Aging Woes

My laptop is dying. I can sense it.

I use an almost 4 year old HP Pavillion dv2519. Something tells me it's not going to be around for long.

Some keyboard keys are gone. Scratches fill the lid with a pattern of their own. Paint is chipping from everywhere. It overheats and shuts down from time to time. DVDs don't work anymore. Webcam now works only half the time. Two USB ports have given up. Today, I saw the replaced screen also flickering from the bottom. After surviving two drops and transplants of RAM, screen, battery and hinges, it has gone through a lot. Thus, my worries.

But this is not the best time to die for my laptop. I can't afford a new one with certain big expenditures planned. Also, there are newer processors, OS refreshes and super-fast ports coming up next summer.

Stay with me, HP, stay with me. At least for another six months.

Every 30 minutes

Did you know that around 70% of India lives on less than Rs. 20 per day? I didn't.

The average rate of suicide by farmers is one every 30 minutes.

45% of rural India's children are malnourished compared to around 25% in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most "important" government decisions like creating highly subsidized SEZs and considering airline bailouts (of the tune of Rs.6-7k crore) are for the top 1% of the population. They may affect the remaining 30% of us to some degree but what about the rest 70%? A single crore can save lives of lots of uneducated villagers.

Not the best time to be an Indian.

An eye-opening interview:

I love and hate Critical Reading lectures at the same time.

Reaction

Is there something wrong with me if I laughed more at this video than at the last 4 episodes of How I Met Your Mother combined? Probably not.

Still can't stop chuckling.

Where the mind is without fear

I am not into reading poetry but this one, pointed to me by Longevita, seemed worth posting. It's a Bengali poem by Rabindranath Tagore before India's independence. I love every line of it:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action --
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. 

Idol

I heard it this morning. On the commute to college, a friend asks me, "So Steve Jobs has resigned?" Before I went all Yeah Right, he told me that he read it in his Facebook News Feed at 7 am today. I asked him if he read any article and he denied but said that there was a link posted. I refused to believe some troll's Facebook status; but within a second it did strike me. He was on medical leave after all. He was planning to retire in the coming years. Did he really resign?

Within the next second, for some reason, my heart started to sink.

As soon I reached the campus, I rushed to the lab and opened up Engadget - "Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple".

As another friend described, the sadness is physical. There is this uneasiness since morning that I haven't been able to overcome yet. So many things running through mind.

First, about the man himself. It sounds dramatic, but this guy is a part of shaping who I am and want to be. There is so much about engineering, design, entrepreneurship, communication and much more that I learnt just by observing this guy. He almost defines the word Respect for me.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with someone I met two months ago in Mumbai. He asked, "Who is your idol?" Dismissing it as concept on which 12-year-olds write essays, I said diplomatically, "No one." I actually never thought about this notion. He insisted, "Guys who discuss stuff like we are discussing, always have an idol." Listening to this, I had my answer in a second- "Steve Jobs".

This explains the uneasiness.

Then, there are concerns about Apple. I love Apple products. The kind of thought and vision they bring to the market is something extraordinary. Of course they are doing business, but the game they play and the goals they set, are very different from any other tech company out there. And Steve Jobs was Apple.

When you turn all geeky and progress to the computing industry while gathering knowledge about it, there are these faces you start to identify and associate with companies. Google brings an image of Sergey Brin and Schmidt to my mind, and in the recent times, Larry Page. Facebook brings up Mark Zuckerberg. Apple, obviously, brought up Steve Job's image. Now, its just weird. I am trying to put in some image from here; maybe Forstall or Schiller(thanks to Job's thoughtfully designed keynotes), but Apple just seems faceless now. It's like the solidness has gone.

Also, I noticed him when he said this at the iPad 2 launch:

We think we have the right architecture not just in silicon, but in the organization to build these kinds of products.

Who knew he was subtly sowing the idea of his retirement at the end of the keynote. Classic Steve Jobs.

I read this piece after this news, and its striking to see how much John Gruber gets me sometimes (or perhaps vice-versa):

Jobs’s greatest creation isn’t any Apple product. It is Apple itself. 

