“Hey Naman, what do you want from us, man? We are humans and treat us like that, okay. For you, the study might not be anything, but our future depends on this. We don’t belong to a rich family as you do. We made this very clear that our priority will be to study and then business. So stop bringing this topic every time that we are not paying attention as much as you do.”
“Oh, is it so? So you mean to say I have to bunk college, sell things and get profit and share among us? You too have to bunk and start working.”
“We are not going to bunk a single lecture regularly. Our parents pay fees here to educate us. They don’t expect us to bunk lectures daily and do marketing. If they wanted us to do so, we might be doing a job somewhere in a reputed company.”
“Well, in that case, make your choice soon. You want to be part of a company or not? If you want to be part of the company, you have to work the way I command else transfer the shares to the one I name.”
“And why exactly you think we are going to do that? We hold the same shares as you do, my friend, so watch your tongue. Stop bossing around, and we might cooperate with you, else we have our ways to treat you.”
“Who do you think you are? I will hire a lawyer and sue you for not working the way you should. I have invested most of the money in the company, and so you have to agree to whatever I say.”
“Good morning, my friend. Stop dreaming such things. I think I am a 33% shareholder in this company, and I know how the law works. Show off your knowledge somewhere else, okay. Now get the hell out of my sight before I start abusing you or punch you in the face.”
We almost had a dog fight at that very moment, and before it turns into something big, Jaydeep stopped us. He sat in his car and told his driver to start the vehicle. He left, and I start walking from parking to the main gate to reach home. I was on my way home, and my cell phone started ringing.
“Hello! What do you want Naman now from me? I already told you about my decision.”
“Give me your father’s number. I want to talk to him. I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Oh, hello, kidding me? I am a partner in your company and not my father. So don’t you dare to involve him in any matter, okay? You want to talk, talk to me. I am not giving you any number.”
“I just wanted to purchase some land towards your hometown, and so I need to talk to him. That is all. Now give me his number.”
“In that case, I will call him and ask if he knows anything about it. He is no broker who does all this stuff of selling and purchasing of land. For the record let me make this clear, I am not going to work the way you want me to. I will work my way, and if you have a problem with it, you are so free from my side to go to hell.”
“Watch your tongue, buddy. I am not discussing the company right now, so don’t involve it.”
“I know you very well, okay, so don’t tell me what we are discussing here.” And I hung up.
I reached home and told everything about this matter to my grandfather. He said, “You are right. Give priority to studies only because that is why we are here. But do not fight with him; if he wants you to transfer the shares, then do it. We don’t want to create any scene with anyone.” We were discussing these things and somebody knocked on the door. I opened the door, and Naman was right in front of me, and before I say anything, he just entered. He said hello to my grandfather and sat with him and brought this topic directly.
“Dada, I am not saying that Aditya is not paying attention to the company or not working well. I don’t have any problem with him, but you tell me if we have invested money, then we expect to return as well, right?”
“You are right. No business person wants a loss in their business, but our priority is to study and not the business. I told him to transfer the shares on the name of the person you want. So don’t worry about that. He won’t overrule me at all.”
“I will transfer the shares, of course, but you need to return the money I invested. Else I am transferring nothing.” I interrupted in-between.
He agreed and left the place. Within one month lawyer prepared the share transfer documents, and I signed them because Naman promised me to pay as soon as he has the money. Jignesh transferred his shares as well, and finally, we ended our journey with Naman. Within one month, Naman left the college forever, and the same was the case with Dinesh. Kunal joined them for about a month or two but didn’t go well, and so he becomes a regular college student. Naman paid me almost half of the money I had invested and full of Jignesh.
I was quite depressed at that time because whatever we built together was going in the wrong direction. I got depressed every time I have lots of free time to waste. The boredom always makes me angry, and I try to involve myself in some activity. I told Jignesh to start another company with me and be my business partner. I shared my ideas with my grandfather, and he disagreed.
“No more partnerships now with strangers. If you want to start a company, I will finance you. I’ll be your partner in case you need one. So you will be the boss of the company, and you can work at your convenience.”
“Okay, but it might take a hell lot of money. As I am studying, I can’t guarantee you that it will be successful, but I’ll try my best.”
“Don’t worry about the money. You want to do something, then I am with you, but I am old now. I can’t work or go and sell your things. I will lend you money, and you have to put effort.”
So finally I decided to start my own company with the help of my grandfather and do some work. I was in the fourth semester by then, and time was passing very rapidly. First thing first, I started searching for the name of the company and finally ended up with Protyle HealthCare. We went to Gaurav for the documentation and paid him the fees. The documentation took so much time that I was bored like hell in the meantime. There is nothing in this world that bothers me more than that of boredom. To keep me busy in some schedule, I searched for other options by the end of my fourth semester.
