Life of Chandrasekhar Azad

One of the torchbearers of the revolutionary struggle against the British, Chandrasekhar Azad was born Chandrasekhar Tiwari on July 23, 1906 in the Bhabhra village in Madhya Pradesh. It was during his teenage days that Chandrasekhar adopted the sobriquet of 'Azad' which stands for 'free' in Urdu. Consequent to this, Azad vowed that he would never be taken alive by the British and would instead fight till his last breath.

Like many of his contemporaries, Chandrasekhar Azad too got disenchanted with the non cooperation movement when Gandhi called it off following the Chauri Chaura mob violence in 1922. He was disappointed with the divisions among the political leadership and believed that armed struggle is the only way to realize the dream of a free and socialist India. Azad joined the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) formed by Sachindranath Sanyal in 1923.

Chandrasekhar Azad played a key role in the famous Kakori train robbery of 1925 in which revolutionaries of HRA led by Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan looted the Number 8 Down Train carrying cash-bags belonging to the British Government Treasury. In retaliation, police launched an intense man-hunt and all the revolutionaries were rounded up with the sole exception of Chandrasekhar Azad. In such a grim scenario, Azad took upon himself the onerous task of rejuvenating the armed movement.

He joined hands with Bhagat Singh and other young patriots and converted the HRA into Hindustan Socialist Republican Association in 1927. Azad is widely regarded the mentor of Bhagat Singh and together they infused new life and energy into the flagging revolutionary movement. The highpoint of their association was the killing of DSP Saunders at Lahore in 1928 to avenge the death of freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai.

On February 27, 1931 Chandrasekhar Azad went to the Alfred Park in Allahabad to meet two of his comrades. On being tipped off by an informer, police surrounded the Park from all sides and asked Azad to surrender. But Azad chose to fight till his last breath and opened fire on the police. When all his ammunitions were finally exhausted and only one bullet remained in the pistol, Chandrasekhar Azad took his own life.

Chandrasekhar Azad

Chandrasekhar Azad was a born revolutionary. A contemporary of Bhagat Singh, Azad too lived for a short span but during the 25 years that he lived, Azad waged a valiant battle against the British and inspired the youth of the nation with his heroics. Worshipped by the masses and loathed by the government, Azad was on the run all his life and he used all the survival tricks up his sleeve to escape police dragnets again and again.

As a true revolutionary, Chandrasekhar Azad vowed that he would never be nabbed by the police and when the time comes, he would die a free man. On that fateful day of February 27, 1931, surrounded by police in the Alfred Park, Allahabad and all escape routes sealed, Azad fought like a man possessed and ultimately took his life with the last bullet of his pistol.

Chandrasekhar Azad is no more but his legacy continues till today in the form of legends and inspiring anecdotes. But somehow the Indian nation has failed to honor the supreme sacrifice made by Azad and his brave comrades. The present generation fails to even recognize many of our freedom fighters, let alone appreciating their contribution to Indian independence.

steve jobs

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

(Quoted in the Wall Street Journal (Summer 1993)

Steve Jobs….the man who transformed the world with his innovative approach, ideas and creativity. The former Apple CEO was a visionary in the world of computing and is largely responsible for the level at which computers are integrated with our everyday lives. Initially, from a mouse to making of iMac, iPod, iPad, iTunes and iPhone….this guy revolutionized the world of computers.

Here, to express my respect and inspiration for this legend, I have researched his life added with pictures, to let the world know that what we will MISS now…

Early Life:

Steven Jobs was born February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California, and was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs and grew up in Silicon Valley. He grew up with one sister, Patty. Paul Jobs was skilled at fixing cars.

As a child, Jobs preferred doing things by himself. He swam competitively, but was not interested in team sports or other group activities. At an early age his interests developed in electronics and gadgetry. He spent a lot of time working in the garage workshop of a neighbor who worked at Hewlett-Packard, an electronics manufacturer.

Following his interests, Jobs also enrolled in the Hewlett-Packard Explorer Club. There he saw engineers exhibit new electronic products, and saw a computer at the age of twelve for the first time. He was very impressed, and knew right away that he wanted to work with computers.

Education and Early College Days:

When Steve arrived in Homestead High School, he enrolled in a popular electronics class. After graduating from high school in 1972, Jobs attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, for two years. However, the tuition for Reed was so expensive that Paul and Clara could hardly afford it. Yet they were bound by the promise they’d make to their son’s biological mother, so they spent almost their entire life’s savings on their son’s higher education.

