Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

I think “Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson" was till date, just the second book (first was India After Gandhi) for which I have waited for more than a couple of months to get my hands on, partly because of it being priced a bit higher (At Rs.799 and cheaper paper-back edition is yet to be released) and also because of me being lazy to get a pirated or a used book. But luckily my current organization has a library, wherein we can suggest some good books(non-fiction) and I was lucky on a couple of occasions, wherein they made a couple of my suggestions available in the library(“Straight from the gut” -Jack Welch being the other).

I have always been fascinated about the autobiographies of successful people because we can learn a lot from such books (Straight from the Gut, Made in Japan, An Autobiography by Lee Iococa, iWoz being others).

I always admired Steve Jobs and products of Apple (they both are almost synonymous and incomplete without each other), they always have a great design and also make a style statement. When I was in college I always wanted to have an iPod (but I couldn't afford it then) and was able to have it after I started working (was gifted by one of my best friends), "Designed by Apple" was first thing that struck me the most and that was the first time I have seen such a statement for a product and after reading the book I came to know how obsessed Steve was with design.

This is an amazing book I would like to recommend and I’m pretty sure it will not disappoint you.This book is very well written paying a lot of detail into each and every aspect of Jobs life, I felt as if I was watching a movie, I could imagine almost every character while reading it. It starts with Jobs early days about his family, education and how Imogene Hill (teacher) used to bribe him by handing him a math puzzle book so as to keep him engaged. How Apple was staying in his father's Garage with other Steve (Steve Woznaik) and how the Apple-I was born as the first ever desktop computer in the world. The success of Apple-II. The failure with Lisa and how he got Sculley (from Pepsi) and the famous question that he asked Sculley-"Do you want to spend rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?" , which Sculley couldn’t turn it down in their honeymoon and how Jobs was kicked out the company(which he co-founded).

His struggle at Next and success with Pixar and Steve's re-entry to Apple, when it was almost at the brink of a bankruptcy. The iMac, Apple Stores, iPod, iTunes Store, iPhone, iPad, iPad-2 and iCloud. It also tells how Steve was so adamant about getting what he wanted both in terms of design and engineering.

His relation with Bill Gates and how they both competed with each other, with Windows licensing its software and Apple tried to build both Software and Hardware and not licensing Mac, Windows winning in the case of computers but Apple came back strongly with iPod, iPhone, iPad and at the end beating Windows in terms of revenues.

The most painful part of this book was Steve's struggle with Cancer and at last how he succumbed.

I was so into the character of Jobs,that when I saw a couple of pages not properly cut(since it was a new book),I suddenly started thinking if Jobs was behind the manufacturing of the book he would have rejected it the person who worked on it would have been fired.

Lastly, the author mentions that the reason behind writing Steve Jobs biography was because Jobs wanted his children to know him and he felt that he wasn't there for them and wanted them to know why and understand what he did.

I would like to end this on a note that Steve Jobs is the only person in the history who has revolutionized six industries Personal Computers, Animated Movies, Music, Phones, Computing and Digital Publishing. As said by Leaonardo Da Vinci “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”, became the defining percept for Job’s design philosophy and for Apple.

Too Good To be True

I was trying to wake up and get out of my bed, when suddenly my eyes fell on the calendar, it was the month of May and then i slipped into a dream where i just went back to my school days. The month of May was every ones favourite, one whole month of summer holidays when u enjoy like hell, no school, no assignments, no need to wake up in the morning the only thing u have to do is play till u r bored of it(n u never get bored of it). Heat was never a concern when we used to enjoy playing in the sun and I still remember we used to think why it gets dark by 7 in the night. Summer was known for power-cuts and that was chance for us to get on to the streets and start playing(or else generally parents were reluctant to let us out after 8pm) power-cut was a very good 'bahana' for us to get out.In the middle of such a "Too good to be true" dream suddenly enters a new character(villain) asking Venkat what's the tym now? for this is what u r getting paid(As if he is paying from his pocket)? i.e., my manager and after this I have not much to do but to come to reality get ready and run to offis in the summer heat, which never used to bother me when I was a kid.

