My Life As It Comes

Goodbye fellas!

2013-05-14T02:27:00.001+05:30

5 ridiculous years have gone by. Come'on 5 freaking years!! This ain't a movie.

Closing this blog permanently as I get on a professional journey with rocket speed.
Moving to http://jagan.me

If you have enjoyed any of my previous posts, thankyou. If you have left any comments, great. They mean a lot. If you are wondering what happened to 'my story' - here's one quick note & final update.

End of the story. I moved on.

Goodbye fellas.

She said an 'Yes' and...

2012-02-16T02:20:00.001+05:30

She nodded 'yes', smiled, signaled a 'thumbs up', slowly wished me a Happy Valentines Day and..

------------------------------- * ------------------ * ----------------------------------

On the early morning of 14th Feb, I parked the bike under a tree near her house.. and was waiting to see her.. In the winter season, at around 6 in the morning in a little breezy chilling weather I was walking along the width of the road multiple times to and fro. I had no sleep on the night before as I drove down from Hyderabad all the way to see her.

She was doing the rangoli in front of her gate and saw a bike parked at that time outside on the road - at the tree opposite. She stood up, looked around and we saw each other at a distance. It has been more than 3 years I spoke to her.. and her appearance there was a little surprise though I was expecting it and the purpose of being there was to see her. For some reason, I didn't even smile. I was looking sharp into her eyes, questioning her and trying to show my anger. It was as if the time halted for few moments. I was expecting her to go in. But to my amusement, she smiled and signalled a 'thumbs up' as a sign of appreciation.

Goosebumps. Knowing her a little but for sure in the aspect of me, it couldn't believe it. I looked around right and left, to actually realize and get shocked that she actually wished me and she meant an 'Yes!'. I was happy, smiling and punching thee fist in air. Some one seemed to observe us from the 1st stair of the balcony of the opposite house of hers. As I was watching her at a distance with a confused mind, she smiled again, waved the hand and before she left in, silently wished me a Happy Valentines day.

------------------------------- *---------------------*--------------------------------

... and I looked at the time in my mobile. It has hit 11:30 am. Cursed the day. There's still an hr and half more for my office. Played few songs on the mobile and tried to sleep again. And before I left to the office,

PS: Thankfully, the dream didn't end in a bad note. In reality, my only two attempts few years ago were disastrous and left a nightmare.

Summary 2011 - A roller coaster ride!

2012-01-05T02:24:00.000+05:30

I decided to update blog after exactly 9 months and here it is. I was reading my own Summary 2010 , Memories 2009 and thought to continue it, possible for every year hereafter! As I didn't blog much this year, it's tough to recollect the exact dates or moments. Tried my best.

January:
12:00 Midnight. Pulled out my stunning bike.. The unregistered with "I'm my own Boss" demon is out to scare the shit out of people.
This is the greeting that we (Mohan) did. The business never saw the light of the day.
Sent papers to get Qshark Technologies LLP registered.
Came to Hyderabad to attend an interview. Seeing the crowd in BoA, the percentage bar to get in got 1st round got raised and I was not allowed in. Cursed the employers there and came off.

My Mom rocked again! She called her landline at 10PM to wish her a happy b'day! :D

February:
After hours of Skype conversations with Mohan and arguments with the company that's handling our company's registration - we finally got all the approval papers.
Wore a red shirt for feb 14th and sat in home watching all that nonsense in TV(have been doing the same for years).

Planned for a game project and even posted our first job opening for 3D animators.
Hours of Skype brainstorming sessions again.

March:
Started hunting for a rental house via Sulekha, olx and quickr. Research for a better payment gateway continued. Got quotes from leading providers and finally chose Ebs. Mohan placed our first order at AliBaba - a lot (50items) of tiny solar car toys.
This packet is still unopened and is lying somewhere dusted in my house.

April:
I came off to Hyderabad. Did freelance content writing often to make a living. The hunt for a place to live and possible run a small home office continued.

May:
Got the paper work done (VAT, CST taxation) to establish an ecommerce store - IdleBazaar.
Dealt with the suppliers, computer peripheral resellers, few rounds to CTC, Ingram and Aramex.
Applied for a payment gate for NamesNanny (domain registration and webhosting).
Kept on waiting for the access and hating the paper work needed for these stuff. Fingers crossed.

Nothing materialized. We are getting more impatient as the monthly expenses are souring with no measurable output. And on one instance when the content work for one of our own sites was pending, I heard this - "Jagan, my expenses went up to 1lakh ever since we came to Hyderabad. If you think you do not want to contribute or cannot, tell me. I shall get it done by some other. You may resign"

True, I'm aware of that and I completely understand it. But I still wonder, can the "investment" of money to reach a goal, a dream be called an expense? Chairs, a PC, cooler, rental advance, payment gateway setup, registration formalities everything counted in that "expense". Strangely, my share of $500 and other expenses completely missed the place. I never spoke a word about it till today. And I write this to have a record for myself.

June:
Still, committed to the dream of becoming an Entrepreneur and never wanting to get back to a lifeless job, I stayed to contribute. As none of our planned products went live (there were over a dozen concepts - half of which got abandoned after coding for an hour or two), I had nothing much to do. I ain't a coder.
I seriously decided to learn RoR (Ruby on Rails) and sat for few uninterrupted nonstop hours to get the basics started. I woekd for few hours and all of sudden,

"Jagan, this is not the time for RoR. PHP would be better" ;
"But RoR is unique skillset"

"There are no jobs(online) or projects for that"
"Why not? Slideshare and few others in oDesk, Elance"

"But there are thousands for PHP"
"And millions compete there"

Completely irritated he - "We are here not to waste time. Any sane person during the fight for existence goes along with the wind. Not against. We are struggling here. Would slideshare hire you? Look at oDesk and the number of quick php jobs you can find there." With the intensity of these lines, I could sense that he's thinking in the financial terms and I'm on the weaker side.

I could not speak. The next few hours went in silence. It's during those life changing moments, I decided to do a job again. It's one of the two best decisions taken. The other is leaving the company I co-founded.

Made the resume ready. Uploaded to Naukri.
Got two calls in 2 days. Attended both interviews in 3days. Got selected in both companies.
One is Google (as yet another content writer) and the other is a kickass job role in an internet startup company. Chose the later and joined the next day. Being a close follower of startups and with entrepreneurial thoughts in similar lines, an early stage internet startup appealed to be the right choice for me than the brand Google.

