STEVE JOBS , THE ANSWER IS BLOWING IN THE WIND-- CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

ADIOS STEVE JOBS--WHY CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL DOES NOT USE APPLE PRODUCTS-- CONFLICT BLOOD MINERALS SOURCED BY APPLE FROM CONGO

Two days ago Steve Jobs passed away due to Cancer.  Eulogies -nay -elegies are still pouring in.

I must opine that , yes--  INNOVATOR and showman Steve Jobs made his mark on this planet, with his army of genius worker drones -- 

-- but he is the dirt under the finger nail of  INVENTOR Nikola Tesla who made a dent in the universe, single handedly.

We must not lose track of reality here.

Steve Jobs backpacked and travelled to India by the usual Hippie trail, as a 18 year old , with his friend Dan Kottke ( who was the first employee at Apple ) in 1974. The hippie movement had fizzed out in India by that time.

Hippies were non-violent young Westerners from USA and Europe, who were anti-establishment, and believed in simple living, peace, love for beauty and large hearted giving . Today we have the information super highway afforded by internet and Google and Apple due to these un-selfish hippies.

Steve Jobs went back to USA as a Buddhist and a vegetarian . He used to wear loose Indian clothes, and would fast once in a while. He also experimented with LSD.  His marriage in 1991 was solemnised by a Buddhist monk.

While in India he got thrashed royally by a near mob for insulting a cow.  So goodbye nostalgia!

I am reminded of an incident 20 years ago, when my ship's agent in one of the US ports told me that he had been to India, including Mumbai . So I asked him to name one street in Mumbai. He gave me the name of a Police station in Mumbai and he said he was imprisoned there for one night.

It so transpired that a cow sat in the middle of the road, creating a huge traffic jam. So our man gets frisky, gets down from his cab, walks up to the cow happily sitting and chewing cud , and gives one resounding kick on her poor backside.  Needless to say all onlookers were aghast-- and since he appeared to be too smug about his singular deed , he had to cool his heels in the police lock up for one night. Or the policemen would have got lynched.

I told him " Who the fuc# told you to kick a holy Indian cow in India , and that too in front of a crowd-- serves you right, for being a moron ! "  and we both had a huge laugh.

Probably the royal thrashing by a mob, the death of his chosen Guru just before he arrived in India, and acute dysentry which he picked up-- made him lose India in the blind sector of his radar. India would never ever come up again in his script. Till he died he treated India like a pariah market, unlike his competition who pro-actively wooed India.

I would say, India gave him answers which " flew in the wind!" .  Bob Dylan , another American Hippie of the sixties wrote a classic song on this theme.

Ironically the day he died , India took out her answer to I Pad. A fabulous touch tablet computer for just 35 US dollars , 15 times cheaper than Apple's cheapest model. Now why is this statement so dang important? Coz Steve Jobs made sure apple products are priced more in India that the rich West.

I know this because I bought a I phone for my son in Chennai. When my son moved to USA, he left his apple I-phone behind, as it will NOT work in USA. For every small addition he had to use his credit card and download the program from the net. These are all hidden costs. You cant even back up your IPod on your computer.

I dont use that phone, despite it obvious high tech features and smooth finger touch screen. For the same reason I dont drink Starbucks coffee. Steve Jobs knew very well about the conflict minerals ( tungsten, gold, tantalum ) from Congo. He could have done something for that desperately poor nation. Bill Gates has done a lot for charity-right?  Yes, 1/3 of his wealth. Bill gates made his products cheap and accessible to the poor third world, right? This is the meaning of being human.


Steve Job's motivating "read out from a paper" speech at Stanford University USA, in 2005,  is below. I still wonder if he was such a genius , why could he not do it extempore.

QUOTE : 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 other’s 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 UNQUOTE

Let me put down the immortal song of hippie Bob Dylan, who like Steve Jobs was savvy in re-inventing himself , developing THE mystique , and getting a halo on his head..  Excellent marketeers both, who surrounded themselves with awesome talent ! Both were arrogant innovators.

How many roads must a man walk down,
before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail,
before she sleeps in the sand?
And how many times must a cannon ball fly,
before they're forever banned?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist,
before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist,
before they're allowed to be free?
And how many times can a man turn his head,
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.

How many times must a man look up,
before he sees the sky?
And how many ears must one man have,
before he can hear people cry ?
And how many deaths will it take till we know,
that too many people have died?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,
the answer is blowing in the wind.

(Fading out)

Love you Bob , wish all the Jews were like you!

There is this true story about “asshole “ Steve Jobs, who was prone to mental bleeding "menses" . He had to interview a candidate who applied for a job.

He sarcastically starts off by asking “How old were you when you lost your virginity?"

The candidate was taken aback, bu kept quiet.

“What did you say?” “Are you a virgin?” Jobs asks again.

Now the candidate was really flustered.

Steve Jobs attacks again  “How many times have you taken LSD?”

One of the panel Hertzfeld recalled, “The poor guy was turning varying shades of red, so I tried to change the subject and asked a straight forward technical question.”

But when the candidate started responding , Jobs crashes in again and snarls “Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble,”.

So the poor gut tells Smith and Hertzfeld. “I guess I’m not the right guy here!” .

He got up quietly and left.