2 States:

This is my second blog in as many days and now this is about a book from one of my favorite author's Chetan Bhagat.Suddenly I am feeling whether I am becoming a critic(the other day I wrote something about 3-idiots movie and now I write about a novel)no more thoughts let me start how I felt after 2-states.
As I have already mentioned Chetan is my favorite author and his book 5-point someone is the one book which is very close to my heart.So after that book I have read all his 3 books but unfortunately he could not create the same magic again.
What interested me the most about 2-states there were some rumors that it was chetan's real love story.
I straight away bought the book and started reading and as all other Chetan's novels it was a page turner, I really enjoyed the first half of the book where Krish(hero) fall in love with Ananya(heroine) and he goes to her home town to woo her parents so that they both can get married with the approval of their parents.
As always the love scenes were narrated pretty well and were very interesting but the second of the book was pretty boring and you feel as if you are watching an old bollywood movie the things are predictable and a lot of drama.
When u reach the last part of the book u will start counting pages(atleast I have done it when can I finish).But it not all boring there are some scenes even in the second half of the book which will bring a smile on your face.The comic analogies drawn by the author were awesome(as is the case with his previous books).
But at the end I felt that Krish has tried a lot to get Ananya's love and he was more disturbed when they both break-up for sometime that part was a major drawback in this novel(at least which did not sound realistic).
I felt the reason why they both get united after the break-up was not realistic and if that was changed than the book would have been even better.
I can conclude that this book is good in parts but on the whole it is not up to the mark.(probably I am becoming over critical by comparing all chetan's books with his 5 point someone)-my opinion the book is pretty average.

"3 Idiots" really

When I started writing blogs,the first promise I made to myself was I need to write atleast one blog per month but I am writing almost one per year(thank god I have not initially thought of writing one per year than I would have ended with only one blog in my whole life).
At last I am adding one more to my tally and this time it is different I am writing something on a movie(I don't want to call this as a movie review I want to express my opinion on the movie),and the name of the movie is 1 Intelligent Guy(3-Idiots).
I never thought of watching 3-Idiots movie because I was a big fan of 5 point someone and I was very sceptic like how these guys(Aamir 40+ and madhavan close to 40's) can justify a teenagers story.But I went to watch it on the first day.
My First Impression of the movie was awesome I really enjoyed each and every scene of the movie but once I reached home and started thinking of that movie(I usually have this habit)I felt is the title of the movie justified.

From the start of the movie I could see only 2 idiots in search of their friend(intelligent guy-none other than Aamir),the main theme of the movie was Aamir Khan and each and every character was revolving around him.This is what happens with any of the bollywood movie,but I was disappointed because the hero of the movie was AamirKhan(who has done "Rang De Basanthi") where each and every character has equal importance and even Siddharth's character dominating Aamir.
Like all Hirani's previous movies there was "ALL IS WELL" which was good.
I have no doubts in saying that the movie was an out and out entertainer but I was disappointed because in both the previous movies of MunnaBhai series the theme was central and the characters were revolving around it but in 3 idiots it was contrary where Aamir has become the central and the story was built around him.
Aamir has played his role to perfection(as always) and even others have done a great job but there little or no emphasis given to the theme(U need to enjoy what you are studying not merely doing it for the sake of degree or for a good job).And he was looking good in the movie expect in a couple of close shots where he was looking old.
Sharman Joshi has got a good role(where his role was almost the same from the novel which was not the case with Madhavan) and the interview scene was awesome.
Madhavan has played his role pretty well but unfortunately his role lacked the importance(when compared to the other 2 idiots)
Kareena had a very small role and she was good.
Chatur was the outstanding and all others played their parts well.And there was mm(millimeter) similar name like circuit in munnabhai,he was good.
Music was good(I never expected that Shantanu Moitra's style would suit for this kind of a movie but he has an outstanding job).
I was a bit disappointed with Raju Hirani(may be I was expecting a lot from him) on the whole the movie was good I feel it could have been better if they would have gone with the theme rather than doing it in a commercial way(After all the caption of the movie was :"Choose Excellence Success will follow")I think which they have not done.