July:
I was in office with hell lot of work - product launches, promotion, branding, customer experience.
Got a call. Cut short, the abstract -
"If today is not the day, I will go home tomorrow and send you the papers by my person. I will never return. Sign them off and Goodbye to you. We aren't friends anymore."
It was all for a very petty reason.

Surprised and shocked, I pinged back to my CEO for permission (loads of pending work) and ran back(literally) home. All along the way, I was still thinking of what could go wrong? I was walking fast (lost in thoughts and forgot that I could actually board a bus or an auto. A friend borrowed my Bike) - The entire work of the past six months flashed before my eyes., the vision, the dream and love of owning and running a company, our collective efforts, the projects we planned.. and the future of the company.. everything. I was kind of getting sad knowing that a dream is shattering.

Now, as I write I'm still surprised why I was so attached with it. I should have let it go on the very same day.

August:
Giri came to Hyderabad and is sharing our flat. He has been a wonderful friend of mine for the past 13years and it's been repeatedly proven everyday. I owe a lot to him for his patience and being able to bear with the lazy me.
Eat - Sleep - Office
Weekend movies

September:
Eat - Sleep - Office
Weekend movies

October:

Eat - Sleep - Office
Weekend movies
RIP Steve Jobs

Would anyone "delete" their own personal email address completely? - It happened!

November:
"Jagan, do you have a passport?", asked my CEO. I got surprised and acted cool. I would get it in Tatkaal, was my immediate reply. That said, for the next 6weekends I kept on roaming back to hometown, to MRO office, to SP office, to our old house, to SP bunglaw and the 6weekend (min Dec) to Vizag regional passport office.

Learnt that there's something named Sandwitch leave which cuts off the salary even on weekends if Friday and Monday are taken as leaves. That's a total of 4 days loss of pay!

December:
Satya left off to Bangalore for a 3months project. He's another close friend and we share lot of common interests and philosophy. We covered almost every movie during the past 6 months. My facebook friends know it better. SRnagar CCD became a routine spot and thankfully to Gopal, all we 4 covered most Snapdeal restaurants :D

Finally, got the passport in Tatkaal. That itself is an achievement!
Waited for 31st and had a great party night!
The next day was when I officially quit Qshark.
Left a status message in fb regarding the same tagging my close friends involved.

2012 should be the year, and this time the journey is all alone.

PS: Life has taught me some good lessons for the year. It has been a roller coaster ride all through with some unexpected awesome surprises.

And the dream chased!

2011-04-05T10:05:00.001+05:30

The dream came true. The hope lasted true and fruitful.
It took 6 Worldcup efforts and more than 20years since you started dreaming about this cup for India.
You did it Sachin.

For the effort,
For the quest for runs,
For the unprecedented talent,
For the invincible dedication you have,
A standing applause, a salute, a bow, and what could more be done.

You stand as one of the most powerful icons of ~~India~~ the World.
You are an idol, a constant motivation and inspiration of a billion souls like me.

May you play cricket for many years to come and be part of many next Worldcups.
With pride, I would tell the next generations that I belong to Sir Sachin Era.

Movies and Me - 2010

2011-01-30T09:29:00.000+05:30

Posted this in my facebook album long ago. Here's a quick update at my blog.

PS: After watching movies in a spree in 2010, drastically reduced them in 2011.

Summary 2010 - As it was

2011-01-09T23:48:00.000+05:30

For the entire 2009, there was a summary post of my life (A glimpse of my life and love - Memories 2009 ) and then I decided to make summary posts of every year for as long as I blog. And here's another delayed brief post in that series.

January:
12:00 midnight and I was in the bus. On my return journey from Hyderabad to Tanuku. Recollected that I was roaming on the roads same time an year ago by then and slept. The first hit of the year was on Jan 4th evening during the only call that had some conversation between us. It blew my mind to a very severe extent. Took few days to get back to my normal self. Was at the airport to give send-off to two of my best friends who got admin in UK universities. Later, her b'day followed.

February:
Was happy to see my idol perform the double century stunt live. One of the best memories I wish not to forget ever. Started disliking the environment at office.

March:
Resigned my job. Sent the letter. Blogged the same. Shocked many :D

April:
After the last working day, was out of my job. Retired!?

May:
Summer at Hyderabad was hot, boring and nothing special. Spent the days at hostel. Tried hard to find a institute that teaches Ruby on Rails. Failed.

June:
There was a strategical affiliate move for Heroehost and it rocked!

July:
Tried learning RoR. #failed. 'll give it a shot later.
Our hosting business boomed! :)

August:
I started my freelance works online again and shifted back to my hometown, Tanuku. Working at my own comfort rocks!

September:
Things started to move quick. I became a virtual assistant for a full month to a client in Singapore. The burden of running a hosting business has been growing tremendously. Our business has a solid reputation for the customer and tech support we offer and at no point we like to lose it. Heroehost grew on the pillars of extended free round the clock support. The single aim of customer satisfaction with unmatched quality of services drove the business to $35k annual revenue in a span of 18months. But running 24x7 support system for customers has been real tough with just 3 people on board.\m/

October:
Sold my business to a UK hosting company which is being in similar business for more than 9 years. At the time when most of my friends had no good job, we (I and Mohan) are proud that we started a biz, made a profit and sold it to begin another entrepreneurship venture together. Who ever says we need experience to get into business, our heroehost proved them all wrong. With a total investment of not more than $200 per head, we pulled $10k with that. That's an inspirational story for many! :D Bought a bike (Yellow Apache RTR160), didn't roam much.

November:
Spent the days in the most laziest way possible. No biz, no content writing, no coding and no freelancing. Diwali isn't special even this year. :P
Got the sticker on the number plate of my bike - I'm my own Boss in full visible letters. I have no intentions of registering my bike in any near time future unless I plan to move off from Tanuku. The purchase of the new bike and the bold quote behind it made people around shut their mouths with no long bugging me or my parents about questions with what I do or when would I got back to Hyd.

December:
Turned lazy like hell. The most relaxed and time killing days of the entire year. Never felt so boredom in years. Learned html5/css3 and developing wordpress themes. Tutsplus tutorials are great! Started again with php. :)

PS: ditto of the same old postscript.

Wish you happy new year 2011

2011-01-01T03:19:00.000+05:30

At 3 in the morning of 01/01/2011, I sit here to wish you all a very happy new year. In fact, the intentions are little different along with the new year wishes.

