Thursday, January 27, 2011

Are you a Facebook fan?

I know so many of us are hooked up with Facebook for hours nowadays, a new trend in social networking, so much to share, chat, post it on "walls", need to click several "like" buttons, then you want to comment or tag each other, interesting it gets everyday. Seeing the popularity, there was this special program on CNBC channel some time back with a pretty interesting title "Facebook Obsession". And it gets real serious with the movie "The Social Network" based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires". No wonder it has already won the "Golden Globe Award" and it is already racing for the "Academy Award" informally known as "The Oscar".

I loved the movie and also the book. Sorry I can't be the killjoy of letting you all know about this story. Facebook fans, it doesn't matter even if you are not one, please don't miss this movie or the book. I am sure you will enjoy and more importantly you will come to know the "real story" behind this social networking website.

I don't know why but for some people everything in this world is simply business, nothing could stop them. There is a simple lesson in life which is, no matter how far you go you need to see how many people helped you to get you there. Unfortunately some forgets which certainly shows how shrewd they are in real life. You know, it's like helping someone to climb the ladder and the return will be get kicked by the person.

Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook), now we really know the real story behind your Facebook! Oh Man, that's quite an interesting story.

Julian Assange, Founder of Wiki Leaks said "What are the differences between Mark Zuckerberg and me? Let's take a look," "I give you private information on corporations for free and I'm a villain. Mark Zuckerberg gives your private information to corporations for money and he's Man of the Year."

Facebook
users, please be careful with your account and make sure your privacy settings are well protected.

Monday, January 24, 2011

An envious message

Here is an interesting message I came across through a social networking site.

"Waking up to so much love from the parents, as every day. Having those 'what have I done for them' moments. Grateful, humbled and happy! 
Dad makes coffee 5 mins before I get up, it's a tussle between mom and dad to make the coffee. Mild and healthy vs. strong and tasty.
And then dad will want to know where the coffee should go; the computer table, writing desk, the den or on the dining table :)
"

Before I begin with anything I want to apologize first, extremely sorry Shilpa, I don't know you and you don't know me but thanks to the technology the world has become smaller and somehow I had an opportunity to know you a bit if not better. I am so sorry for taking your messages and using it in my blog, I know it's totally wrong but trust me, I have absolutely no intention of stealing your words but I have to admit honestly that my high intention would be stealing your place in first place though. Seriously, is there a chance that I could be adopted by your parents? Well, if only you don't mind. How I wish I were you Shilpa (Sigh). Anyways forgive me for using your words here in my blog. I hope you will understand my intention. It's really very nice knowing you through the web world and then hey you have got an amazing sense of humor and for that I would love to meet you sometime and want to shake hands with you if our legs crossed each other in this life. Let's see how our life goes.

All I know about this person is that she is a writer. And when I first saw her messages my first thoughts were what an incredible gift that this girl has got, and secondly of course is the feeling of envy towards her. Nothing in this world makes me feel envious other than someone telling me how good their parents are to them. Every time I hear or see I understand God was really very cruel to me in that case.

Each child born in this world deserves nice parents and a good family environment. No one is born bad or a born criminal, it's only how they are made to become later in their life. A good parenting is a gift that I wish every child should receive and unwrap it early in their life. I think the most disturbing kids lack such unconditional love and guidance that's why their paths are often misleading or uncontrollable. Yes, I have seen that in me and with others too.

I believe each child is like a clay (I mean it in a right way, please don't get offended) in the hands of parents, family or an environment where some are magnificently decorated to showcase the fine talent of craftsmanship while others remain poorly untouched. I also saw another message from a girl who happily admits that her mom is her Guru and she is a single parent. Sometimes it's good to remain content with what we have rather than to seek. Only when you seek you land in trouble or at least that is what has happened to me. If you would ask me it is good either being parent less or being in the hands of good parents, staying in the middle of these two is no good. It's devastating to our own self with such oscillation.

And to parents, your unconditional love is beyond expressible, your guidance is highly appreciated but please don't get into our heads and tell us what to dream or what to become. With unconditional love, proper guidance and with right freedom every child will come out with flying colors. Please don't encircle yourself and your child with a particular set of rules and tighten your grip, there is so much to dream, so much to see and so much to do in life. Please broaden your vision and your thinking. You know, whenever I see or read about successful people (in any field) I could see their family or people who stood behind them and played a prominent role in their life. Amazing support that is.

There is a dialogue from the movie Gladiator that comes to my mind by writing this post, "Your faults as a son is my failure as a father" which I agree the most.

Happy Parenting.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc, a popular face in America and around the world, a man I happen to know through my reading, a visionary of innovation and who's health is a big concern right now because of his pancreatic cancer. He's someone I admire most, his product I would love to own, an individual the world will always look up to for his amazing innovations. Once someone said to me, 'people are so crazy about Apple to the level even if Steve Jobs shows a "crap" they are willing to buy it, such mad rush for Apple products'. I believe it's something Steve Jobs and his company earned from customers all these years, I deny the term "crap" though. I would call it loyalty instead. Their innovation speaks volumes and the kind of product line they introduced remains way ahead of time. An amazing perfectionist who tries to bring the simplicity in his every product, no doubt he is "The Man of Technology Innovation". Get well soon Mr. Steve. World needs more from you and from your lovable Apple. My prayers and best wishes are with you.

