATE SEAT NUMBER 24
While travelling alone every young guy runs over a fantasy. The fantasy being that he would meet a beautiful young woman who would be sitting beside them. She would be alone too. Of course what would happen next depends on where you are reading this fantasy, but the civilized version is, they would get to talking and slowly find that they share so many common things. They would exchange numbers, both realizing that his can go somewhere.
That day as if to apologize for the discomfort of all my trips to pune, I was blessed with the golden chance- to live the fantasy (the civilized version of course). As I approached my seat. Cursing the humidity and crowd in even in reserved compartments, I was surprised to see a young lady sitting in my seat. She was wearing a green salwar suit, wheatish complexion and dark black eyes, highlighted by a thin layer of kajal. From the looks of it she would have been between 20-25. She was carrying a Nike backpack. I hesitated.
“Excuse me, but that’s my seat. Number 24”.
“Oh sorry, mine is 23. Here you go” she replied scooting over to her side.
“Thanks” was all I could mumble back. She responded with a smile.
I slipped my luggage under the seat and removed my shoes. I was suddenly very aware of the fact now, that my sock had tiny hole in it.
My mind had already started racing. What be a subtle way to start a conversation.
‘You’re going to pune?’. No, of course she is, this train goes to pune only, that would be dumb. Only someone like Aamir khan can pull off such a question and I am no Aamir Khan, and this is not DCH.
‘You work in pune?’ No that won’t be appropriate.
Just as I was running over all the permutations she got a call, and a horrifying thought hit me. So what if this lady was alone! She could easily have a boyfriend or even be married. My eyes quickly darted to her left hand. No ring on the ring finger. Then carefully observed her neck. No mangalsutra either. But still the call could be from her boyfriend. The announcement at the station was very loud, robbing me of any opportunity of eavesdropping.
About 10-15 mins had passed. The train was already out of Kalyan city. Then length of her call didn’t make me hopeful. Usually girls talk this long only to either their parents or their boyfriends. I could hear the girls I know disapproving of my action. ‘So guys only talk to girls only if she is single’, ‘That’s pathetic’, ‘How mean’, ‘BOYS!!!’. Ya well that’s all true right there.
Still this thought of disapproval , convinced me to atleast talk to her. But I was still looking an opening line.
“Could you watch my bag? I will just be back”. She asked suddenly
I nodded and said “sure” in the weirdest of voices, which I am sure she didn’t even hear.
Ok good so, she spoke to you first. That’s good, now all I had to do was continue the conversation when she came back. But what would that be. ‘Went to the loo?’. I AM SO STUPID, of course she did. Damn I was stuck again. Before I could think anymore she was back. She rearranged her bag, and her wrist watch. WRIST WATCH!!
“whats the time please?”
“7 30”
Wow! Smooth talk.
I had given up. There was no point. I simply took out the book I had bought just before coming. I was half hoping she would ask me what it was about. But remembering my taste in books I was glad she didn’t.
Just when all hope was lost I found a window. This man selling mineral water was passing by. She stopped him and asked for one bottle.
“Kitna hua?” How much?
“12”
She took out 2 ten rupee notes.
“Chutta do na madam” Give me change
She started searching her purse, but couldn’t find any.
She opened her Nike back pack, started digging in every compartment, frustrated not to find any change. It was then that I realized this opportunity.
“If you don’t, may I give it”.
She looked at me, blank for sec. My heart skipped a beat waiting for the reaction. And then she smiled again.
“Thanks”
“No problem” I said with a lot more style.
It was one those filmy moments that keep saying happen all the time. We just miss them most of the times.
Just as she handed over the money to the hawker, her phone rang again. And all my fears came rushing back. She talked for less 2 mins., visibly annoyed though. I couldn’t hear much but just before she disconnected the call I heard,
“Please dad, stop calling every 20 mins. I am fine. I can take care of myself”
WOHOOOO
It was her dad.
“Dads huh?!?! So you live in Pune?” I started not wanting to waste the opportunity.
She looked at me for a sec, not replying, calculating something. For a moment I thought she was annoyed by my statement.
“No I am going there for studying. How about you?”
We were on our way. I was living the fantasy, chatting for 2 hours straight. Her name was Apeksha. We talked about college and parents, how we have grown up, about how girls are smarter than boys (yeah, I took her side :P). All in all it was a really magical journey with the train hustling through the beautiful lonavala landscapes. I SIMPLY LOVE SEAT NUMBER 24 .
