I hope I’m writing a new post just in time – before someone inquires my whereabouts. #exaggeration. No one cares where I am or what I’m doing; whether I’m writing or I’m not. But that’s not too bad either.

But honestly, who am I writing for? I don’t write to seek fan following or money, so numbers don’t bother me. Few read my thoughts, most of them come here to demystify jargon or sync their Thunderbird address book with LDAP or check ferry timings. But numbers are not completely discouraging: in less than 2 years (starting Jun ’09) we’ve got over 28000 hits,  close to 50 unique visitors visit us each day. And that’s not too bad either.

7 months back, I went through the toughest times and life couldn’t have taught me more. I was paranoid for inspiration & motivation. I picked up Amit Gupte’s practice of wishing luck to friends and realized life is short, and my friend list is too long. It would take me over 3 yrs to wish each one of them, and more pain to remember who’s next. The automation zealot in me prompted the development of a Facebook app. I never expected it to go viral or earn money – I placed no ads. But I guess it turned out pathetic; so much that someone posted a hate message on FB prior to launch, and Amit forever stopped that benevolent practice – that’s the power of an epic fail. But I did what I felt like, learned development of FB apps and spread some smiles, if not none. And that’s not bad either.

There are numerous examples of failure, some epic ones. You face loss, hatred, shame, betrayal & loneliness. The only take away is learning. Quoting from a recent Seth Godin post, There will always be someone telling you that you’re not hip enough, famous enough, edgy enough or whatever enough. That’s their agenda. What’s yours? Shun the non-believers. It is up to you to never let yourself down in the face of troubling situations. The more you walk into them, the sooner will they disappear. What comes along is the joy of moving forward in healthy spirit – the perseverance to keep smiling without losing humility & developing hatred. Here’s a mantra I took off Abhay Joshi’s wall:

Believe while others doubt. Work while others wish. Save while others waste. Persevere while others quit. Pray and stay while others stray! Dare to be different!

So coming back to where we started: my disappearance. Well, I have been away for 2 major reasons. First, dealing with people, who lack the implementation of self::introspect(),  has taken away a lot of time & energy. The second: over-looking these people, and trying to be my own super-hero, in my little way –  spreading smiles, knowledge, jobs, and possibly helping Nigeria grow from a $35bn economy to $207bn. And for those who’re really concerned, I’m in the pink of health – no less than those pigs in Angry Birds. Oops, they’re green! Shamed again.

My colleague Avinash is a huge fan of cult movies & actors, he hates mainstream. Gunda & Kamaal Khan are his favorites. So is Leslie, who made a KRK greeting for Husen’s birthday. KRK gives me an inferiority complex with his quotes, especially the opening quote: “India is the best country for any Indian.” I don’t wish to create any cattle-class controversy, but isn’t that as obvious as  saying that “the zoo is the best place for animals”. That inferiority complex has given birth to another quote, hopefully more sensible.

Life does not support rollback, nor save-points. But that’s not too bad either.