It is to announce to you all, that idlebazaar would soon go live and I like to share with you all regarding this.

We (I & Mohan, partner/friend HeroeHost) have sent papers for company registration, need to apply for current account after that, VAT/cst registration, payment gateway setup and other marketing stuff.

Merry Christmas to all my blog readers

2010-12-25T23:47:00.001+05:30

Special Diwali - All over again!

2010-11-05T23:56:00.000+05:30

Diwali 2008:

Life was like, "I get everything I wish for".
Those were the best days of my life especially as our friendship was blooming.
Here is something that made the diwali special for that year - Click to read.
The very next day she knew that I was near her residence.

An year later,
Diwali 2009:

A 360 degree turn. I was in Hyderabad. I fetched a new job and it was not even a week by then. I decided to make a call to her and share my happiness. Alas, she wouldn't speak with me.

Me: Hello
She: Yes. Who's that?

Me: Hi, yeah. Is it ______ ? Can I speak to her?
She: Yes. Who's that?

Me: Hi, yeah. I'm calling from Albright consultancy. Are you interested to study abroad in US, UK, etc. ?
She: No.
/* She sensed it was me by this time. I was prepared to hear an 'Yes' as I knew she was preparing to take the GRE. Hearing the least expected 'no' for the question, I had to immediately use my little commonsense and continue the conversation.*/

Me: Can you please share details of any of your friends who might be inte...
She: Will you just shut up!?

Me: haha. You got it! Wish you happy Diw..
Bang!

Life was like - "It sucks".
I didn't call back. I was disappointed. It had had been more than an year and she still hated me. There were many random questions in my mind which ruined the entire festival mood and my happiness for obtaining a job.
For one reason, I was happy. She recognized my voice in the very first line though it was the first time I spoke to her over phone.

An year later,
Today, Diwali 2010:

A 360degree turn again! I resigned my job. I'm back in home carrying a tag myself as a 'freelancer'. Bought a new Apache RTR160 yellow a week ago, bought a new pair of dress, did a clean shave, cleaned the bike, bought the crackers and I was all set ready for the festival.

Nothing changed. I parked the bike at the same place I did two years ago, walked with the same old friend, through the same old streets and during the same interval and duration of time. Memories flashed. I was smiling and walked around for hours.

Life is like, "I get everything I wish for - except her".

PS: Heard a great news today. She got placed in a very reputable MNC. :)

Why should I ?

2010-10-23T03:12:00.000+05:30

I do not know what I have attained all through these months and years. I do not even know what's in store for me in the future. Being very optimistic isn't any easy thing and staying with such high confidence levels when everything seems blur has to be appreciated. I appreciate myself. I pride myself.

It's been 6 months and I have been spending days busy - almost doing nothing. For the people around me, I seem to work hard all day and night, but it isn't true. The best is yet to come. I need put my 24hours of time in a day to proper use and I'm not doing it. I hardly work 2 hours a day!

There's a strong desire within me that motivates me constantly to achieve 'something'. I dream big, really big infact. Now it's time I convert that something to 'this thing'. As a selfnote and a reminder to myself I write this.

I do not generally have the habit of announcing my plans or how I spend a day to someone who does not believe IN me. Most people do not actually know how I make a living. And when I say I earn online the next dumb request would be, "Would you please tell me how?". To almost everyone who asked me that I did tell them my sources.

One major problem in this lonely journey is the lack of concentration. Rather I call it lack of 'necessity' and a constant question within myself, "Why should I?". After some not choo chweet experiences with life, there isn't anything that makes me do a thing and the vice versa too holds truly good.

These questions within me like, "Why should I?", "For whom should I?", "Why do I need to?", "For the sake of whom?" have been posing a serious threat to my dreams, career, future or whatever.

I need to wipe them off. I now see two options:
1. Move on. There's a bright future coming.
2. Fix a date in future. Have a clear vision. Work on it. Hope for the best. This comes along with a fear of refusal.

With the word 'hope' in mind, for sure I cannot opt for the first. I have been turning more materialistic. Not in the presence, attitude or mind. But at the heart and soul. It is these questions that made be get ready to face the tag 'attitude problem guy'. I do not have regrets over anything that happened. Or at least I try and succeed to make myself believe that I do not really regret my personal life.

Most of the people around me are anxious and curious enough to hear my failure. I'm sure many many would enjoy the news of my failed career rather their own success. I strive to disappoint them all.

PS: Goodbye Heroehost. It is sold for a sum of about five digit US dollars.

PPS: Thus the rise of Sofmatix.

Last day in Hyderabad

2010-08-17T15:00:00.000+05:30

Finally, I determined to leave Hyderabad. The city of pearls, traffic, pollution, silicon and unemployed youth. I'm not leaving this city for any other bigger or 'money making' place. I'm going back home.

When I ~~resigned~~ kicked off my job in a well esteemed company, there were multiple reactions from different kinds of people who managed to get a share of my time.

1. TL called it on my 'aggressive' behaviour and blamed my 'age', not me.
2. HR wished I would 'learn life' and 'adjust' accordingly as I progress.
3. PM maintained his 'had-to' smile. He knew it well by then, any single gesture of his 'specialized character' would make things worse.

Everyone wished me heartily and it's so nice of all three of them.
Colleagues said I rocked. Friends said I didn't care anything in life. Relatives said I should have worked longer for an 'experience'. Online pals got surprised. Few shocked and rolled down laughing. Parents confused. Me cool.

Three months flew away from my life after this. During this time,
I found no Ruby on Rails professional to guide me in becoming a developer. I have been doing all the somersaults with a RoR textbook, online manuals, screencasts and video tutorials. I gave up that task temporarily and shifted to php. Learned the basics and in the mean time continued working as a freelancer writer and lead my ~~footsteps~~ fingers on keyboard towards becoming a SEO specialist.

Meanwhile HeroeHost has also been performing tremendously well in the recent weeks with orders floating, increase in demand for our VPS (Virtual Private Servers) which made us to roll two more new dedicated servers. The revenue forecast has hit to few tens of hundreds of dollars. So, it required more attention from us. I shelved even php to help in rolling out a new design and monthly action plans for HH.