Today’s announcement is just one more step, albeit a big and sad one, in a long-planned orderly transition — a transition that no one wanted but which could not, alas, be avoided. And as ever, he’s doing it his way.

The next iPhone gets announced next month. While it would be great to see him on stage, I hope he's in the audience at least. Watching what he created.

Young Adult in India

I am a young adult in this country. What do I do?

I have my life. I have my to-do lists. My engineering coursework. But I also read newspapers, check Facebook and try to be aware of humanity beyond my personal motives.

There is something going on in my country. People are protesting. Against what, is debatable. But I do know a few things.

I know when I have to stand in lines so that other people who pay a 'premium'don't have to; I know when big corporates buy government licenses at 'subsidized' prices; I know when careers get destroyed when someone is unable to pay backdoor 'donations'; I know when roads outside my house don't get repaired in 10 years but patches of it being polished when a MP's nephew is married; I know when farmers and researchers suicide due to funding 'issues'; I know when land -that is bought by a serviceman's life savings- is snatched by a property dealer demanding high 'security' to pay to authorities; I know when only 'some' funds reach schools and the education of bright stars of the country is suffered; I know when a sports event that is supposed to be my country's pride gets so 'messy' that reports can fill you with disgust; I know when my family asks me not carry enough money for a challan when I drive, but enough to 'get out' of the situation.

I am a young adult and I love my country. What do I do?

They say I should join a protest that is claiming to get some things in order. They say that things have gone so bad that some strict policy-level decisions are the only way out. They say that I should support one man who had the balls to give his 100% to a cause that is claimed against corruption. They say that I should support the protest which is trying handle this menace by empowering a new body specifically for this purpose. They say the body will be as transparent as possible and will question anyone who needs to be.

But then others say that this protest is unconstitutional. That adding another layer of bureaucracy is not an answer. That this constitutional body upon which we are trusting can also stab our backs. Is there any trust or faith left in this country? How did we get here?

I am a young adult in this country. What do I do?

They say I have been given a power to vote. They say that instead of questioning the people I put in power, I should question why did I put them in power. I ask, who should I vote?

On one side there is a dynasty full of scams whose 'charismatic' ancestors have put this country in an emergency before. They have a future descendant ready who is himself confused and cannot hide his shame behind the political misdoings of his party. On the other side there is a leaderless group of non-secular, conservative old men(and some loud women) who themselves have plenty of scams in store, some of which get sprouted from time to time. My country feels screwed to not have a good alternative.

I am a young adult in this country. What do I do?

They say maybe I should wait. A third alternative will arise. Someone who will be responsible. Who knows that the answer is in the fundamentals along with some rigid policies on the top. Someones who understands that this country has become a nation of cheaters. Someone who knows that tax evasion and corruption have become a way of life and this needs to be changed.

But how long will I wait? I am certain that it's not some Baba who's trying to close the economy and thinks that homosexuality is a disease. When will this third option arise? People are continuing to get busy with their personal lives and treating their country for granted. Courage continues to die for personal 'growth'.

Meanwhile, careers continue to get destroyed, education continues to get hampered, farmers continue to suicide, illegal buildings continue to get constructed, science continues to get roadblocked, rules continue to get broken.

I am not impatient. But it is enough now.

I am a young adult in this country. What do I do?

I have no idea and I am scared.

30 days

I watched this TED Talk today and have stopped my list-making ever since. Well, I got inspired so fast is mainly because I have precisely 30 days right now till semester #3 starts and I have been feeling useless since the past two days.

I spent this summer doing a lot of stuff I did not imagine I would do, visiting and lot of places and learning so much that I never thought I could learn. So after two months of jam-packed abnormal fun, I thought I would love  just laying back and sleeping the next one month. But as these lazy days are passing, I am feeling more and more uncomfortable and bored.

So, this 30 day thing seems worth trying. I have made my list but will not share it right now. I will share tasks as they become relevant or complete.

Another added bonus: I get to make tickable lists.

Starting tomorrow, let the ticking off begin!

Darkest Things

Some incredible lyrics from one of my favorite songs:

And it's funny how the darkest things
You only find when you've been searching
Don't back down from what you need
Guiltiness it only makes you mean