With that I want to share some of his quotes here. Please don't miss the video below, a must watch, his life and struggle in his own words (his Stanford Commencement speech in 2005)...

My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys that kept each other’s negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are not done by one person; they are done by a team of people.

You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.
 

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It's best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.

It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them.

When the dot-com bubble burst, what I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren’t going to lay off people, that we’d taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place – the last thing we were going to do is lay them off.


So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things.

When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself. They’ll want to do what’s best for Apple, not what’s best for them, what’s best for Steve, or anybody else. 

I was worth about over a million dollars when I was twenty-three and over ten million dollars when I was twenty-four, and over a hundred million dollars when I was twenty-five and it wasn't that important because I never did it for the money.

I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year, It's very character-building.

Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful… that's what matters to me.

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.

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. 

If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right. 

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.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Silence

Silence, a language of God. Amazing it is, as you could feel its presence only in fewer places like in a temple, church, mosque or any worshiping place. I am given to understand that our vibrations in these places are way different, so much calmness as our searches goes inside rather than outside, our awareness to the outer world diminishes drastically.

I wish I realized this amazing language long back in which words did not exists between people while thoughts prevailed to oneself. As a kid this language haunted me and only I knew how much I suffered. I called it loneliness, depression, unloving then. Result of which I searched love madly, crazily and hurted myself deeply. Whenever I felt I am silent inside I searched something outside that is when I hurted myself too much. Only that scare made me realize what sort of pain I went through in the course of searching. I wish I remained silent and searched myself inside rather than outside.

Given that wonderful opportunity right now, I have learnt the art of being silent and I should admit never ever I was happy like this before, a very satisfying and content feeling inside. The travel I take inside myself every moment is very interesting, brings such energizing calmness inside, relief from the outer world, even better gets me into debate with myself and guides me at certain point. Sometimes it's like a prayer, such peace and at times it's like chasing ghost inside me, such rigor. No matter what I am searching, I am glad that I do that inside rather outside. The more deeper I go inside, the more doors I bang open and more clearer it gets, I mean my path. With that I realized nothing much matters in the world than satisfying your inner needs which is selfless and unconditional. Thinking of selfless feeling, a new dream evolved in the back of my mind lately and I hope I will go ahead with that from here on.

No place in this world is as ecstatic as your own mind. Silence is a bliss and as I said earlier it is an amazing language of god so travel inside yourself whenever you are ready. May silence prevail in each one of us. We need such stillness often in our lives to understand the meaning of life.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Eat Pray Love - The Movie

Ever since I read this book written by Elizabeth Gilbert, I wanted to watch the movie very badly and most importantly noticing that Hollywood's sweet heart Julia Roberts is going to be the lead actress in the movie, I felt so happy about it. Though I have watched it sometime back, now is the time to blog about it. Here you go: I was super excited about this movie as I fell in love with the narration of Gilbert and her exceptional sense of humor but in the end I have to admit this movie did not do any justice to it.

There is so much lacking in this movie, and as I watched it I realized from the beginning there is so much left untold and no continuity at all. I don't know how Gilbert took this, honestly I felt terrible as it was a big let down for the book itself. Very disappointed by the way the movie has shaped up into. That too with an amazing actress like Julia Roberts, this movie has poorly wasted her fine talent.

This is for the second time I felt a fantastic book was caught in the wrong hands of movie makers. And the first one being Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The book was a huge success all over the world and that's the one book I would never forget in my life. I read it like crazy and finished reading it real quick. But when I saw the movie, I was as disappointed as every other person in the world was. Needless to say It didn't do well in the box office. Just imagine the controversy surrounded with the book itself, with whole lot of twists about Christ and what a page turner it had been. But when it came to big screen, the excitement didn't last, the gripping narration was lacking in the movie. A remarkable writing, a fine thriller by Dan Brown didn't happen on screen.

So if at anytime in future I happen to notice that a movie is based on a book, I would definitely prefer reading the book first rather than watching the movie, simply because, I don't want to miss the beautiful narration by an author. And If you have felt you're disappointed by this movie, I request you to read the book, you will like it.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Let's get started 2011

It's a New Year and I hope many would have taken resolutions and to me, sorry I don't have the habit of taking resolutions at all.  2010 was a rough year for me and yes I don't want to look back and hurt myself. Hopefully 2011 will be good and I am looking forward to it.

And by saying so, this year started with fever and cold for me. Hmm Interesting. Sneeze...(Bless Me, please). A nice start indeed to bring the blessings coming.

May we all work on to see a wonderful year ahead. Let's hope, dream and deserve a delightful year. May you all continue to do what you love the most. God bless.