Thus, there's nothing to do staying in Hyderabad. I also need to plan for my higher studies. MBA is my dream degree and I have very few options for that and I need to finalize on someone. Last week I got an offer from one of my old clients to work full time for him. $500 is the pay. 6hrs/day and 5days/week. Happily accepted and booked the ticket for home immediately.

The last day was nothing much special. Met the person who guided us for main project during btech, who also owns Sankethika IT solutions Pvt Ltd. Chatted for some 3hrs about my future plans, his web dev works, trends in internet marketing, search engine optimization, domain, my hosting, content creation and VA businesses.
Later that day, met my best friend Satish. Few more hours with him in the 'Stop -n- Go' bakery with a better pizza variety this time and more fun. The sitting spot just outside ICICI bank was a daily meeting point and a landmark for us for many months.

Giri, Sagar, Ravi, Venkatesh, Satish all accompanied me till the bus stop for a send-off while it rained heavily. Sagar and Ravi got heavily drenched. Lots of fun again. Made few good friends in the hostel I stayed and my stay there was 'all happies'. I wish to stay in touch with Sagar for many years to come.

PS: "On my way to shopping I just saw 'her' crossing the road here at Mythrivanam signal", was the call I received from Satish on the next day.

What am I doing these days?

2010-05-24T15:53:00.000+05:30

Life's free and I'm enjoying it. Now that I'm all free, I decided to kill time on the things that otherwise would not be possible with a day job.

So, what's happening in my life these days?

1. Roaming on the roads looking at every~~one~~ thing possible. ;) Longest being 16kms around Hussain Sagar which ended up with Avatar 3D in Imax. I love to spend my time in silence and explore and analyze myself and try to know where or with whom the problem is. Utter time wastage thing that I still love to.

2. Watching movies and mostly on release days. Betting Bangar Raju, Prasthanam, Simha, RRKK, Chalaki and Kites, to name a few and with Vedam and Panchakshari in queue, there can be no better example of how good movie freak I'm. My vote to Prasthanam among all these movies. Fantastic movie.

3. Staying up awake late in the night or even till the Sunrise sometimes and sleeping till lunch time. Roaming on the road of Ameerpet-SR Nagar late at midnight all alone. Yeah, I'm not afraid of dark, people and loneliness. I love walking at night and eating ice-cream :D

4. Reading, reading and more reading. I read about 5 tech, news, business and blogging blogs. Food for thought. I even dedicated some time to read novels and cultivate book reading as hobby.

5. Writing business and marketing plans. I love to draft a complete business plans out of a simple, stupid and vague idea. Did some 5 bplans and most of them 'll be launched shortly. All are online ventures :) It all starts with some concept and then a discussion with a friend or two online for hours regarding the possibilities.

6. Where do I get money from with no job? :P I write for a living too. Doing some article writing stuff for clients online and earning few bucks for my extra expenses. I started my own content creation services online - HeroeContent.com

7. Trying to socialize again. Though I reopend my orkut account, I haven't been using it much. I do not know the last time when I logged into facebook. The only place where I regualry update is my twitter account. Recently, I again started to be active in LinkedIn more professionally because I see a tremendous potential to network and grow myself with that site.

8. My Ruby on Rails classes are expected to begin from 1st June. 'll be little more busy from then with 2-3hrs of class, lab and practice. I also have plans to learn someother course inorder not to waste any little time left. Since RoR is a web application development technology, I look at some mobile app development languages as alternatives. I see mobile app development as the next big thing to happen with mobile broadband penetration at tremendous figures in India. So, J2ME or Android app development should fit the need.

With all these things in the list, I still am in search of a right answer when people ask me "What are you doing these days?" The only answer I have is "I'm free" and it makes others feel I'm stupid enough to quit a company and be free and useless. Whatever, I'm prepared for all of that and it doesn't bother me.

Trying to go on the road not taken is not an easy task. Especially the pressure from friends, family, relatives 'll stop most people from attempting. I'm no exception to this, but I chose this only because I have nothing to lose except some of my time which I can happily contribute.

PS: To take a break from all of these, I'm leaving hyderabad for the next 1 week and escaping to my home :)

The last working day

2010-05-05T01:47:00.004+05:30

I pushed my sole into the polished shoe, stood firm with hands in pocket, smiled to my friends in the room conveying that's the last day in silence and started off. I was already late to my office by an hour then. No signs of rush within me, I boarded the bus. I know I got relieved officially from office and some other person has occupied my seat. I passed all the charge and responsibilities to him the other day. And with more than 2 weeks training him personally one-one, I have had done my best to see that smooth transition and knowledge transfer takes place. I felt happy. Everything seemed to be going as expected and planned forehand. I had some paper work to get done that day.

Got down, walked all through the lanes of Hi-tech city. Tall, huge and lavish office buildings all around. I know, not if that 'll be the last time I 'll be roaming around that place but certainly the last day to my office. I moved slow, as a habit for the past 3months I called up my mom, shared that it's the last day to the office. Though not very well educated, she knows the current job scenario. She has nothing to speak much in return, but I assured her that her son 'll go places ;) She reciprocated with a smile that boosted some morale within me.

There I entered the office. Scenes of me taking the interview, job offer, first day flashed in my mind. Huhh., a feeling of nostalgia during that time. I generally get stuck with this sort of feeling only when I get reminded myself of my love. But it feels good most times.

The reason for leaving my company certainly does not seem appealing to many, but I still firmly believe in my decision and have no regrets over it. I have no intentions to make them get convinced.

Double check the usage of words before speaking with me. Forget critisizing me, least be your intentions of showing your supremacy over me unless I love you. Unfortunately for you, I know my worth and strength. I do not take things for granted. For as long as I work hard, I do not hesitate to rise my mid finger up in the air in front of the face. Come what may!

Rushed to my floor, system location, 'took permission' of TL to use the system for 10mins and have sent a very decent mail to the entire team for their support during my tenure. Thanked and wished them all the very best whole heartedly. Believe me when I say that I added my PM's id in the 'To' list of that mail :)

Got all my study certificates and 6months service certificate too. Felt happy all over again. I already got prepared for the worse to happen and was even ready with the answer

"Let me know now if you (hr guys) have any plans to hold my certificates and make me run around for 1-2 months. I 'll arrange a bus pass for myself."

