Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

The book's name grabbed my attention as I was browsing the books at Om Book Shop. Intrigued I picked it up and started to read the first 2 pages... and I was hooked. This was a man working on a mission ... trying to get literacy to the schools of Nepal and then the rest of the world.

Have just read a few chapters, and it is hard to put down. I highly recommend a read and also check out the foundation : Room to Read.

Edit : 12/10 Finally finished the book yesterday. This is a great book. John Wood, ex Microsoft started an organization with the aim to provide books to children in various places. Its a touching book - descriptions of how the people reacted on getting the things.

Takeaway from the book.

• If you find your calling in life - its the best you can give in your life. Finding it means that you achieve more than what you can ever hope to do. John was a great exec, but once he found out his inner calling - he became a positive force of change for the unprivileged children.
• When you do something will all your heart - people around you get influenced, and help you do better. 
• Its better to concentrate on the good stuff rather than to criticize. e.g. in the book he mentions that some NGOs use pics of crying kids to get grants on the basis of pity. He on the other hand used pics of happy children going to their new school or reading a book. 
• You dont have to be a billionaire to change the world.

Loved the book. I recommend it to everyone. 

Ebb and Flow of the Yamuna

Took this pic a few days back from the Delhi metro as it enters the Yamuna Bank station:

The river was full and filled with water from bank to bank.

Today, the river looks like below:



there is a large island formed in the middle due to all the silt deposited by the flooding river. The area around the river would have been very fertile if the river had been allowed to overflow the banks - but now its all concrete and houses.