Jagmohan Uncle

Physics:

Anyone who was tall was labelled by us as 'Jagmohan Uncle.' He used to be very popular among us as kids. He is a stereotypical desi guy. Tall, slender, hardworker, socially active. He is Kurta-Pyjama fan. I have never seen him trying any other attire. I'm sure he would make Mr. Bachchan envy if he wears a suit.

Geography:

He is a famer by inheritance, but he works as a peon in an institute called 'Training Center'. His designation has nothing to do with his personality and aura. My father has also worked for the same institue. The good thing about this place was its location -- riverside, very open and spacious. And the bad thing about this place was -- its location -- so isolated, and frightening at times, when you happen to be there at night.

Psyche:

He's a very genuine guy. Most of his life he has woken up in the wee hours of the day -- around 3.30 AM, though thats not the only reason. After that he use to go to his farm, start tubewells, milk his buffaloes, and all the morning errands. Now, thats typical of an Indian farmer. What differentiates Jagmohan Uncle is his setting up water-buckets at bus-station and railway-station during the morning hours for parched summer travellers. Now, this is an important introduction to the narration that follows. One important thing, without which this guys will be incomplete is Cricket. Yes, Cricket! Quite contrasting that an orthodox guy like him is a hardcore fan of a game - no Kabaddi, no Kushti, but Cricket.

Anecdote:

This happened when I was 12 years old. Our annual exams had ended and we were a group of rascal kids. Center used to be our favorite spot. One day Sheru[a close friend] brought a fishing stick and we headed towards the river to catch fishes. While we were going there, we met an old guy - he was murmuring 'Machclee Doobi' [Fish Sagged]. It didnt make any sense to us. We had a sheepish laugh and moved on. But that was where we missed an important sign of a soothsayer who could see the future...

The rest of it later, these hopeless bugs do take so much toil of us programmers..Uff! that's my job.

Love,

What nonsense is this - hungry and foolish?

I tried for many names, some crazy such as 'osama', 'obama', 'boku', some meaningful such as 'life', 'journey', some philosophical such as 'back2basics', 'mondai-nai', but could not find one available. Afterall blogger was creater 9 years back, so absolutely no chance of finding something meaningful, but I have no qualms for finding something perfectly crazy as 'hungry-and-foolish'. The idea is stolen from Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford. So all rights reseved for Steve.

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.

So everyone around who is hungry, foolish, and crazy is welcome at this blog. Happy blogging!