But no person in the hr dept spoke a word. Who loves to carry headache with them? ;)
Few weeks ago, the HR promised me that I 'll be sent will all due respect if leaving the company was my decision and he lived up to it. I called up my Dad and shared the happiness. Met my collegues and a chitchat for 1-2mins, bid adieu for all of them including PM, got back to my previous team, spoke with the person who recruited me to see if he regretted hiring me. He wished me and so the PM of that team who was helpful and contributed for the viral fwd of my resignation letter. I could not thank him enough ;)

PS: "Being jobless in life is not all that bad than being in lifeless job" - Jagan. Woah! kudos to me :D

How not to handle a resignation gracefully

2010-04-26T04:00:00.000+05:30

It's been long I have written something. My previous 2-3posts including my resignation letter has grabbed unexpected, unintended and unworthy heck of traffic and visits from my ~~own~~ company (should I call it ex ?). So, I had to be extra cautious with the words I pen down here and strive to be MORE diplomatic.

Well, I'm not here to brag about my resignation or get into the shoes of a PM or HR and make things work. Least is my idea on taking PR classes about how to behave with the subordinates and the employees working under, keeping away the itch that naturally gets with a decade plus experience under the butt.

Here is something interesting I wish to keep track of or rather share with my readers that now grew from various students across the state to employees of various organizations and even startup dreamers (count me in).

I follow 10s of tech news and blog sites each day and read a lot over internet that ranges from my tech blogs, reviews, business and startup articles and anything that I feel can quench my thirst for knowledge. I recently came through an article at TechCrunch (1,378,688 tweet followers) that read "How not to handle a resignation gracefully". -

April 20, 2010
Resignation
Jason Calacanis at his finest.
I should note, that instead of responding, he instead removed my email account. Real pro of him. Good thing I forwarded it to myself first :P
Begin forwarded message:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Evan Culver
Date: Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: Resignation
To: jason@calacanis.com
Really?
What is your deal? I will ultimately *have* to come back to Mahalo to pick up my things. Why so rash, what is your rationale? This seems really unprofessional and when other developers and employees see this, it just makes them want to leave ASAP. Is it really that big of a deal that people find better things for them than Mahalo?

On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:19 PM, wrote:
Evan,
Don’t come back to the office, do not email the team list.
Elliot will send you paperwork tomorrow. Today was your last day.
Good luck being employee 4,367 at a dying company.
Horribly disappointed in you.
J
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

From: Evan Culver
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:48:37 -0700
To: Jason Calacanis; Jacob Burch; Jeff Ammons
Subject: Resignation
Hey guys,
This isn’t an easy email to write, but as the subject suggests, this email is to inform you of my resignation from Mahalo effective in 2 weeks. An amazing opportunity came out of nowhere that I just couldn’t say no to. I’ll be writing code as a UI engineer at and contributing to the open-source project on a full-time basis.
I’ve never worked with such a great team and learned so much in such a short period of time. I owe all of it to the opportunity you’ve given me, Jason and I thank you immensely for that. Jeff and Jacob, you guys are amazingly brave for tackling such a great undertaking. I’m impressed you do it with seemingly such ease. Many people would fail quickly in your shoes and I applaud you for your leadership in such a fast-paced environment and against such great odds.
I certainly won’t be going far (), so I hope to continue a lasting relationship and hope that we all can work together sometime in the future.
Thanks again,

The comments that appeared for this article at TechCrunch are more appealing. This article (328+ comments ) in Techcrunch (millions of vists each month, 45,000+ fans in facebook) will definitely make things tough for Mahalo ($21 M in funding) and its current CEO in charge.

The email conversations were most devastating. It's most surprising for me. I cannot really say if Evan did the right job sending the same conversation to Techcrunch to publish. But this is something that makes the investors and VCs at Mahalo put serious thoughts about their money. With 300+ anti-Jason comments on this article currently, it is going to do no good for the company.

Here's my take on the whole incident.
1. Jason will never fit to be a boss. Employees hate him for sure.
2. Evan sending this conversation to TechCrunch is more unprofessional. Is this a career suicidal act?
3. Except that this conversation got published in TC, there's NO wrong with Evan's decision and the way he wrote the letter. He's more polit but definitely got pissed off with the reply and thus fwd it to TC.

Now, do not link me to my previous posts pointing out the same ;) , this is a personal blog and should I head you towards the disclaimer of this blog?

PS: Resignations and firing offs happen in every company across the globe, the winning difference is the way you handle your employees till the last working day and thereafter.

Life's in a transition process

2010-04-12T00:51:00.003+05:30

Guys, I thank you for all the support and love you have shown on me when I declared my job resignation. It's quite surprising for me when I received more comments via tweets, buzz and gtalk IMs "Congratulating" me for my decision. You are more confident on me than the confidence levels I have on me. As said in my previous posts, it did take some super hard brain storming, determination and courage indeed.

All that I have is a crystal clear dream now. I do not want to declare anything unless I finalize, plan and start out. 'll update a post here about "What's NEXT?" in couple of weeks. I'm thinking of getting back to my native place, do freelancing for couple of months, learn Ruby on Rails well and if possible join in MBA.

PS: Life is never easy. There's no fun if it is.

I Quit - My job resignation letter

2010-03-26T00:43:00.006+05:30

It's quite true that I hate doing this job for the work culture, job role, shift timings, pay package and everything. So, I decided to quit the job and here's an outstanding mail (my colleagues said so) that I have sent to my project manager who is currently in US.

I'm very much self esteemed and has huge love on myself. I do not tolerate if someone tries to degrade me in any sort of action. It is one of the reasons for quitting my job.
.
I was counter offered a higher role, responsibilities of taking care of other new team and higher pay than rest of the rest team members. I'm being considered as a top performer in the entire team and my manger is not ready to lose me at this point of time. But still, I have shot this mail to my project manager at point blank. :)

--
Dear ~~name~~ removed ,

I do write this to state to you that I plan to quit this organization. On 11th march I have intimated to Sama directly and to you over phone call about my plans on no longer continuing to work here.

I'm 21 now and I possess an aTTiTude like "I can win anything in the World". I'm highly optimistic, self motivating and terrifically confident. This job doesn't suit me and I do not like the work I'm doing here. So, I plan to quit the company. I believe my skills are much worth than this job requires. Let time teach me if I'm wrong and I'm ready to take the risk of being jobless for my passions and the principles I believe in.

I cannot give my 100% contribution as I do not like this job. I'm not ready to work my ass off for 12-20-30 hrs a day. The longer I work here, the more I hate my job and life - Beware, I can magically influence people around me. I cannot hold my tongue and more importantly as of now, I'm not interested to work for someone.

