2 people who quit, and won

Shraddha Srinath: The lawyer who went viral

In 2007, when Shraddha Srinath participated in the May Queen beauty pageant at the RSI Club at Secunderabad, she only made it to Top 5. But little did she know that this was only a minor setback in what she would accomplish in the years to come. Currently living in Bengaluru, Shraddha was working as a legal adviser at a sports firm… “until, I quit my job,” says Shraddha.

“The first few years of law college were fun, but later on, I realised it wasn’t something I wanted to do. So even while I was working in a firm, I would take out time for theatre and that’s how I was first spotted and given a chance to act in my first Kanada film.”

Shraddha recently found herself going viral after she starred in a hard-hitting photo series on LGBT issues — titled Coming Out. “I have had many sleepless nights over my decision (she quit this January). My father was in the Army and mother was a teacher. There is no connection with acting in our family, so I did spend time wondering if I had made the right decision,” she says.

Shraddha has so far worked in two Kanada films and one Malayalam film. But ‘Coming Out’ did make her extremely popular. Shraddha was one of the protagonists in the series that captured a relationship between two women.

And within hours of its release, the series was a worldwide hit and the two stars a favourite among many. “Arjun Kamat, the photographer, is a mutual friend and I have always admired his work. So when he asked me to be a part of this photo series I jumped at the chance. More so, after he assured me that the shots will be taken aesthetically,” says Shraddha.

Now looking back to the May Queen pageant, her first brush with glamour, Shraddha admits she didn’t see any of this coming. “I never thought acting will let me be a bread winner. For long, I imagined myself stuck in that 9 to 5 routine, making my way through traffic, every single day. But this is just amazing.”

Srikrishna Das: Techie, entrepreneur biker and now, youtuber

For eight long years, Srikrishna Das, a resident of Hyderabad, was happy working in the IT sector before he realised it was time for a change. “I loved my job. Over the course of time, I worked as a system administrator, hacker and independent consultant. I started working when I was 17 and I always got special treatment and freedom from companies, because I was the youngest one around.

I got to travel around the world and I was paid very well. So I didn’t have any reason to quit,” says Srikrishna. But then the routine started troubling him and he shot that email off..

“Quitting my job to do something new is a pattern; I am grateful that my mother is so understanding. I first quit when I was 19 while I was working at an IT company. After that I worked on my first company mukt.in, an open source event series and hackathons.

“But the company didn’t do so well, so I shut it down after two years. After that, I worked in IT security  again. I’m scared of monotony... I want to have it all. After eight years, I realised it was time to move out of the sector,” he says.

And with the new-found wisdom, Srikrishna put down his papers in 2012, once again. What followed were a series of insane adventures. Srikrishna’s love for videogames saw him making four in a span of three years, one of which was also showcased in Singapore. Travelling across the country on his motorbike and backpacking across unknown terrain, he also started making YouTube videos and became India’s first motovlogger.

Nine months ago, Srikrishna collaborated with ex-colleague Yasam Shaik to come up with SuperMoto360, a tech-driven garage located four kms away from Hitec City. It caters to people who want to get their bikes serviced in easy and efficient manner.

“The past three years have been incredible — I once rode from Hyderabad to Kolkata (3,700 kms) to surprise my mother on her birthday, I travelled in an airplane standing… more importantly, I met backpackers who were crazier than me,” he says.

“I am also preparing for a world trip. I have backpacked across most of South East Asia and rode around Singapore and Malaysia. Now I want to go across each and every country and spend a week or more at every place. But the budget for that is going to be more than '60 lakh,” he adds.