Saiprasad's Journal

Recently, one of my colleagues committed suicide (pic in the public post to follow). The reason – her parents didn’t agree to get her married to the guy she was in love with.

It kind of shook me up a little. Happens every time actually (this is third such incident I’ve seen). To realize that a person who was talking/working with you just a couple of days ago is no more.

Why did she do it then? After all, she’s not some uneducated woman dependent on someone. She was well prepared there would be some resistances at home right from the start. She even saved money for her own marriage. And then we get this news.

But is committing suicide the answer? This is a hot topic of discussion in our office right now. Most of them tend to agree that what she’s done was stupid. Maybe it is. But I don’t think many realize that such decisions aren’t taken with a rational head. And most of the times, we see wide array of people commit suicide – age, gender, family, financial or society backgrounds. Nothing matters. Nothing.

I always believed that what one person considers as ‘painful’ might not mean a damn thing to the person next to them. Forget about people breaking down because of heartbreaks. Ever wondered why few school kids commit suicide when they fail in examinations? Trivial thing, isn’t it? Lose your life for a bloody examination of 100 marks? Maybe for the kid the failure/pain is so unbearable, it shakes the very foundation of his/her existence. Again, as I said, the “pain” is relative here. You and I might say, “That’s stupid”, but in the shoes of the kid, it isn’t. The conditions, the circumstances, every thing around you is so devastating, the good side of things (if they’re relevant anymore) doesn’t come into your vision. I call that the ABP – the Absolute Breaking Point. After that, everything around you is just irrelevant.



Maybe it’s like asking a guy to put one of his fingers in fire for just one minute. He does and he undergoes excruciating pain. Every second hurts. Asking him to hold on doesn’t work, even if it’s just for a minute. He can’t hold on any longer even if his life depended on it. No pep talk or motivation speech helps either. “It doesn’t matter if you lose a finger. There are nine other fingers!” Equivalent to saying “It doesn’t matter if you lose a loved one. You have your family and friends with you!”

The fact is – friends, family and the entire eco-system (just like nine other fingers) means a lot to anyone. It’s the pain they undergo at THAT point of time is something which tests the ABP. Some people are blessed with high ABP, they do manage to keep their finger burning for a minute and will overcome things. Some of them, unfortunately, don’t. Everyone goes through rough times. Whether they reach their ABP or not, is left unto them.

All said and done, I think humans have mastered the art of complicating anything they do. And I do at times wish if life was lot simpler though. I really do.

On 30th May 2007, at D5 conference, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs shared a stage after a long time for an interview. Oddly enough, I was looking forward to it much before the event began. It’s not because I had too much time on my hands and that I had nothing better to do (I see many nodding heads here) or that I was interested to know what their respective companies were up to. I was interested to know what goes on in their mind. And what makes them think the way they do. Just for the heck of it.

Needless to say, I actually kinda liked the interview. Liked it enough to have watched the whole thing three or four times. I feel sad for all those news agencies, which were only focused in extracting future releases and were eventually disappointed to find nothing was “announced” in the interview.

So here’s my take on the interview – on Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (and NOT on Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.)

1. Articulation
If you’ve ever watched a keynote of Steve Jobs (find some here), you know how immaculate his verbal, articulation and presentation skills are. His keynote slides aren’t made up with company ‘templates’ with silly headers and footers. In fact, the slides don’t even have an Apple Logo on them. He wears a T-shirt and Jeans to all his keynotes; even to this interview as well (Bill was in formals). His emphasis on simplicity and style not just reflects on the way he carries himself but also on most of the Apple products as well. Even their packaging is the most sleek I’ve ever seen – none of their packaging (barring the new iPhone) lists any of the fine print stuff we see on literally every packaging. Anyway, coming back to articulation, there was a little moment in the interview where Bill was trying to explain history about Microsoft software in Apple II. Steve realizes he’s not doing it well and interrupts by saying “Let me tell the story” – breaking the crowd into laughter. Read that transcript below and notice the difference of articulation between the two.