She had to get down at shivajinagar, a station just before pune junction where I had to get down. The train was almost there and there was one thing I was mustering the courage to ask. But what if she refuses. She is after all daddy’s little girl who has been taught to stay away from strangers. The train came to a halt. She got up.
“Bye”
“Bye” I replied.
She was leaving. This was my only chance. I had to ask. Common man.
“Apeksha, listen can I have your phone number?”
She again paused a sec too long.
“Sure, 9874321344”
“Thanks” I said, practically beaming.
This story would be a hit in my friends. They won’t believe at first, but then I had her number now to prove it.
I SIMPLY LOVE SEAT NUMBER 24.
I was smiling sitting alone. Took out my cell. Saved the number. I should text her to let her know my number too, I thought.
‘Hey, it was great talking to u. tc – Amit’
I hit sent still smiling.
My cell beeped. It would be the delivery verification I tht.
‘Message delivery failure’. I tried again, but it failed again.
Train came to a stop. We had reached pune station. But my smile was now fading away.
I got down on the station and tried calling her
‘Please chk the number you have dialed’
Oh shit. Did I save the wrong number? No it can’t be. It’s not possible. I darted towards the passenger list of the coach that is pasted on. Searched for seat number 23.
RAKHI SAXENA AGE: 25 SEAT NO.: 23
She was just a daddy’s little girl protecting herself. Should I be angry?!?!?!
I HATE SEAT number 24
I was dreading the trip that day even more. I had gotten seat number 24, Side UPPER, which I sure has been designed for kids. Anyways the Train from Kalyan was crowded like always. The day being a Friday never helps either. I was just wishing my seat be wind facing, so that I can just put on my ipod and doze off for some time. But Alas! It wasn’t. I HATE SEAT NUMBER 24
While travelling alone every young guy runs over a fantasy. The fantasy being that he would meet a beautiful young woman who would be sitting beside them. She would be alone too. Of course what would happen next depends on where you are reading this fantasy, but the civilized version is, they would get to talking and slowly find that they share so many common things. They would exchange numbers, both realizing that his can go somewhere.
That day as if to apologize for the discomfort of all my trips to pune, I was blessed with the golden chance- to live the fantasy (the civilized version of course). As I approached my seat. Cursing the humidity and crowd in even in reserved compartments, I was surprised to see a young lady sitting in my seat. She was wearing a green salwar suit, wheatish complexion and dark black eyes, highlighted by a thin layer of kajal. From the looks of it she would have been between 20-25. She was carrying a Nike backpack. I hesitated.
“Excuse me, but that’s my seat. Number 24”.
“Oh sorry, mine is 23. Here you go” she replied scooting over to her side.
“Thanks” was all I could mumble back. She responded with a smile.
I slipped my luggage under the seat and removed my shoes. I was suddenly very aware of the fact now, that my sock had tiny hole in it.
My mind had already started racing. What be a subtle way to start a conversation.
‘You’re going to pune?’. No, of course she is, this train goes to pune only, that would be dumb. Only someone like Aamir khan can pull off such a question and I am no Aamir Khan, and this is not DCH.
‘You work in pune?’ No that won’t be appropriate.
Just as I was running over all the permutations she got a call, and a horrifying thought hit me. So what if this lady was alone! She could easily have a boyfriend or even be married. My eyes quickly darted to her left hand. No ring on the ring finger. Then carefully observed her neck. No mangalsutra either. But still the call could be from her boyfriend. The announcement at the station was very loud, robbing me of any opportunity of eavesdropping.
About 10-15 mins had passed. The train was already out of Kalyan city. Then length of her call didn’t make me hopeful. Usually girls talk this long only to either their parents or their boyfriends. I could hear the girls I know disapproving of my action. ‘So guys only talk to girls only if she is single’, ‘That’s pathetic’, ‘How mean’, ‘BOYS!!!’. Ya well that’s all true right there.
Still this thought of disapproval , convinced me to atleast talk to her. But I was still looking an opening line.
“Could you watch my bag? I will just be back”. She asked suddenly
I nodded and said “sure” in the weirdest of voices, which I am sure she didn’t even hear.