Tribute to "RODDICK"

Just before the start of Wimbledon when Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the competition(only after Ivanisevic in 2002 that the defending champion was not playing),I personally thought that it would be a cake-walk for Federer and the only man I thought who could stop Federer was Andy Murray(who made very big statements just before the start of Wimbledon,but could not show that in his game,People started talking about renaming the “Henman” hill to “Murray” hill).And when the tournament started Federer probably for the first time in the last couple of years lost a set in the initial rounds and he was not looking invincible.
As the tournament progressed I felt Lleywton Hewitt was playing very good tennis and he was turning out to be a very good contender for the final spot.(Since one spot is already taken by Federer from past five years consistently).
Andy started the tournament slowly like an under-dog and silently reached the Quarter-finals.
I thought that was his first real test where he was playing Lleywton Hewitt and I did not expect Roddick to win the match(I did not watch the whole match was following the updates)I felt he pulled that one and his next match was against Murray(probably the favorite to win the Wimbledon this year) and just before Roddick's match against Murray,Hewitt expressed his views over the semi-final between Roddick and Murray(everyone is free to say what they feel),he said that over the years Roddick did not improve his game very much what his weakness were previously are still a weakness and he has not worked much on his game and he said that Murray is going to win the match very comfortably without any trouble from the American.
I personally felt that Hewitt was hard on Roddick and firstly it is good for him to think about his game and he has some more time left for him to comment on others(When he retires) and I dont remember when was the last time he reached the final of a grand-slam(just forget about winning one).
Just before the start of semi-final when whole Britain was supporting Murray,someone asked Roddick how is he going to tackle that on court when whole crowd is behind Murray.The reply which he gave has astonished me that when the crowd is cheering ANDY-ANDY(for Murray) he will take that they are cheering for him("Andy" Roddick).
After the semi-final I was a bit shocked to see "American" Andy winning.
Coming to the big match the FINAL of the Wimbledon where I personally felt that Roddick losses half the match when the opponent is Fed,may be he is fighting some ghosts in his mind and he lost 3 finals to him before this (2 Wimbledon's and 1 US open,he reached a final of a grandslam only 4 times).
And there were many more occasions where he lost in the semis.
Now all the legends predicted that it was Fed who is going to win even this time and mostly their prediction was 3-0(sets) in favour of Fed and even Pete made himself available for the final to see Fed winning his 15th Grandslam(beating Pete's record of 14).
It was the big day and I made myself available and taken the control of TV Remote so that none my friends disturb me(I am a very big Optimist coming to tennis always wanting Fed to loose and even after so many failures I was all set to cheer for Andy).
I was very tensed and was keeping my fingers crosses watching every shot played by Roddick so that it does not end in an unforced error and I was amazed to see the way Andy was serving,probably for the first time Fed was facing a problem with Andy's serves and it was great to see the accuracy with which he was serving and the body serves where the serve was aimed at Fed's body,Fed can hardly do any thing with them.
He was returning the Fed's serve very well and had many occasions where he came close to breaking his serve and after he was successful in his 6 th attempt winning the first set 7-5.
And throughout the match Roddick was aiming at Fed' back-hand which was a bit weaker when compared to his fore-hand(where every fore-hand he turns it into a winner).
Fed came back strongly in the second the set where each and every game was treat to watch Fed was playing better tennis in this set and more winners were flowing from his racquet and we got a chance to see the glimpses of his magic but he was not successful in breaking the Roddick's serve he came very close to doing so by taking an early advantage but whenever Roddick was lagging in his serve he came back strongly with something close to extra-ordinary with aces,winners.....
And Andy started the tie-break very well and I thought he was going to win pretty easily it when the score was 6-2 and he had two serves with him but he lost his concentration and in the whole match this was the first occasion where he lost his concentration and even hit a double fault and losing 6-8.(Only two occasions in the match where he lost his concentration and that proved very costly,this was one and I will discuss the other one shortly).
When the third set started I thought that the match was going to end in 3-1 in the favour of Fed when Roddick lost the tie-break which he almost won,I felt that it would be hard for him to come back after that.
The story continued in the third set where both the players were successful in holding their respective serves and set got into the tie-break where fed won even this time.
And Fed winning the third set made my feeling even stronger that Fed is going to win it 3-1.
But Roddick came back strongly in the fourth by breaking Fed very early in the match and winning the set comfortably 6-3.
Then came the decider the fifth set coming into the fifth set Roddick started as a favorite because there are no tie-breakers in the decider set and Roddick has broken Fed's serve on two occasions.
But the Fifth Set was the best set I have ever seen in my life it was so close and the pendulum was swinging both sides and after saving his 14 games in the set and 36 games overall Roddick faltered his serve for the first time and that costed him the match.
Unfortunately,this was the only other occasion where he lost his concentration and he lost one more match to Fed worsening his head-head record to 19-2.
Fed jumped in joy he did not cry what he did after losing Australian Open and Roddick was left standing and probably this would be the first time when he might have felt pretty lonely in his life.
There were 50 aces from Fed to around 25 from Andy but he served better than that if it was not Fed the number would be very big(Fed has a very good reach ).
He came very close in winning the Wimbledon(probably to a touching distance) for the first time in his life but he had nothing to blame but his fate.
I think this was the best that Roddick has ever played(I have seen him playing) and I doubt whether he will be able to repeat this performance in future(He can surprise anyone,keep watching for him).
He tried everything he can to stop Fed from breaking the world record(That's what he said to Pete in the Post Match Conference-"Sorry Pete I tried my best to stop him from breaking your record,but I could not" Roddick).
But for me the winner is Andy Roddick,he was able to surprise each everyone maybe even he was surprised the way he played.
The two lapses of concentration,one in the tie-break and the other in the final game have costed him the game dearly,but that is how life is when it comes to close matches you need a bit of luck to win them,I think that was the only thing missing in Roddick's game.
I will watch out for him in the US Open and I think he will be a strong contender for the title along with the other Andy i am not sure how Nadal will perform after the long lay off(Federer is always a contender).