Bill: Yeah. There had been the Altair and a few other companies–actually, about 24–that had done various machines, but the ‘77 group included the PET, TRS-80 … the Commodore PET, TRS-80 and the Apple II. The original Apple II BASIC, the Integer BASIC, we had nothing to do with. But then there was a floating-point one where–and I mostly worked with Woz on that…
Steve: Let me tell the story. [laughter] My partner we started out with, this guy named Steve Wozniak. Brilliant, brilliant guy. He writes this BASIC that is, like, the best BASIC on the planet. It does stuff that no other BASIC’s ever done. You don’t have to run it to find your error messages. It finds them when you type it in and stuff. It’s perfect in every way, except for one thing, which is its just fixed-point, right? It’s not floating-point.

2.Taste
An extension to the earlier point, Steve also takes the cake in terms of having a great taste for people and products. When Bill was asked what he liked in Steve, he told the exact same thing.

Bill: I’d give a lot to have Steve’s taste. [laughter] He has natural–it’s not a joke at all. I think in terms of intuitive taste, both for people and products, you know, we sat in Mac product reviews where there were questions about software choices, how things would be done that I viewed as an engineering question [laughter], you know, and that’s just how my mind works. And I’d see Steve make the decision based on a sense of people and product that, you know, is even hard for me to explain.

Notice how Bill uses the phrase “you know” a lot. Steve does it too, but not that frequently. And I believe it happens when you’ve got a lot to say about something but are not good in expressing it. I’ve noticed that with many people who’re not good at explaining stuff (including myself). You just hope the people listening to you are following it, you know!

3.Secretive
Another difference that is clearly visible between the two is that unlike Bill, Steve is very choosy and conscious about what he speaks. In my personal opinion Steve is more of a business-head (relatively) and Bill is more of a tech-head (Of course, no denying that both have passion for what they do). Bill loves to talk about technology. In fact, throughout the interview when a question was asked to both of them, Bill was usually the guy who answered first. Steve on the other hand would take his time, compose the reply in his brain and only then answer. Sometimes Steve is blunt in saying he can’t talk about it.

Steve: I think so, too. There’s a lot of things that are risky right now, which is always a good sign, and you can see through them, you can see to the other side and go, yes, this could be huge, but there’s a period of risk that, you know, nobody’s ever done it before.
Kara: Do you have an example?
Steve: I do, but I can’t say.

4.Words of Wisdom
During the Q&A session in the end, one of the guy asked this question – “I’m wondering what would be the single most valuable piece of advice you’d give us to even attempt to create some of the value that you guys have done in both your very impressive companies.” The answers given by both were just top-class in my opinion. It really shows how much these guys have been through and how important things like passion and synergy are in anything we do. Steve’s reply is particularly impressive. Here’s what they replied:

Bill: Well, I think actually–it may be in both cases–correct me if I’m wrong–the excitement wasn’t really seeing the economic value. You know, even when we wrote down at Microsoft in 1975, “a computer on every desk and in every home,” we didn’t realize, oh, we’ll have to be a big company… [laughter] And so the economic thing wasn’t at the forefront. The idea of being at the forefront and seeing new things and things we wanted to do and being able to bring in different people who were fun to work with eventually with a pretty broad set of skills and figuring out how to get those people those broad skills to work well together has been one of the greatest challenges… So, you know, I think it’s a lot about the people and the passion.
Steve: People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing and it’s totally true. And the reason is because it’s so hard that if you don’t, any rational person would give up. It’s really hard. And you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So if you don’t love it, if you’re not having fun doing it, you don’t really love it, you’re going to give up. And that’s what happens to most people, actually. If you really look at the ones that ended up, you know, being “successful” in the eyes of society and the ones that didn’t, oftentimes, it’s the ones [who] were successful loved what they did so they could persevere, you know, when it got really tough. And the ones that didn’t love it quit because they’re sane, right? Who would want to put up with this stuff if you don’t love it?