Meanwhile, my partnership with Naman was ending, so I had to visit Gaurav now and then. He paid me less than half of the money I invested in the company claiming that the company faced the loss and so he will pay less. I just wanted to end everything peacefully as my grandfather told me, so I accepted it and finished the work.
Usually, PAN card registration takes only 10-15 days, but nothing ever happened smoothly with me, so it took almost three months. The thing I hate most in my life is boredom. I started searching for some other options where I can use my brain and keep me busy and can make a few bucks out of it. Brainstorming is no easy task, and it took me one week to decide what I should be starting a science magazine. It was my school daydream to provide a science magazine that is free of cost, and articles are fun to read. The reason behind starting it for free was to gain quick readership and open-source knowledge. I wanted to stop the monopoly of high profile writers and magazines with excellent articles which are sold at an unaffordable price for a common boy like me. I always wanted to read such articles, but I was unable to get those magazines at my home. So I decided that my magazine will be free forever, will be based on user-provided articles and easy to understand. The only revenue I expected was from Advertisements in it. Most people take a paper and write “Save Trees…..!” on it, but I wanted to create awareness and decided to publish a magazine in the digital version only.
Everything was set, and I was in full mood to start it. When you start something, you need to give it a name. Naming is crucial as it provides a very first impression to the reader. I wanted the title, which seems scientific but easy to remember and fully define my magazine. After a few days of net surfing and all possible efforts again, I decided to go with the name “Protyle.” The word means “first hypothetical chemical from which all other chemicals are generated.” I bring my checklist out, and to my surprise, I was ready to fulfill my dream. The format for the magazine was prepared, in other words, I had the skeleton, and I need to finish it with flash and muscles with proper content. The n
ext day in college, the first thing I did was to tell the whole plan to Jaydeep and Jignesh. They agreed to this plan as well, and I had primary members for my team. When I put my plan in front of them, they always seem excited and supportive. For the first few days, provide sufficient help and looks at everything possible. In movies, colleges are a fantastic world where most students are either found in the canteen or ground in groups, but in real life, college of mine, we had to attend lectures. So in the lunch break, we finished our lunch quick and wanted to utilize the rest of the time searching for content for articles of magazine.
The library was the coolest place in the whole institute, and by “Cool,” I meant with Air-conditioned room. I utilized the library at its best until the 4th semester, but after that, I never entered the library till that day. A cool breeze of air reminds me of those golden days when I used to visit it daily basis. I knew what I wanted and so went directly to that rack and picked a massive book but easy to digest writing. I had only 15 minutes to search before my lunch break finish. I was reading in my top speed, and making points on a piece of paper, and the other two were looking at me. I was busy making points, and reading and girl from my class noticed me writing down a few points on paper from a weighty book, which is not part of our syllabus. Usually, girls see people when they are doing abnormal behavior. She issued a book from a librarian and came to me and asked, “What are you doing? This book is not something which is part of our semester or exam.”
“I know. I usually don’t bother when there is an exam or something like that. I don’t even care to read syllabus books. This is some extra work which interests me. I am about to start my magazine, and so I am making a few points which can help me in writing an article.” I replied.
She gave me a weird surprised look and turned around. I turned back and got busy with a book. The girl whispered, “Are you kidding me? This guy is going to start a magazine. Hahahaha! He must be daydreaming. This is no kid’s job to start a magazine.” I didn’t hear this but the girl passing by her did. The lunch break is over, and we ran so fast to get in the classroom on time.
It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and I was done with most of the articles, but there was no proper look, which can be considered a magazine. The release date of the magazine was near, which I fixed as the 5th of every month, so I started Microsoft publisher and made blueprint design for the magazine first. Copy pasted all the articles in the said blueprint, and my first issue was ready for publishing. The Diwali vacation was near, and so keeping that in mind, I wanted to launch the first issue in that phase only. Converted the magazine in the easy to share format, and finally, on 5 November 2012, I published the very first issue of my dream magazine. Now to get the readers and their reviews, I utilized email ids of my classmates and other fellows from university and mailed them all. I got a Huge response on the first issue of the magazine, and I was in the ninth sky. I received lots of reviews from readers in mails and started working on the second issue of the magazine. I had lots of time due to Diwali vacation and worked hard this time. Writing is difficult, and to engage people to read them is more challenging. So I opened up “facebook” and started looking at profile photos and funny “share.” The “blip” sound drag my attention to the message I received from my classmate. Ankita messaged me and congratulated me on the first issue of a magazine, as I mentioned at the start of the journey. She agreed to be a volunteer in the magazine and so I had two active members in my team: Ankita and Me. (I do not consider Jaydeep and Jignesh part of the team as they are like hidden system files of a computer. They are there but of no use to us or visible until unless we change settings.)
