The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, is one of the best sellers in many countries. Randy Pausch was professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US. At the age of 46, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and he learnt that he could survive only for a few months.
Pausch gave his last lecture on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University. His lecture became a popular YouTube video across the globe. He did not speak about cancer or his suffering in the lecture. Instead, he spoke about overcoming obstacles, realising all dreams and experiencing every moment of life.
Later, he co-authoured a book titled The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, with Jeff Zaslow, a columnist with The Wall Street Journal. It became a best seller in many countries. So far it has been translated into more than 40 languages including Kannada. Paush passed away on July 25, 2008, when he was 47. He is survived by wife Jai Pausch and three children.
Umesh, who works in the Human Resources department of a software company in Mysore, has sold over 4,000 Kannada copies of his book, priced at Rs 100 per copy (228 pages). Besides, he distributed the copies to cancer patients admitted to Bharat Cancer Hospital in Mysore. This month he will visit RS Patil Cancer Hospital in Hubli for the same purpose.
Umesh got the idea to bring an audio version of the book after giving a talk on his book on radio. Many visually handicapped and aged people called him up to express their unhappiness over not being able to read the book.
Actor Ramesh Aravind, in a newspaper interview, referred to the book as the best book he had read in the recent past. Umesh contacted Ramesh with the proposal of the audio book. The actor readily accepted to work.
The audio book (CD) will be given along with the book as a gift. The recording will be done next week. Umesh said, “I would be satisfied even if the audio book increases life span of cancer patients at least by 15 or 30 minutes”.