Ok good so, she spoke to you first. That’s good, now all I had to do was continue the conversation when she came back. But what would that be. ‘Went to the loo?’. I AM SO STUPID, of course she did. Damn I was stuck again. Before I could think anymore she was back. She rearranged her bag, and her wrist watch. WRIST WATCH!!
“whats the time please?”
“7 30”
Wow! Smooth talk.
I had given up. There was no point. I simply took out the book I had bought just before coming. I was half hoping she would ask me what it was about. But remembering my taste in books I was glad she didn’t.
Just when all hope was lost I found a window. This man selling mineral water was passing by. She stopped him and asked for one bottle.
“Kitna hua?” How much?
“12”
She took out 2 ten rupee notes.
“Chutta do na madam” Give me change
She started searching her purse, but couldn’t find any.
She opened her Nike back pack, started digging in every compartment, frustrated not to find any change. It was then that I realized this opportunity.
“If you don’t, may I give it”.
She looked at me, blank for sec. My heart skipped a beat waiting for the reaction. And then she smiled again.
“Thanks”
“No problem” I said with a lot more style.
It was one those filmy moments that keep saying happen all the time. We just miss them most of the times.
Just as she handed over the money to the hawker, her phone rang again. And all my fears came rushing back. She talked for less 2 mins., visibly annoyed though. I couldn’t hear much but just before she disconnected the call I heard,
“Please dad, stop calling every 20 mins. I am fine. I can take care of myself”
WOHOOOO
It was her dad.
“Dads huh?!?! So you live in Pune?” I started not wanting to waste the opportunity.
She looked at me for a sec, not replying, calculating something. For a moment I thought she was annoyed by my statement.
“No I am going there for studying. How about you?”
We were on our way. I was living the fantasy, chatting for 2 hours straight. Her name was Apeksha. We talked about college and parents, how we have grown up, about how girls are smarter than boys (yeah, I took her side :P). All in all it was a really magical journey with the train hustling through the beautiful lonavala landscapes. I SIMPLY LOVE SEAT NUMBER 24 .
She had to get down at shivajinagar, a station just before pune junction where I had to get down. The train was almost there and there was one thing I was mustering the courage to ask. But what if she refuses. She is after all daddy’s little girl who has been taught to stay away from strangers. The train came to a halt. She got up.
“Bye”
“Bye” I replied.
She was leaving. This was my only chance. I had to ask. Common man.
“Apeksha, listen can I have your phone number?”
She again paused a sec too long.
“Sure, 9874321344”
“Thanks” I said, practically beaming.
This story would be a hit in my friends. They won’t believe at first, but then I had her number now to prove it.
I SIMPLY LOVE SEAT NUMBER 24.
I was smiling sitting alone. Took out my cell. Saved the number. I should text her to let her know my number too, I thought.
‘Hey, it was great talking to u. tc – Amit’
I hit sent still smiling.
My cell beeped. It would be the delivery verification I tht.
‘Message delivery failure’. I tried again, but it failed again.
Train came to a stop. We had reached pune station. But my smile was now fading away.
I got down on the station and tried calling her
‘Please chk the number you have dialed’
Oh shit. Did I save the wrong number? No it can’t be. It’s not possible. I darted towards the passenger list of the coach that is pasted on. Searched for seat number 23.
RAKHI SAXENA AGE: 25 SEAT NO.: 23
She was just a daddy’s little girl protecting herself. Should I be angry?!?!?!
I HATE SEAT number 24
Is it?
What if?
When would?
Does she?
Will he?
How much?
Where will?
Could I?
Would I?
Should I?
Whom to?
Today?
Tomorrow?
Right ?
Bluff?
Lie?
Trust?
.
.
.
.
Hope?
Life was great when at least some teacher knew all the answers
What if?
When would?
Does she?
Will he?
How much?
Where will?
Could I?
Would I?
Should I?
Whom to?
Today?
Tomorrow?
Right ?
Bluff?
Lie?
Trust?
.
.
.
.
Hope?
Life was great when at least some teacher knew all the answers
Necessarily we are all fond of murders, scandals, swindles, robberies, explosions, collisions, and all such things, when we know the people, and when they are neighbors and friends, but when they are strangers we do not get any great pleasure out of them, as a rule.... I would not give the assassination of one personal friend for a whole massacre of those others. And to my mind, one relative or neighbor mixed up in a scandal is more interesting than a whole Sodom and Gomorrah of outlanders gone rotten. Give me the home product every time.