After a bit of refreshment, I finished my article writing for the second issue and gave touch-ups. I spent the whole vacation for magazine writing and improvement and launched the second issue. I kept on advertising about it on social media to attract volunteers who can work with me. I was checking my university email Id, and I found that one of my juniors congratulated me for my work. He also mentioned that he would like to work with me. It looked like I had an excellent start, and I would be able to continue the magazine for a very long time. He helped me with the advertisement for the magazine and other stuff for a few days. I was launching one after another issue on a regular basis, and my readers were happy with my work. The third issue was out, and on one beautiful evening after hectic college day, I was active on Facebook. Ankita was online, and we were discussing a third issue and volunteers of a magazine.
“So how many volunteers we have by far?”
“We have five members to date, and I am looking for more.”
“Oh, is that so? One of our classmates wants to write articles for a magazine. If you want her to be part of a team, ask her.”
“That is great. Who is she?”
“Anamika. Anamika told me that she wanted to write an article for a magazine. If you approve, I will talk to her tomorrow.”
“Sure. Is she on Facebook? I am not that familiar with her, but still, I will talk to her about this once you talk with her tomorrow. If she is in your friend list, let me send a friend request to her.”
“Yes, she is there on my friend list, and I will talk to her tomorrow in college. You can talk to her tomorrow evening.”
“Okay, sure. Goodnight then, Bye.”
“Bye. Goodnight.”
Another day at college passed like fighting in a war and came back home. I wrote two unfinished articles and started the internet. It was like 7 or 8 in the evening, and I started using facebook. In earlier times, people used to gather at a shop or someplace and chat after the internet revolution; people used to gather on Facebook and chat. I looked at notification sections and found that Anamika has accepted my friend request she is online. So I decided to talk to her,
“Hi. How are you?”
“Hello. I am fine. Hey, congratulations on the magazine. You are doing great work. Hats off to your efforts.”
“Oh, thank you very much. Ankita told me you wanted to be part of our team and write articles. If so, you are welcome to the team.”
“Yes, I told her. Thank you very much for the offer. I am ready to be part of a team, but I can’t write during exams or personal work.”
“Yeah, that is not an issue. You are a volunteer and not the employee, so that you can work at your freedom. I won’t force you ever for articles.”
“Okay, thank you. Anything else?”
“Yes, make sure you write articles on science-related topics. Keep it brief and easy to understand.”
“I will keep those things in mind. Sometimes I write articles of my interest only, which might not fall in category put by you. So should I send them to you or not?”
“Umm....... we should not waste your efforts. I think I have to add a new category in that case. Can you suggest me a cool name for that category?”
“How can I? The category is not fixed when I write articles.”
“Well, in that case, let’s name it as “Creativity Corner.” How about this?”
“Oh, man! You are so fast and Genius.”
“It’s not like that at all. Anyways, welcome to the team. Bye. Goodnight.”
“Thank you. Bye. Goodnight.”
This is what I am. I can’t hold a conversation with a girl for more than 5 minutes. Consider it as my weakness or strong side, but it kept me focused on my goal at that time. I am not saying girls interfere with goals, but yeah, they change directions for sure. Sometimes they might lead to some better path and sometimes you know, it happens. I kept on working on a magazine and had a total of 7 volunteers working on it. I used to arrange online meetings where we used to discuss the magazine and other problems faced by it. Anamika used to ask me topics for her article and used to get tips for better writing.
On the other hand, the company registration process was at its full speed. We had a facebook group where all members had access to discuss the magazine. I posted there that I am going to stop magazine after February issue as we are not
getting enough readers. The next day evening chat window opened up with a “blip” sound with the name of Anamika on it.
“Hey, are you going to stop magazine?”
“I am not sure yet. I am confused as hell. We are putting lots of effort but not getting that much readers; then, it’s not worth it. We are providing it for free, but still, nobody appreciates our work. It’s my failure, I guess. I should make any of you as an editor.”
“Have you gone mad? Sorry for my language, but I don’t think any of us can do better handling then you. You should understand this. You are the only candidate who can give justice to this work.”
“I am thinking about this for the last two days.”
“I know that. I read it in a group. Tell me the final answer; you want to continue or not?”
“I haven’t made any conclusion yet. I mean, we should get more readers as part of the appreciation. We are publishing a magazine for readers. If we have no readers, there is no need for a magazine. If you suggest something which can improve readership, we can continue.”
“What have you done to date to advertise about a magazine? Do the faculties of our college know about it? Or the students?”
“See, I am advertising on social media already. I have made a website for it too. I don’t interact well with professors, so they don’t know.”
May be! I Love You Page 4