The above reasons well fit in as answers for your lines,
"If your are not interested, tell me so that I can plan in advance",
"If you cannot give 100% contribution or cannot hold your tongue, quit",
"Go to your homes and from tomorrow onwards you need not come back", and
"Go back to your respective systems, pack your luggage, go to ~~so-and-so~~ (hr) and tell him that ~~name~~ has sent you". And few others I hear from ~~TL name~~.
Enough of this.

Please let me know when you want me to meet Prashant and get my certificates.When you are so prepared for these things to happen, I do not think that my resignation is a surprise for you.

There's no fun and happiness here in this job. And I cannot stay in these environments.I want to try something different, be faster in career, do the things that I always love to do, take adventures and have all the fun and freedom in making stupid things and enjoy in the process of either winning or losing. I love to travel, code and write (you read it right) and be my own boss. I may opt for higher studies.

For the kind of attitude and skills I have, I do not fit in this job and thankfully, I realized it in the earlier stages. Please arrange a buffer resource ASAP. I assure to you that I work on successful knowledge transfer during the transition process.

I just do not want to burn any bridges behind when I leave this company.

I plan to retire at 22. 14th April is my B'day and I turn 22 :)
Wish me good luck for all my future endeavors.

Thanks,
Jagan

PS: I'm on all my senses writing this, no offense meant whatsoever and no office timings/resources are utilized for thinking or typing this.
--

The decision is still pending and I'm not sure if my PM will accept this or not. He's behaving like nothing has happened between us. But all the calls for the past one week with him are more pleasantry and he's trying to hold his tongue and controlling his irritation with the team and especially with me. I sensed it :D

PS: The best part is, I have sent this mail to the wrong person by mistake and he indeed forwarded it to my proj manager.

The graveyard shifts and my job hatredness

2010-03-05T06:01:00.001+05:30

One of the most common and highly rated reason for which I hate my job is working in the night shifts, lovingly called Graveyard shifts.

Though I personally have no issues working in 24x7 environment, I feel my health f**ed up working this hard at very odd timings with no proper food and sleep. Since this is a pilot project, I have been working for some very good time all the night in the office which in turn makes me hate my job as I'm not at all enjoying doing this.

Internet has come to my house in the year 2006 and broadband by the end of 2007. Since then until recent days, I never felt any unease staying awake at nights or 24x7 and working before PC in odd hours. The striking difference I find then and now is, I used to work on PC then for gaining knowledge and for my dream to launch a firm and for the other bIgggg dreams :) But now, the scenario is quite a lot different. Working for someone, for few little bucks and a job that has no interest in itself made me dislike this. And a hatred towards the night shifts has also grown.

I'm desperately waiting for a moment where I can get the courage to take a decision to quit the job, come out of this so-called secure corporate life and I wanna run behind my passions. Given some time, mental strength and money, I quit.

Considering my confidence levels, the wide network I have across Globe and the online domain knowledge I posses, I believe success comes my way through my efforts if I start off. But for few unknown and uncertain reasons, I'm stuck. To save enough money and gain practical experience are two of them.

The only two things for which I will ever be thankful to my job is,
1. For the value of punctuality and time management it taught me.
2. The corporate mindset and the human relations factor.
3. Hardwork. No kidding :P

All the above 3 factors are really going to help me in my future endeavors and will play a key role in my life ahead.

The problem with this corportate life is, we get easily adjusted to draw the monthly pay however small or big it might be and to the routine weekends which inturn makes us belive this is what life is.

PS: I have been reading employee motivation articles. lol.

Sir Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

2010-02-25T21:02:00.000+05:30

A pictures speaks a billion hearts sometimes. Was he saying, - "God, you owe me this 200 for the past 20 years. I made it now and Thankyou.'

I'm compiling some quotes that I have read and seen in internet and will publish them soon. #sachinisgod
You may read out an old blogpost I did To you maestro - I bow to thee on the occasion of my hero reaching the highest test run getter in the World with 12000+ runs on 17/10/2008 Read on what happens When Sachin Plays

PS: The title speaks.

Me and My Confidence

2010-02-20T03:59:00.001+05:30

My confidence is one of my greatest strengths. I have amazing confidence levels and sometimes even I wonder at my optimism. My confidence radiates through me and at the first look I generally leave either of the two opinions on me for the people.

1. "He's very confident, he rocks. Yo!"
2. "He's very proud and he's egoistic. Duh!"

Unfortunately, my such a strong mental force makes few think I'm proud on the first note and it takes not much time for them to realize that the attitude is resultant of the confidence and love I have on myself. I'm very optimistic, self loving and highly self esteemed. I command recognition at every place.

Here are some of the ways I look life at and few instances that proved my confidence.

1. I think of selling sand in desert, salt at seashore and tamarind in forest successfully. In my childhood I heard a proverb in Telugu that says, 'One has to sell salt in forest and tamarind at seashore'. Right from then, I have a feeling of, 'What's great in that? Any fool can do the same.'

2. Almost three years ago in my Orkut profile my friend wrote a testimonial that said, "He's made the class representative and I guarantee by the end of his 4 years education there, he will sell off the college." Though nothing such happened, it is kind of opinion my friend has on me regarding my abilities.

3. "The question is not who is going to allow you, but who the hell is going to stop you." - One of my favourite quotes and I forgot who said it. Few other quotes I like are, "Walk not as if you own the road, but as if you do not care who owns it." and "Keep your attitude with yourself. I have mine."

4. Even under proven 99% chances of losing, I fight, I bet and I believe I can make the rest 1% win over anything. I do not think that you can see more people who thinks in parallel to this. I'm such an optimistic fool.

5. I can do almost anything for a challenge. I have very high spirits and do not accept my failure midway, thanks to my skills in the game of Chess. Even if I fail, I say to myself - "I'm defeated, but not lost"

6. With a salary of just 7k take home now, I still believe and aim for launching a firm/company of my own. Being my own boss is something in my To-Do list in lifetime.

7. I really do not like to hear the words, "won't happen.", "impossible", "you cannot", "forget". I strive hard to prove the people who utter those words to me that they are wrong.

8. I consider myself intelligent and at the same time I can accept I do the most foolish and dumbest acts one can ever think of.

PS: I presented the same confidence levels with my HOD in college, during my interview for this job, and unfortunately even in my love life. All the three are disasters.