GENIUS
As a kid everyone has a bit of everything in them. WE are all at some point good at music, debating, GK, dramatics, drawing, even sports. As a kid I was really gud at playing the congo, I blew away audiences with my speech, won the magi quiz contest, got selected for the lead role in the house play, and also played decent tennis.
It is after we grow up that we give up these dreams. Or rather, it is in the process of growing up, that we begin to realize, we are not as good and that the world had other geniuses too.
In about 7th grade I had joined a personality development class by the name “genius”. It was quite fun actually… word games, JAM sessions, GK sessions, mock press interviews, elocutions, extempore. It was like everything I would have liked to do in school without the stupid courses. But it was not easy getting into these classes.
“Please dad, it’s gonna help me”
“Please dad it won’t cost much”
“Please dad, I will finish my homework before going there everyday”
“Please dad, this other guy from my class goes there too… you want me to come second next time there is a quiz?”
Ah! I was in. And so it began. I was another genius, everyday discussing and interacting with other geniuses of the city, only with time I was bound to leave them behind. I was loud in the JAMS, expressive in extempore. People saw me as an inspired orator, or so I made myself believe. At home my father was amazed at my efficiency. I heard him saying to my mom that at first he tht he might be wasting his money, but this class was worth every penny he was spending.
Every year at the end, the best all round performer at the class was awarded a prize, infact a title “Genius of the year”. I was right on my way to grab that first award of my life. I nailed all the speaking events. Was even invited to give demos to other classes where students were a little week.
Now came the time of written quizzes. The word games were difficult, I always had problem with the spellings. Maths was ok, but everyone else seemed to finish before me. The real setback was GK. There were 20 questions. We had to answer them in 30 mins. Except that in my case time didn’t matter. I thought there was nothing general about the General knowledge. Whats the capital of turkey? .. I Don’t know… What was Mark twain’s third novel?... I don’t know When did the gulf war start?.. I DON’T KNOW!!!
You know that feeling when you actually know blood is rushing up to you brain, turning your face and ears red with embarrassment . Everyone around me was busy writing, scribbling, erasing and rewriting. Me, I was lost in an image where I was falling down like Alice in the wonderland. Such a pity though , IDIDN’T KNOW THE NAME OF IT’S AUTHOR.
“Time up” I heard. Everyone got up themselves and formed al line near our instructor handing over the papers. Just them I saw the sheet of the kid in front of me. Q 19 PURI. That’s all I could read. Without thinking I scribbled the answer down. I wont be out for a duck. As I handed over the paper to our instructor, I could not meet his eyes. I tried to leave as quickly as possible but … “Amit, come here please.” Everyone else had left.
“You got just one question???”.. I guess there was no respect in scoring just a single either.
“Well… is it right?”
He noded… dissapointed
“I don’t know all this stuff… I never read about it….”
I thought he would shout at me, for not completing my home assignments… for not paying attention in GK classes.
But nothing of that sort happened. He just gave me a disappointing stare and left. I wondered about it all the way back home. This was no school I was going to, where if I don’t perform I would fail. Here we all met to enjoy and learn, learning that had nothing to do with exams. We were gonna be as gud as we wanted ourselves to be. May be that disappointment was not because I failed to answer the questions, but because he saw a boy, with probably some potential, and yet throwing it away.
As we grow up, one by one we loose al such dreams. I realized I was not as gud in GK as I tht. Yes I had won Maggi quiz contest when I was in 5th… but tht was a long time ago. I was still gud at dramatics, but maybe some day that bubble will burst too.
I didn’t go to the prize distribution ceremony for the classes, even though I had won several individual awards.
“So when does it start next year…? Let me know so I would get a DD made for your fees”
“ No dad… I don’t think I wanna go next year. I would waste my time, I need to study. Its gonna be boards next year”
Oh well, kids lie.
It is after we grow up that we give up these dreams. Or rather, it is in the process of growing up, that we begin to realize, we are not as good and that the world had other geniuses too.
In about 7th grade I had joined a personality development class by the name “genius”. It was quite fun actually… word games, JAM sessions, GK sessions, mock press interviews, elocutions, extempore. It was like everything I would have liked to do in school without the stupid courses. But it was not easy getting into these classes.