5.Childlike
This is where I got a see a child inside Bill. I think many didn’t get what he was trying to say here. It’s a familiar feeling that everyone has – a feeling of having someone to talk to who knows everything that has happened from the start. It’s like meeting a good friend from college. The friend who knows everything about you. The friend who understands what you think and how to think. The friend who has seen your success and failure. When you miss friends like that for a long time and then you get a chance to talk to them, you have so much to speak! This is what Bill has to say on his relationship with Steve:

Bill:But, no, it’s been fun to work together. I actually kind of miss some of the people who aren’t around anymore. You know, people come and go in this industry. It’s nice when somebody sticks around and they have some context of all the things that have worked and not worked. The industry gets all crazy about some new thing, you know, like, there’s always this paradigm of the company that’s successful is going to go away and stuff like that. It’s nice to have people seeing the waves and waves of that and yet, when it counted, to take the risk to bring in something new.

Video – Highlights from the Interview
I’m often asked by my friends, “So who’s your favorite of the two?”

Steve is an amazing believer. I feel he’s still like a young teen who feels he has lot to achieve yet (and answer his critics maybe). He’s still ambitious and he’s running after something. He believes Apple is still an unfinished business. On the other hand, Bill has been through the complete cycle. As a teen, he was ambitious. As a CEO of a company, he was a ruthless businessman – to an extent of crushing his peers with anti-competitive tactics. As the richest man on Earth, he’s become the greatest philanthropist to live on the earth. There was a question from the audience that kind of summarized what I (and I’m sure many) think of Bill now. Here it goes:

Bill, even your harshest critic would have to admit that your philanthropy work is planet-shaking, incredible, and could be, if you make it, a second act so amazing that it would dwarf what you’ve actually done at Microsoft.

Whoa! Couldn’t have put it better. I think the phrase “Been there, done that” applies perfectly to Bill Gates in every sense of the word. I think he’s more mature now than he’s ever been. And that’s what makes him my favorite of the two.

Just when everyone concluded I’ve abandoned by journal for good, here I am.

So where did I disappear then? I don’t think I have a precise answer to that. But what I do know is that I got lost somewhere in aligning my priorities. Anyway.

• It’s already halfway through this calendar year and it’s time to take stock of things. 2007 – so far – has been unbelievably disappointing. To cut things short, I wasted 6 precious months of my life for nothing. Hopefully, the second half is going to be a lot better that the first.
• The only saving grace so far in the year has been my (lesser known) short trip to India – and attending two very important weddings. First being my sister’s wedding. And second being my best friend Sachin’s wedding.
• Also, I’ll be finishing my current assignment in the US by mid-August, so hope to return to India for good. Yay
• I’ve put on (more) weight. Yuck!
• It’s been a while I bought some geek maal – the last thing I remember was a Nikon 70-300/4.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR Lens (quiet a mouthful name, isn’t it?). Don’t know what to buy next – iPhone? Too bad it’s locked into AT&T – I seriously wish Apple had released an unlocked version of iPhone.
• The movie buff in me is highly dampened right now. Just watched barely few movies this year so far. Last year I watched over 200+ movies.
• It’s been 14 months since I bought my MacBook Pro. And it’s been a great companion so far and probably the best thing I’ve bought in a long time. Paisa vasool!.
• I finally started to like sandwiches from Subway. So much so that I prefer them over other junk food.

I think I’ve sobered down. Significantly.

Today one of my colleagues remarked that the work I do is a ‘joke’.

*chuckles*

I’ve been traveling a lot off late. And while I was traveling across all these US cities, something was going at the back of my head – a broad sense of familiar feeling, to be precise. Funny as it may sound, I would invariably correlate US cities to the cities back in India. Here are a few.

Disclaimer: This is not a direct comparison between the mentioned cities; they’re too diverse to be compared. This is only MY correlation between the cities as part of my traveling in these two nations.