Are relationships this beautiful?

2010-02-04T06:52:00.008+05:30

Time: Jan 24th 2010 2:15am
Place: International Check-In Terminal,
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport,
Samshabad.

In the silence and in the very very cool hard breeze.., I was standing folding my hands tight to my chest with raised shoulders and was watching...

They both were standing closer facing each other. He cupped her face with his hands. She was in silence looking straight into his eyes. He seemed not to leave her and go but had to leave the country. She was about to cry.. and Mr.Perfect did no mistake. With the hands still cupping her face straight, he stopped the tear even before it came off rolling from the eye lids with his thumb fingers. They both were in silence looking straight into each others eyes.

I expected he would kiss her and in order not to invade their little privacy, I made sure to move two steps behind till the rails blocked me.

With hands still on her cheeks, he kissed her forehead, hugged her, bid a goodbye and walked swiftly through the check-in gate in rush.

I wished she speaks something or at least he. But it was all in silence. It was this silence that created a huge impact on the entire scene that made the scene unforgettable. Such a beautiful and romantic scene.

I really got moved seeing this. I have no words to describe the scene better or the feeling I was with then. Are relationships that great? It would be hardly 2-3years they got married. A young couple. She felt as if he's her life and he too, the same.
I was very happy witnessing that scene, and it made me remember the words that she spoke more than an year ago -

"I value relationships above anything in this World..."

I forgot that I was there to give send off to two of my best buddies in the gang and I had to leave the place and it was an airport and the time was hitting 0230.

I started observing other people as routine and every relation seemed beautiful after that.

He was aged around 80 and walked down with the support of a stick in one hand and probably his son helping him walk holding the other. By looking at them I could make out that someone in his family was going to Dubai for hard labor in the Sun in an attempt to make some money, save and send back to the family so people here at least lead a happy life.

With these two striking scenes in the airport, I felt very happy. I realized how valuable it is to have someone beside you to backup, motivate and pray for you in your hard times.

PS: Love always taught me lessons that I'm trying to live up now.

The most awaited day has come and gone

2010-01-14T13:00:00.001+05:30

For this day, I waited for many months or even for an year around.

There is no other day for which I waited so desperately for this long duration in my life. The day of her b'day. Guessed this day would be one among those few memorable days in life. I know, expectations suck and throw us into a feeling of depression. I know, there should be no sort of expectations but still, life always hopes for the good. Isn't it?

After a recent incident, even knowing that she dislikes me more than anyone on Earth, hates me to the core I couldn't restrain myself from sending a wish and so an apology along with, that fetched no response.

I'm trying to keep myself busy and occupied. Do not want to get into a weak moment and do something stupid for myself. Working on HeroeHost.com, trying to learn Ruby on Rails, browsing stuff, watching movies, sleeping, dreaming BIG, talking with parents much often, working damn seriously with my work in office (no fun intended) - New project - New shifts - New colleagues/friends and more importantly constantly telling to myself

"You are good. Life's good. Nothing happened. If people do not like you it is up to them & no mistake of yours and accept it. You rock. Yes, Yes you rock Jagan! "

Learning the way to drive a car, a foreign language, MBA through correspondence are in my to-do list. May be, 'll postpone the later two.

It is for this day I gathered the phone #, bugged the online friends for some gift ideas that ranged from a ~~apology~~ letter (lol, I have written more of them) to a gold. (Yeh, diamonds are girls best friends). And I finalized on a chocolate. There's always a good thing with chocolate as a gift. A rose can be stamped, any other gift can be thrown down but a girl can hardly say a no to a chocolate and even if she does, you always have a very good option to eat it (lol, you read it right) to take away that feeling of getting rejected from your mind at that time. Chocolates are magical.

Thankfully, there's no holiday for office and so nothing stupid happened :D

The day has come, The day has gone. It 'll come again and I already started waiting for the same day over again!

PS: At least my Mom rocks. She called her and wished without me knowing that :)

A glimpse of my life and love - Memories 2009

2009-12-25T18:09:00.001+05:30

January

00:10am I was in temple! Yeah.. Not in home or on bike or with a beer. As a routine for the past 2years then, I pulled my bike to roam on roads and wished people around a happy new year. This time, I took a chance to see if I can find my love doing some rangoli on road. But failed again for the 2nd time after the diwali in '08. So, I was in temple.

Prayed God vigneswara for a better life for everyone, a btech pass certificate for me, a job if I deserve and some love and smiles to share. He didn't disappoint me in total.

Few more days passed and it's her b'day this month and I didn't realize it was the day. :P

February

My dad ~~took~~ pulled off my bike from me and he started using it thinking I no longer need one. Went to Hyderabad in the name of project. On the v-day I ran back to home. Some misunderstandings with Ashok and an incident we both remember for our lifetimes and feel shame upon.

March

Was back in hyderabad still. Writing supplie exams in 4-2 sucks! There were more tourlbes, more pressure. My studies, careers, love and everything. Lost the trust of everyone and damn, I wanted to get out of the things one after another for that period of time. Took a major step and deleted my orkut account.

April

I was very much stressed out at this point of time after an incident in the center of the college :-/ where I degraded myself. Next was one of the memorable days in my life - April 14th, 2009. It's my b'day and on 13th evening was the college annual day celebrations. Time was ticking to be 12 midnight. She didn't attend the function and with most disappointment, I was still hoping to find her in the crowd and darkness. The clock hit 12:00 midnight. And know what, Satish and Ashok lifted me high up on their shoulders and with screams and shouts in open cold air, they carried me all through to the rear side of the function ground and all my friends started wishing me a happy b'day. Wonderful moments of life! Later we departed. Asked Giri to ride my bike back home(~30kms away) at 1am as I was with a sort of disturbed mind.

Stayed awake and online for 22uninterrupted hours all the day 2am to 12midnight and carried my mobile in my hand not to miss a special call. Though I know pretty well that there are good chances to get disappointed again, hope is what made me to expect a call or a ping.

Voted for LokSatta in the elections - My first vote in life.

May

Celebrated Mother's day for the first time. Wished my mom, took her for shopping and bought her a Saree. It was the day when I took some time to realize how much she loves me.

Got inspired watching this funny video. Earned money online to prove to non that I'm not useless. Launched LyricsWood

June

Completed my B.tech successfully, said a good bye to hi5 and finally told ~~the girl~~ my mom about my love.
Spent the rest of the month thinking about friends and college life and fun.