“Please dad, it’s gonna help me”
“Please dad it won’t cost much”
“Please dad, I will finish my homework before going there everyday”
“Please dad, this other guy from my class goes there too… you want me to come second next time there is a quiz?”
Ah! I was in. And so it began. I was another genius, everyday discussing and interacting with other geniuses of the city, only with time I was bound to leave them behind. I was loud in the JAMS, expressive in extempore. People saw me as an inspired orator, or so I made myself believe. At home my father was amazed at my efficiency. I heard him saying to my mom that at first he tht he might be wasting his money, but this class was worth every penny he was spending.
Every year at the end, the best all round performer at the class was awarded a prize, infact a title “Genius of the year”. I was right on my way to grab that first award of my life. I nailed all the speaking events. Was even invited to give demos to other classes where students were a little week.
Now came the time of written quizzes. The word games were difficult, I always had problem with the spellings. Maths was ok, but everyone else seemed to finish before me. The real setback was GK. There were 20 questions. We had to answer them in 30 mins. Except that in my case time didn’t matter. I thought there was nothing general about the General knowledge. Whats the capital of turkey? .. I Don’t know… What was Mark twain’s third novel?... I don’t know When did the gulf war start?.. I DON’T KNOW!!!
You know that feeling when you actually know blood is rushing up to you brain, turning your face and ears red with embarrassment . Everyone around me was busy writing, scribbling, erasing and rewriting. Me, I was lost in an image where I was falling down like Alice in the wonderland. Such a pity though , IDIDN’T KNOW THE NAME OF IT’S AUTHOR.
“Time up” I heard. Everyone got up themselves and formed al line near our instructor handing over the papers. Just them I saw the sheet of the kid in front of me. Q 19 PURI. That’s all I could read. Without thinking I scribbled the answer down. I wont be out for a duck. As I handed over the paper to our instructor, I could not meet his eyes. I tried to leave as quickly as possible but … “Amit, come here please.” Everyone else had left.
“You got just one question???”.. I guess there was no respect in scoring just a single either.
“Well… is it right?”
He noded… dissapointed
“I don’t know all this stuff… I never read about it….”
I thought he would shout at me, for not completing my home assignments… for not paying attention in GK classes.
But nothing of that sort happened. He just gave me a disappointing stare and left. I wondered about it all the way back home. This was no school I was going to, where if I don’t perform I would fail. Here we all met to enjoy and learn, learning that had nothing to do with exams. We were gonna be as gud as we wanted ourselves to be. May be that disappointment was not because I failed to answer the questions, but because he saw a boy, with probably some potential, and yet throwing it away.
As we grow up, one by one we loose al such dreams. I realized I was not as gud in GK as I tht. Yes I had won Maggi quiz contest when I was in 5th… but tht was a long time ago. I was still gud at dramatics, but maybe some day that bubble will burst too.
I didn’t go to the prize distribution ceremony for the classes, even though I had won several individual awards.
“So when does it start next year…? Let me know so I would get a DD made for your fees”
“ No dad… I don’t think I wanna go next year. I would waste my time, I need to study. Its gonna be boards next year”
Oh well, kids lie.
Heard a love story.
Guy loved the girl on first sight. Sought every possible chance to be in her way. Indirectly invited her to picnic. Started a friendship with the girls sister. Carried her bag through treks. Went uninvited to her bday and pretended he didn't realize it. Still remembers the taste of the Halwa she served him. Changes all his passwords to her name. Gets chance to spend one whole day with her alone. Spends the whole day talking about her, what she likes, what she eats, which movies she likes. Becomes a vegetarian because she is one. Realizes she is impressed by intelligence. Steals exam papers from the principals office and gets 90%. But somehow the girl comes to know he cheated. They never spoke ever since.
After many years he mustered the courage to give her a mssd call. She called back. They had the shortest conversation. "You gave me a mssd call?". "Ya... Happy Bday". "Thanks".
True love stories are even more filmy.
Guy loved the girl on first sight. Sought every possible chance to be in her way. Indirectly invited her to picnic. Started a friendship with the girls sister. Carried her bag through treks. Went uninvited to her bday and pretended he didn't realize it. Still remembers the taste of the Halwa she served him. Changes all his passwords to her name. Gets chance to spend one whole day with her alone. Spends the whole day talking about her, what she likes, what she eats, which movies she likes. Becomes a vegetarian because she is one. Realizes she is impressed by intelligence. Steals exam papers from the principals office and gets 90%. But somehow the girl comes to know he cheated. They never spoke ever since.