Wisdom is the only weapon which follows the owner everywhere. Without positive emotions man cant be happy. A wise man can live in peace with things he cannot change. Make most of the best and least of the worst. No dream can become true unless you have some skill and go to work. Belief is the power behind all accomplishments. The man who wins is the man who thinks he can. Faith and trust are the seeds which bring the sweet fruits of success. Will power is the decision to carry on the fight. Self esteem is required to make a person mentally healthy. We need family and friends to improve our emotional health. No one can lead a healthy life in isolation. An unusual amount of commonsense is called wisdom. Wisdom is discriminating between right and wrong. Knowledge is about knowing more and more— wisdom is about knowing less and less. To be successful you must be exited about life. Life is a festival only to those who live with enthusiasm.

If your life is devoid of opportunities then you are not taking enough risks. It is not enough to aim, you must hit. Failure to hit the bulls eye is never the fault of the target. Belief in predetermined destiny is the only refuge of weak minds. Take responsibility for your failures. Laughter is the cheapest luxury, it electrifies the nerves and cleanses the system. A prayer is to the soul what air is to the lungs. There is a difference between planning and worrying. Planning is constructive, worry is destructive. Jealousy is poison for the soul. Better to forgive and forget than hate and remember. Fear tends to produce the things we are afraid of. The blatant display of status symbols is the result of low self esteem. The self confident person can afford to project a modest image. The best time to solve a problem is as soon at it happens. The purpose of life is not only to be happy, but also to be creative , productive and useful— to make a difference that you lived at all on this planet.

This is the essence of what Steve Jobs came to India for.

THERE ARE NO BLACK AND WHITE ANSWERS TO LIFE.   EVERYTHING COMES IN SHADES OF GREY.

HINDUISM , THE 11500 YEAR OLD RELIGION, HAS ALWAYS GIVEN ANSWERS TO LIFE MANAGEMENT.

5.2 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN CONGO SINCE 1999. MOST OF THE METALS AND MINERALS USED FOR APPLE CIRCUIT BOARD COME FROM CONGO.

Like Starbucks bleeding Ethiopia, Apple had bled Congo. In as much as I-Phones are called genocide phones. Super rich Apple has used sweat shops in China, with several suicides due to work pressure and low wages. . These workers who committed suicide were not given compensation to teach future suicide party a lesson.

You cant hurt people on whom your rely for your prosperity--it you have a ETHICS POLICY. I am sure India did NOT teach him this cruel lesson , when he came here for spiritual answers.

Why do I call Apple super rich--for very soon they will be richer than Microsoft and Intel combined--as they have offshore tax havens. Bill Gates could have become richer if he had priced his PCs' more in third world countries where it sold millions.

So better and better products for the rich man, let the poor man be damned, right? Adam Smith , the great hedonist cum capitalist , would have been thrilled.

Let nobody forget Dr. henry Edward Roberts who first designed a PC in 1975.

Does anybody know or care for Hungarian super-genuis , Von Neumann who designed the first computer in 1952, still used in Cray systems.

Steve Jobs has NOT invented a single thing, though he innovated and revolutionized--it pays to remember this. 

Today a Nokia phone is used extensively in India because it is cheap and reliable. Yes-- good technology for the masses.

Thank god Steve Jobs , (who will never drown out his inner voice ) , was NOT a leader in the pharmaceutical industry-- the rich man would have his fantastic medicines-- right?

Steve Jobs has listed himself as CO-INVENTOR of 103 separate Apple patents. Just like Edison who never invented a single thing, but has maximum patents in his name -- everything was done by the scientists he employed, but hogged all credit for himself.  It is Bill Gates who will leave a legacy behind, NOT super-tyrant Steve Jobs.

So many people gushing over Steve Jobs just because he died really disgusts me. Why all this undue praise for a  man who overpriced everything he sold and sued everyone that made the product better.

What groundbreaking thing has he done other than heading a company which made an over rated piece of technology ?  Has he made this planet a better place by inventing polio vaccine?  Did he develop cold fusion? 

Calling him a visionary is an insult to people like Nikola Tesla who really are. Could this planet have not done without I pad and I phone? Why do we have such bullshit confused priorities?

He denied his  own once-illegitimate daughter and she had to live on welfare for 2 years because he just being himself.  He even denied paternity by claiming he was sterile.

After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Steve Jobs eliminated all previous corporate philanthropy programs.

When he met President Obama after sulking for a week (because Obama did NOT personally ask him), and they finally, Jobs was characteristically prickly and blunt.  “You’re headed for a one-term presidency,” he told Obama at the start of their meeting,

America is being its decadent self when her denizens idolize whoever makes the newest and most popular piece of nonsense technology. Yes, go ahead and idolize your Paris Hiltons and Kim Kardashians --be my guest.

Why do people all over the world use Windows? Because Steve Jobs was being himself when his king sized ego forced him to lock Apple out of the market. Never confuse invention with innovation . Furthermore never confuse innovation with glorified craftmanship .

Apple tries to imprison you , with no way out.. The iPod is a poor gimmick, it forces you to use iTunes to transfer music to it. Every other mp3 players allowed drag and drop transfer of universal music files. 

The iPad was not even he first tablet computer, just the first one to be popular. Steve Jobs would  stand competition innovation only his self righteous terms.

Steve Jobs, with his technological creepy marketing-created cult and the sweat factories in China where slaves build the iPad and iPhone, only made this planet worse.  Humans become a bit more monstrous each time they exchange wholesome human emotions for the cold and empty worship of glitzy electronic gadgets

Bottomline: Any idiot can surround himself with outstanding geniuses in the field and harrass them in a mean manner, till they deliver a damn good product--and then claim all the credit for himself. This is only possible in a organisation where there is NIL transparency and everything is on a strict "need to know" basis.

CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

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