New York City :: Bombay (Mumbai, if you like that name)
This was an easy one, isn’t it? The sheer number of people (and their rush, if I might add), the fun, the glamour, the glitz, the stock markets, city-never-sleeps thing, et al. Every time I go to New York city, memories of Bombay come right back. Both cities have far too many things in common – the skyscrapers, known for being a land of employment opportunities, a target for terror attacks, a hub of cultures and communities and so on. For me though, what connects these two cities the most is the fact that I can find my solitude and peace in the middle of all the madness; thanks to the fact the people mind their own business. And it’s the very reason I find Bombay and New York City incredibly attractive.

Washington, D.C. :: New Delhi
Serving as the capital cities of their respective countries is not the only reason I’ve paired them together; it’s one of the reason. White House reminds me of Parliament, and Washington Monument reminds me of India Gate. Before you jump at me, I’m talking about the experience of visiting these landmarks and not about the structures per se. Broad roads, administrative offices at every nook and corner of the city, the aura of politics which is omnipresent, and the sheer history behind the cities – all just adds up to how similar I find these cities. Of course, not to forget the fact that most people living in these cities are power & money oriented (the rich cities that they are) more than glitz & glamour – unlike New Yorkers … err… Mumbaikers?

Miami :: Panaji (Goa)
Another no-brainer. If you ask what’s the best place to chill out and have fun, it’s got be Miami in the US and Goa in India. Traveling across Miami was party all the time; just like my days spent in Goa. The famous beaches, finding tourists at every other block, the liquor, late night parties and a 365-days-on-a-holiday attitude – all these are the very symbols for these cities. Probably the only places where you can roam around everywhere in Hawaiian shirts and beach shorts and still look cool.

Chicago :: Bangalore
I’m sure people have different opinion on this one. Correlating Bangalore to something like – let’s say – San Jose because of the Silicon Valley and all, is a standard argument I hear. Naah… for me, Bangalore reminds me of Chicago more than any other city in US. Why? Well, it’s the people! The cool and friendly attitude of the people. I’ve always believed that these two cities are defined by the people who live there and not vice-versa. And more than that, these cities have come out of shadows of other bigger (area and population wise) cities and have created their own identity. Bangalore and Chicago don’t play second fiddle anymore; they’re mega-cities in their own way. And lastly on a lighter note, Chicago natives tend to disagree that New York is a much hip place. Just like the way you’d hear Bangalorians say, “Mumbai might be happening. But Bangalore is where the action is!”

Philadelphia :: Chennai
Debatable again, but I find them rather similar. The top-most reason being the complex nature of these cities. I find Chennai and Philadelphia mostly traditional and they do have a certain amount of rigidity in the way they function. Despite all that, you’ll be amazed how happening and cool these cities are. From a superficial level, they look pretty conservative but dig a little deep and you’ll know they’re on par with the best. Maybe it’s just me, but one another thing I find similar is that the people of Philly and Chennai are die-hard loyalists to their homeland – to an extent that they simply refuse to believe there are better cities out there.

Cleveland :: Hyderabad
Hyderabad is my home. And for me – any city which makes me feel home – is Hyderabad for me. Of all the places I’ve been, Cleveland comes pretty close to that feeling. I’ve found Cleveland to be laid-back and easygoing city. Also a city which once had it glory (it still does but unlike past) but then the best of the people over there moved to bigger cities for greener pastures – a very similar characteristic of Hyderabad as well. And did I mention Lake Erie reminds me of Hussain Sagar Lake? Again, it’s got nothing to do with the size and nature of the lakes – just the feeling of a nice lake in the heart of the city where you can hang out. And yes, it does feel home.

As I’ve said earlier, it’s weird to compare cities so diverse. This is only MY correlation between the cities as part of my traveling in these two countries.

Not sure if I’m the last to notice, but the new name of Bangalore is already reflecting in Google Earth.