After many years he mustered the courage to give her a mssd call. She called back. They had the shortest conversation. "You gave me a mssd call?". "Ya... Happy Bday". "Thanks".
True love stories are even more filmy.
The young all have the same dream: to save the world. Some quickly forget this dream, convinced that there are more important things to do, like having a family, earning money, travelling and learning a foreign language. Others, though, decide that it really is possible to make a difference in society and to shape the world we will hand onto future generations.
They start by choosing their profession: politicians (whose initial impulse always stems from a desire to help their local community), social activists (who believe that the root of crime lies in class differences), artists (who believe there is no hope at all and that we'll just start again from zero)... and policemen
They start by choosing their profession: politicians (whose initial impulse always stems from a desire to help their local community), social activists (who believe that the root of crime lies in class differences), artists (who believe there is no hope at all and that we'll just start again from zero)... and policemen
Do you really want peace in the world? Have you ever considered that there was never peace in the world and that therefore this goal may simply be unattainable?
And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new
Sun been down for days
A pretty flower in a vase
A slipper by the fireplace
A cello lying in its case
Soon she’s down the stairs
Her morning elegance she, wears
The sound of water makes her dream
Awoken by a cloud of steam
She pours a daydream in a cup
A spoon of sugar sweetens up
And she fights for her life as she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain as it pours
And she fights for her life as she goes in a store
With a thought she has caught by a thread
She pays for the bread and she goes
Nobody knows
Sun been down for days
A winter melody she plays
The thunder makes her contemplate
She hears a noise behind the gate
Perhaps a letter with a dove
Perhaps a stranger she could love
And she fights for her life as she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain as it pours
And she fights for her life as she goes in a store
With a thought she has caught by a thread
She pays for the bread and she goes
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
And she fights for her life as she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain as it pours
And she fights for her life as she goes in a store
Where the people are pleasantly strange
And counting the change as she goes
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
A pretty flower in a vase
A slipper by the fireplace
A cello lying in its case
Soon she’s down the stairs
Her morning elegance she, wears
The sound of water makes her dream
Awoken by a cloud of steam
She pours a daydream in a cup
A spoon of sugar sweetens up
And she fights for her life as she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain as it pours
And she fights for her life as she goes in a store
With a thought she has caught by a thread
She pays for the bread and she goes
Nobody knows
Sun been down for days
A winter melody she plays
The thunder makes her contemplate
She hears a noise behind the gate
Perhaps a letter with a dove
Perhaps a stranger she could love
And she fights for her life as she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain as it pours
And she fights for her life as she goes in a store
With a thought she has caught by a thread
She pays for the bread and she goes
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
And she fights for her life as she puts on her coat
And she fights for her life on the train
She looks at the rain as it pours
And she fights for her life as she goes in a store
Where the people are pleasantly strange
And counting the change as she goes
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
HAT JAA RE HAT JA RE .... Pare HAT JAA REE Nazron se....
Aankhon ka hai dhoka aisa tera pyaar ....
TERA E........ A.........
YOU B....
Aankhon ka hai dhoka aisa tera pyaar ....
TERA E........ A.........
YOU B....
I by chance came up with a very good(or so i think) analogy while having a conversation with my parents. Although the conversation is personal :P:P ... i would sure like to share the analogy as i think it applies to quite a lot of things.
I asked my parents to imagine a situation when in a lonely jungle with a lot of grass, there are only two animals. A sheep which can run very fast ... and a lion. Now naturally the lion wants to hunt down the sheep and eat it while the sheep wants to run away. Whom would you call a villian in this situation. The obvious answer they gave was lion... coz he wants to kill the sheep. I agreed ... but then i asked them to look it from a different point of view. Isn't the sheep mean, to run away when it is obviously the only food that can keep the lion alive. Th lion cant survive on grass... its his biological need to eat meat. So in a way no one is wrong... each one is trying to do their job..
