Prof. Randy Pauch’s “Last” Speech – “How To Live Your Childhood Dreams”

This is a must watch video – 1hr 44mins of pure inspiration.

Dr Randy Pauch is a Computer Science professor at the Carnegie Mellon University. Everything about this 46 year professor, father of 3 kids look absolutely fine, except that he has pancreatic cancer and he is going to live, just for a few more months.

Wall street journal called it the “THE LECTURE OF A LIFETIME”. The talk filled with humor and enthusiasm lets you doubt, if this man is really going to die in a few days.

In the lecture he talks about his life journey, from his love for stuffed animals, to his passion to work for Disney.

He tells why teaching is the best profession, for him it was a way to “enable the childhood dreams of others” – his students.

If you don’t see this video you will certainly miss something very precious in life, take my word for that. He starts of showing his CT scans, but ends up teaching you how to live your life.

Some of his quotes:

“But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

“And I think that that’s one of the best things you can give somebody – the chance to show them what it feels like to make other people get excited and happy. I mean that’s a tremendous gift.”

“When you’ve had something for ten years that you hold so precious, it’s the toughest thing in the world to hand it over. And the only advice I can give you is, find somebody better than you to hand it to.”

“The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they’re learning something else.”

“I, like Moses, get to see the promised land, but I won’t get to set foot in it.” – about one of his pet program Alice’s next version which will be released probably a bit too late for him.

“I mean I don’t know how to not have fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there’s no other way to play it.” – this thing brought tears in my eyes.

“How do you get people to help you? You can’t get there alone. People have to help you and I do believe in karma. I believe in paybacks. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest. I’ll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.” – this was like god talking to me.

“Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.” – as my boss say ‘persistence man persistence, that makes all the difference.’

“When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it. Show gratitude. When I got tenure I took all of my research team down to Disneyworld for a week. And one of the other professors at Virginia said, how can you do that? I said these people just busted their ass and got me the best job in the world for life. How could I not do that?”

“Be good at something, it makes you valuable.”

“Find the best in everybody. One of the things that Jon Snoddy as I said told me, is that you might have to wait a long time, sometimes years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.”

“It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.”- this is THE quote.

If you don’t get tears after you see this video I recommend you visit an eye specialist, coz you might be suffering from Keratoconjunctivitis sicca.When I watch something like this I try to analysis my own life. It’s a bad feeling I a getting, I might have just wasted 23 years of my life (my age - 23).

Srirangapatna and Chamundi Betta

Pictures from my recent visit to Srirangapatna and Chamundi Betta.

Rangaswamy Betta

Below are the pictures taken during my recent visit to Ranganathaswamy Temple on the Rangaswamy betta(Hill). The temple was supposedly built during the Ganga Dynasty rule, sometime between 8th century AD to 12th century AD.

The temple is pretty small, and architecturally not really significant. It is located around 70Km from Bangalore on the Bangalore - Gowribidanur road, around 20Km from Doddaballapur. We have to travel a further 6-7Km from the main road. The drive is pretty unpleasant because of the road repair works going on, on the Bangalore Gowribidanur state highway.

After the right turn from the main road, the narrow road is surrounded by lush green fields. The ride gets further bumpy with only traces of tarred roads. As you near the foothill, all you you get is a narrow mud road. Due to the heavy rains overnight, the road was practically washed off and we had to park the vehicle 2Km away from the foothill.

This was my third visit to this place, first one was around 21 years back.

The hill is part of the mountainous range which also includes Nandi betta and Kalavarahalli betta.

There is no clear cut route to the top. Occasionally you will find some directions written on the stones. It will take around 45 mins to reach the top. The lush green fields and the surrounding hills give a wonderful view as you climb up. The view of the Nandi Betta and the Kalavarahalli betta with the hat shaped fog cover over them was a breath taking view.

On the top you will find the Ranganatha Swamy Temple. Recently some some miscreants had dug up the inside of the temple when rumors of some hidden treasure beneath the temple spread. It was latter restored and also a standing version of Ranganatha Swamy idol was installed. The masonry work was extremely bad though. Apart from the temple you will find a well and ruins of some old stone structures. These ruins, which are on the other side of the hill indicate, an old stoned pathway to the temple.

The temple is normally closed during the week days. The temple is maintained by the Muzrai department of Govt of Karnataka. The priest resides in one of the villages at the foothills. People throng the temple on the Saturdays of Sravana massa.