Steve only officially stayed for a couple of months at Reed. He dropped out before Christmas. He dropped out after one semester to visit India and study eastern religions in the summer of 1974.

“Apple” Days:

In 1975 Jobs joined a group known as the Homebrew Computer Club. One member, a technical whiz named Steve Wozniak (1950), was trying to build a small computer. Jobs became fascinated with the marketing potential of such a computer. In 1976 he and Wozniak formed their own company. They called it Apple Computer Company, in memory of a happy summer Jobs had spent picking apples. They raised $1,300 in startup money by selling Jobs’s microbus and Wozniak’s calculator. At first they sold circuit boards (the boards that hold the internal components of a computer) while they worked on the computer prototype.

Apple II and the Personal Computer Era:

Looking at the self created huge computer, Steve realized there was a huge gap in the computer market. Advances in electronics, meant that computer components were getting smaller and the power of the computer was increasing. Jobs and Wozniak redesigned their computer, with the idea of selling it to individual users. The Apple II went to market in 1977, with impressive first year sales of $2.7 million. The company’s sales grew to $200 million within three years. This was one of the most phenomenal cases of corporate growth in U.S. history. Jobs and Wozniak had opened an entirely new market—personal computers.

Arrival of “Mac”

The Macintosh came into being in 1984, a revolutionary new model. It took the graphical user interface software – the desktop and mouse-controlled cursor you see on your screen today – from an earlier personal computer design called ‘Lisa’ and made it faster, far more affordable and a commercial success. However, The Macintosh did not sell well to businesses and this failure of the Macintosh signaled the beginning of Jobs’s downfall at Apple.

Emergence of ‘Next’

Jobs lured John Scullery away from Pepsi-Cola in 1983 to become Apple’s chief executive. When sales started to slump in 1984 Jobs’ relationship with Scullery began to deteriorate – a power struggle ensued that eventually saw Jobs resign.

In 1986 Jobs founded a new company called NeXT – abandoning the company’s hardware division in the early nineties to concentrate on software development. In 1996 Apple bought NeXT for $429 million and Jobs returned to Apple as an adviser where he was then made chief executive in 1997.

Back to Apple:

Apple’s iPod portable music player and iTunes store is heralded as revolutionizing the way people listen to and buy music. Launched in 2001 Apple’s first iPod cost $499, paving the iPod Nano, iPod Touch and iPod Shuffle, which came later. iTunes was also launched in 2001, adding an online music store in 2003 – the first ever legal online music store. As of this year iTunes has sold over 16 billion songs.

Purchased Pixar:

Is also Chairman and CEO of Pixar, the Academy-Award-winning computer animation studios which he co-founded in 1986. Pixar’s first feature film, Toy Story, was released by Walt Disney Pictures in November 1995 and became the highest domestic grossing film released that year and the third highest grossing animated film of all time.

Controversial Personal Life:

Although not much is found and read about Steve Jobs teenage marriage with Chrisann Brennan, out of which they had a daughter named Lisa Brennan Jobs. Initially, he disowned her and denied to pay any child support. However, later the father and daughter reconnected in 1992 and spend vacations together.

However, his publicly known marriage was the one with Laurene in 1990, to whom he was married for 20 years, their three children and a fourth child from a previous relationship. He spent increasingly more time with his son Reed and daughters Erin and Eve. His then-teenage daughter Lisa also joined the family.

Steves Houses:

Steve bought his Palo Alto home in the mid-1990s, after his marriage with Laurene. The house is the British country style, it fits beautifully with the rest of this quiet neighborhood — and certainly does not stand out as the house of a high-tech/media mogul. Steve lives here with his wife Laurene and his three kids Reed, Erin and Eve, who were all raised there

From people who have seen it, the house is lightly furnished, but much more so than Steve’s Woodside mansion during his bachelor days.

His illness and Last days:

Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004. After surgery he returned to Apple, but had to take another leave of absence in 2009, ultimately undergoing a liver transplant. He took his final leave of absence in January 2011.

In August, he formally resigned as CEO. “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come,” Jobs said in a letter addressed “to the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community.”

However, on 5th October, 2011, the co-founder of Apple Inc, one of the world’s great entrepreneurs, was surrounded by his wife and immediate family when he died in Palo Alto, California.