Its the lion's job to hunt down the sheep .. and it is the sheeps job to run away... its just the way nature is designed .. no right no wrong... The best both can do is keep doing their jobs best they can ... but not have any hard feelings by realising that the other too has a role to play....
think about it.... it applies to a lot situations around us today.... :)
I asked my parents to imagine a situation when in a lonely jungle with a lot of grass, there are only two animals. A sheep which can run very fast ... and a lion. Now naturally the lion wants to hunt down the sheep and eat it while the sheep wants to run away. Whom would you call a villian in this situation. The obvious answer they gave was lion... coz he wants to kill the sheep. I agreed ... but then i asked them to look it from a different point of view. Isn't the sheep mean, to run away when it is obviously the only food that can keep the lion alive. Th lion cant survive on grass... its his biological need to eat meat. So in a way no one is wrong... each one is trying to do their job..
Its the lion's job to hunt down the sheep .. and it is the sheeps job to run away... its just the way nature is designed .. no right no wrong... The best both can do is keep doing their jobs best they can ... but not have any hard feelings by realising that the other too has a role to play....
think about it.... it applies to a lot situations around us today.... :)
I post lyrics of songs on the blog quite a lot. They all have some things in common. They all are english songs, they all are songs i relate to in some way. But this time both these things are missing. I dont relate as such to this song from "Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye" but the song is something which i have never heard before.
Its in a way a multi mood song :P. If you want to feel happy with it you can ... if you want to feel romantic .. it will bring you the face of your lover.. .if you look at the humor in it .. it will bring a smile on your face... and if you want to feel sad ... it might just make you shed a tear. I simply love the blend to the folky voice and "iktara" sound with the techno type sounds.... AWESOME. People who were involved in creating this track must feel so proud. i just hope someday i could create something so good....
Well here are the lyrics .. along with some of the translation (might not be accurate:P). It is basically the conversation b/w lord shiv and parvati after paravati proposed to him ... really superb... i know i keep saying this ... but then again it is :
Tu Raja Ki Raj Dulari, Main Sirf Langote.., Aala Su.. ) - 2
Bhang Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, Kundi Sote Aala Su
Tu Raja Ki Raj Dulari, Main Sirf Langote, Aala Su
Bhang Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, ( Kundi Sote Aala Su ) - 2
Tu Raja Ki Chhori Se, Mere Ek Bhi Daasi Dost Nahi
Chal Tu Shawl Odhan Aali, Mhare Kambal Tak Bhi Paas Nahi
Tu baagan Ki Koyal Se ,aade barf pade Hari Ghaas Nahi
Kis tariya dil Lage Tera, Satran Chaul Prakash Nahi
Kise Saahukar Ke Byah Karwale,Saahukar Ke Byah Karwale
Main Khaali sote Aala Su
Bhang Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, Kundi Sote Aala Su
Tu Raja Ki Raj Dulari, Main Sirf Langote, Aala Su
Bhang Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, ( Kundi Sote Aala Su ) - 2
Main dhuna me tapa karun, tu aag dekh ke darr jagi
Rakh ghol ke Piyaa Karu Mera, Bhag Dekh Ke Dar Jaagi
Sau Sau Saap pade reh gale me, Naag Dekh Ke Dar Jaagi
Tane Julfo aala Chhora Chaiye, Julfo aala Chhora Chaiye
Main Lambe Chote aala Su
Bhangh Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, Kundi Sote Aala Su
(Tu Raja Ki Raj Dulari, Main Sirf Langote, Aala Su
Bhangh Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, Kundi Sote, Aala Su ) - 11
Meaning :
You are the beloved daughter of the king, i am just a monk who wears a langot - 2
I drink bhang from crushing using a kundi sote (some kind of tool)
You are a kings daughter .. i dont even have friends ...
you walk around wrapped in shawl... i dont even have a quilt...
You come from garderns where koyals dwel.... only snow falls here .. no green grass..
how will you manage to spend time here... there is no light in my house...
you should marry some rich guy... - 2.. i am just a monk who wears langot
i drink bhang......
i usually stay in smoke... you will get scared on seeing the fire...
i drink ashes.... you will get scared on seeing my destiny....
hundreds of snakes dwell on my neck .. you will get scared on seeing the snakes..
you need a guy with locks... i just have a chhoti ...
i drink bhang......
