I was there where he was today.

There are a few personalities that I have always wanted to meet. Cameroon Diaz, Angelina Jolie figured quite highly. So too are Pele and Bill Gate.

This morning I was fortunate to have been there where he was. Bill Gate was speaking to the business leaders in Dubai. On a chilly morning, he brought warmth and energized everyone with his passion and conviction about what he loves best - IT and Philanthropy. There was an occassional humour, and for a man declared as the wealthiest, he was disarmingly simple and charmingly humble. His hair was swept across his 'invaluable skull' as if being blown by his brain waves. His glasses huge and seemingly old-fashion, his suit does not look as crispy as the guy who introduced him and his neck tie was way too high above his belt. With the same simplicity, he spoke using common people's language about how he envision the next decade - even I actually understood IT and its' futuristic trends and promises.
He introduced 'surface' where every desk-top will be a computer as opposed to every desk top will have a computer. According to the man himself, Surface will be the next big exciting thing. He spoke about how gadgets will get cleverer, recognising voices as their commands as opposed to key-boards. And because he was Bill Gates, the audience believed although most of what he said actually sounded like science fiction......

Sitting there in the audience, for a fleeting moment my mind took me back to an evening at a friends house here in Dubai. The friend has a collection of records - "piring hitam' as people of my generation called them. Upon seeing one of those, Luqman said, "That is the biggest CD I have ever seen". We broke out laughing - much to his confusion as to why would a bunch of adults laughed at an innocent remark from him. Indeed, the generation of i-pod kids would have no way of knowing some of those things unless they visit museums.

While listening to Bill gate describing the future - I had flashes of the past like a slide-show being replayed. Little wonder that he is the richest man on earth and I am not. He thinks forward while I prefer to rewind the good ole' days.

He spoke with refreshing optimism - one well grounded on his past successes. One of the challenges he said, is to bring technology not only to the rich and 'have-lots' but also to the poor and 'have-nots'. And he told all of us he will be spending full time on 'Bill Gates Foundation'. Bravo Mr. Gate......!

Today I saw the richest man on earth. I listened to him and applauded for what he has achieved and applauded even louder for the future he envisioned.

And thank you organizers for throwing in a generous spread of buffet lunch at the end of the conference.

And if you think you are a smart as Bill Gate, then try this one out! If you can figure out how it works.....let me know.

(Pictures taken with N95 ).