Prior to this match there were 3 matches which were very special to me and the matches which I enjoyed the most they were
i)Australian Open semi final 2005 between Marat Safin and Roger Federer
ii)Wimbledon Final 2008 between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
iii)Australian Open final 2009 between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

The only thing that differentiates this match with the previous ones it that this is the only match in which Federer won and he was common in all the matches.
I love to see someone making life tough for the Champion(Fed),but this time I liked Roddick and I did not miss the presence of Rafael Nadal this year.
Please don't end your career with only one granslam to your name.You are far far better than that.
Roddick keep playing like this ALL THE BEST!!!

'FEEL IT'

I don’t smoke…. I don’t booze… I don’t have any other bad-habits and I never even had a girl friend…. Most of us will be proud of this and the number will increase if I remove the last line (no girl friend).I am telling this so confidently because I have a lot of friends (fortunately r unfortunately) who fall under this category and they are very happy.
I have a serious doubt i.e. down the lane when we get older and when we see our children trying all these things at some point of time we may feel that what is there in all these things a and why didn’t I try any of these things in my teens. Did I miss something which I should have at least tried?
If you get this thought then at that point of time you cannot do any thing.
(coz u cant bunk classes even if u wish, u cant lie to your parents, cant go to late night parties etc….)
Most of the people don’t try these things because they feel that these are bad and they may get addicted to these things , but if we are confident about our-selves then we wont get addicted to any thing.
How can you say that our life is complete without trying all these things (I don’t say we have to get addicted, just have a FEEL of them).
How can u say that I have enjoyed my life without tasting the puff of cigarette on a rainy day or never even tasted a sip of vodka and lastly how can one miss the sweet fights and late night messages of a girl friend.
I have mentioned a few of them but there are lots n lots of other small things which we may regret later on in our lives if we don’t do them.
I have decided that at least I will try to do some from these from the wish-list.

Goal

I just want to ask one question---> How happy r u??
I just asked the same question to myself, the answer was a bit sceptic .What I feel is everyone will have lots of dreams and lots of goals(I too feel it,there is no meaning of life if we don't have a goal), and we constantly try to achieve them, and the mean time while achieving that we have to put lots and lots of hard work and at times we may have to sacrifice lot of things to achieve that and in the mean time we may even lose our focus and seriously feel is it achievable and even after that we continue fighting, we may reach our goal.
Is that the ultimate thing of our life.Is it what for we have made a lot of sacrifices,then even after achieving that are we really happy.....
Because most of the things which we feel as ultimate,may not seem the same after we achieve them(Grass on the other side is always greener).
After achieving one goal,we want to explore more and more we want to set new targets to achieve and in between we just don't see what we are missing in our life.

Is happiness not a goal which we want to achieve in our life, is it not important!!!
Is it not worth to strive to be happy. So what i seriously believe is before setting any goal if we just ask one question that whether we are happy or not??? and is happiness the price what we are paying to achieve our goals, and is that worthy enough? if so there is no problem in doing that.

The only motive in writing all this is just to say that what ever we may achieve in our lives if we are not happy then it's useless.

For me personally the greatest thing in my life is to be happy(that is the goal which i have)
That doesn't mean that i am not happy now but i just want to be happy always that is the goal of my life.