Finally just one last time.. AWESOME SONG
Its in a way a multi mood song :P. If you want to feel happy with it you can ... if you want to feel romantic .. it will bring you the face of your lover.. .if you look at the humor in it .. it will bring a smile on your face... and if you want to feel sad ... it might just make you shed a tear. I simply love the blend to the folky voice and "iktara" sound with the techno type sounds.... AWESOME. People who were involved in creating this track must feel so proud. i just hope someday i could create something so good....
Well here are the lyrics .. along with some of the translation (might not be accurate:P). It is basically the conversation b/w lord shiv and parvati after paravati proposed to him ... really superb... i know i keep saying this ... but then again it is :
Tu Raja Ki Raj Dulari, Main Sirf Langote.., Aala Su.. ) - 2
Bhang Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, Kundi Sote Aala Su
Tu Raja Ki Raj Dulari, Main Sirf Langote, Aala Su
Bhang Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, ( Kundi Sote Aala Su ) - 2
Tu Raja Ki Chhori Se, Mere Ek Bhi Daasi Dost Nahi
Chal Tu Shawl Odhan Aali, Mhare Kambal Tak Bhi Paas Nahi
Tu baagan Ki Koyal Se ,aade barf pade Hari Ghaas Nahi
Kis tariya dil Lage Tera, Satran Chaul Prakash Nahi
Kise Saahukar Ke Byah Karwale,Saahukar Ke Byah Karwale
Main Khaali sote Aala Su
Bhang Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, Kundi Sote Aala Su
Tu Raja Ki Raj Dulari, Main Sirf Langote, Aala Su
Bhang Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, ( Kundi Sote Aala Su ) - 2
Main dhuna me tapa karun, tu aag dekh ke darr jagi
Rakh ghol ke Piyaa Karu Mera, Bhag Dekh Ke Dar Jaagi
Sau Sau Saap pade reh gale me, Naag Dekh Ke Dar Jaagi
Tane Julfo aala Chhora Chaiye, Julfo aala Chhora Chaiye
Main Lambe Chote aala Su
Bhangh Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, Kundi Sote Aala Su
(Tu Raja Ki Raj Dulari, Main Sirf Langote, Aala Su
Bhangh Ragad Ke Piya Karu Main, Kundi Sote, Aala Su ) - 11
Meaning :
You are the beloved daughter of the king, i am just a monk who wears a langot - 2
I drink bhang from crushing using a kundi sote (some kind of tool)
You are a kings daughter .. i dont even have friends ...
you walk around wrapped in shawl... i dont even have a quilt...
You come from garderns where koyals dwel.... only snow falls here .. no green grass..
how will you manage to spend time here... there is no light in my house...
you should marry some rich guy... - 2.. i am just a monk who wears langot
i drink bhang......
i usually stay in smoke... you will get scared on seeing the fire...
i drink ashes.... you will get scared on seeing my destiny....
hundreds of snakes dwell on my neck .. you will get scared on seeing the snakes..
you need a guy with locks... i just have a chhoti ...
i drink bhang......
Finally just one last time.. AWESOME SONG
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. 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. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. 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.
-Steve Jobs
Stanford 2005 Graduation Speech
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. 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. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. 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.
-Steve Jobs
Stanford 2005 Graduation Speech
I drink good coffee every morning
comes from a place thats far away
and when i'm done i feel like talking
without you here there is less to say
I don't want you thinking I'm unhappy
what is closer to the truth
but if I lived til I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
no longer moved to drink strong whiskey
I shook the hand of time and I knew
that if I lived til I could no longer climb my stairs
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
Face that dances and it haunts me
with laughter still ringin in my ears
I still find peices of your presence here
Even even after all these years
I don't want you thinkin that I don't get asked to dinner
cuz I'm here to say that I sometimes do
and even though I may seem like I'm down
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
If I live til I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
comes from a place thats far away
and when i'm done i feel like talking
without you here there is less to say
I don't want you thinking I'm unhappy
what is closer to the truth
but if I lived til I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
no longer moved to drink strong whiskey
I shook the hand of time and I knew
that if I lived til I could no longer climb my stairs
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
Face that dances and it haunts me
with laughter still ringin in my ears
I still find peices of your presence here
Even even after all these years
I don't want you thinkin that I don't get asked to dinner
cuz I'm here to say that I sometimes do
and even though I may seem like I'm down
I just don't think I'll ever get over you
If I live til I was 102
I just don't think I'll ever get over you