I picked up ‘the Last Lecture‘ when I saw it at the stores. My weekly visits to the bookstores helps me catalogue the books that I intend to pick on my subsequent visits, ‘the last lecture’ however seemed something that I might have wanted to read, but wasn’t really sure if I wanted to add them to my list of books on psychology. When I finally picked it up and started reading, what intrigued me most is the tremendous influence that the book and ‘the last lecture’ itself was laying. One man influenced for good, is a big achievement and here we are talking about millions. Even if it sticks for a few moments, I believe it comes back again when the time is ripe. On Jul 25, when I started reading it I looked for the videos on YouTube and saw some. I wondered if after influencing millions Randy Pausch is still alive? I googled again. No news is good news, I assumed that he must have helped himself pull a little longer; in any case that doesn’t matter because he was at the moment doing what he wanted to do, not waiting for death with ‘horror eyes’.

Today Jul 27, I wanted to check out what www.alice.org was all about. Fairly convinced, I went on to the website of CMU to check what was going on in the department of Computer Science and the headlines read,

In Memoriam:
Randy Pausch, Innovative Computer Scientist at Carnegie Mellon,
Launched Education Initiatives, Gained Worldwide Acclaim for Last Lecture

I read on to learn that he had died of complications in Pancreatic Cancer on the 25th July morning, around the moment I started reading the book.

My attempt to write this isn’t a homage, but a celebration on the principles Randy stood for. ThoughI have never met him, I guess the little TRUTH that I know he stood for is why i want to contribute in spreading ‘the Last Lecture’. He lectured as an artisan, I write as an artisan, and there will be innumerable moments when I will quote him, time and again, because this man wasn’t a person in flesh, but an idea, the primal wants that is contagious and everybody who stands for it, will remember ‘What is my life for?’