On 3rd June I along with 2other online friends - Mohan from Nellore and Corey from UK started a webhosting business online. We have been running it successfully and got tremendous customer feedback for the services we offer at the price we charge. It is named HeroeHost

July

Was away to Bengaluru in hunt for a job. Though I particularly have no immediate responsibilities, I committed myself to get a job to that there should be zero chances of rejection from anyside. I do not consider this as a stupid move. But at times I think, why should I do these all and what's the need when there is no response from the other side. But there's hope on my side and so the hunt for a job began in Bangalore.

August

Finally, after me declining very few offers and me getting rejected in many others, I got a job and I joined. I was in desperate need of a job. Not for money, but to let the special one assure that I love her, 'll be settled quick and to ask her to pardon me ( do not ask me why. I'm not sure even :P ). That was the third time I went to a temple in the whole year after my b'day.

September

Called to her phone for the first time even though I have the number for almost an year. Couldn't utter a word properly except my name. I was silent and just wanted to listen something if she speaks. She didn't and I do not remember when the phone line hung itself.

"Do you have any friends?" asked my collegue and it made me sure to quite the job as soon as possible and I did quit in Bangalore. But still, for the blind commitments, I'm in need of working somewhere for someone. So, after making sure that I fetched a job in Hyderabad I quitted the job in Bangalore and joined here in a matter of 3days!

October

Life went on the busy way, in a rapid passion. Dussera and Diwali followed and continued my Idiot-ism (I Do It in my Own Terms ). New job, new place, new friends in room, new colleagues in office.

November

The 3rd memorable day of the year. It was my parents marriage day and all we three were in Tirupati. After a bike accident few years ago, my dad cannot walk for longer distances. So, he hired a jeep and got on to Tirumala. My mother prayed that if I pass my btech she would walk up the 7 hills. So, I too joined her. After walking through the steps for about 90minutes, we reached a place where lovers' names were scribbled on the roof and pillars. We both were walking slow reading the names and all and..

Mom said, "If it's written here, it is believed that Lord Venkaeswara unites them." Knowing her intentions, I gave a little smile and we both continued walking. She asked me if I carried a pen, but I didn't have one. She asked me if it is ok for me if she writes both of our names on the pillar. Woah! What a gem of a mother! What else or more can I ask or reply to her? I asked her if I should bring some black stone to scribble on the pillar. She took some turmeric power, mixed with water and wrote the names on the wall.

I was much happy. Forget the success ratio or the logic if it happens or not or whatever other factors, I bet, out of all those hundreds on names written there, no parent would have written the name of the choice of their son/daughter.

December

Busy.. busy.. busy.. No blog updates. 30 working days in office for this month. Office even on Xmas and I'm blogging :D Spoke to her friend only to hear that mine are ridiculous attempts. But still, I wonder at my own confidence levels. (Aries here). I made some time for 2hours to select an ecard and have sent it. It didn't get opened though.

PS: Few successes. Few setbacks. But overall, a good year! Now as I went down the memory lane, I noticed and I admit, I'm missing her much!

Merry Xmas to you and yours

2009-12-25T09:08:00.000+05:30

Merry Xmas wishes to you and yours

Wishing all the readers, subscribers, friends, well wishers, fellow bloggers and tweetpals - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones.

In case you are looking for something more to read, I'm sorry. I do not have much to write now and just realized a year has passed off in dreams and thoughts.

With Love,

Jagan

PS: I spent 2+ hrs browsing 123greetings at past 12'o clock midnight and have finally sent a most basic ecard :P

Back to blogging!

2009-11-27T16:28:00.001+05:30

After taking a purposeful break for almost 1-2 months, I'm back to blogging. It isn't that I have no time to blog, I can make enough time to write a post in this blog.

Just going through this blog, I realised, I took a longer break on a sense. Now, I do not think I need to take a break for the next 4-5 months.

There is no reason for not updating my blog except that I wished not to get read during this time.
During the past one month, I kept myself busy with other activities like, learning Ruby on Rails, movies, internet, twitter (@jagan123) and with heroehost.com, jntuzone.com, campusjosh.com, lyricswood.com, flmiami.info and a bunch of others (yep yep.. list of the ventures I'm working on :D ) and my day job :P

Some commitments really suck life. They pull down the risk taking proportionality and have their own effect in every decision we take.

Cheers all. Happy Reading :)

2States in one night

2009-11-20T15:14:00.000+05:30

It is only in Hyderabad I find time to read books. The only reason - I want to keep myself busy! Book reading is one of my long long list of hobbies and is pitching up these days.

Few days ago I decided to learn Ruby on Rails (http://rubyonrails.org). There is no single institute in Ameerpet that teaches RoR. So, I read some book reviews in Amazon, few great articles and decided RoR is going to help me much more than php5. I bought a book on RoR and in addition this 2States by Chetan Bhagat.

Love stories have a magic around them. They keep you bound, they take back life to the good old memories and show a bright future ahead. They rejuvenate the diminished hope and create happiness. Love stories when read in detail, speak to your heart and soul and creates a feeling good/bad that you wish never ends.

Though 2Stories is no such a wonderful piece of love story in written form, it is still good. @chethan_bhaghat is certainly making India read. No wonder, he is a youth icon and most lovable writer of India. He knew the pulse of youth today.

Three words/things in his books that sell:
1. Romance/Sex
2. Beer
3. Fuck.

I started this book at 11pm and lost myself reading it till 2:00am. Didn't want to close it but office next day made me to. Hid the book in the gap between the keyboard and my body and completed reading it in full. Only then I started the normal office work.

This book is good in fact - the humor, the struggle, the love and the life thereafter. I recommend this book only to the people who have read "Five point someone" his first book and an instant chart buster. There is a relation and continuation of it here in this book. 2States is a semi-auto biography of the author Chethan himself with some extra spice and fiction he added. He belongs to Punjab and She belongs to TamilNadu. They meet and love in IIM, Ahmedabad.

I read "Love Story" by Erich Segal and it is one of my all time fav. books :)

Previous books from the same author and my ratings.
1. Fivepoint Someone - 4.25/5 Excellent fun.
2. One night @ a call center - x/5 Didn't complete
3. Three mistakes of my life. - 2.25/5 - didn't like much
4. 2States - 3.25/5

PS: A must read for novice readers and whoever in India who loves love.