User:Jaspal Singh

Hi there :)

Thanks for taking the time to visit my page. My name is Jaspal Singh. I didn't get the username 'Jaspal Singh' - one reason I don't get the username everywhere I need - there are just too many 'Jaspal Singh's' out there. More often than not one of the other ones beat me to it e.g. on GMail etc. Also - you can't get a username with a space on all sites. Anyhow - this is my preferred username - JaspalJC (wow - I let out another secret).

I was born in Jalandhar (Punjab, INDIA) in 1974. I had my primary schooling at St. Joseph's Convent School, upto grade X in MGN Public School, and grades XI and XII at DAV College - all in Jalandhar. I pursued engineering in the field of Civil Engineering at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala from 1993 to 1997. {Those were the Wonder Years of my life :)}

My first job out of college was with CMC Limited, Delhi. It was as a Software Engineer. I was quite interested in the Software Development / Information Technology field right thru' engineering college - and end of engineering also marked the chopping of the cord with Civil Engineering. After working with CMC for about 2 years, I joined Infosys at Pune in September 1999. My stay at Infosys from September 1999 to June 2000 is the business world experience I cherish most.

In June 2000, one of my very long standing dreams - an opportunity to fly overseas was fulfilled. I joined a job with Fourth Technologies (Fortek - one of the few honest consultants). While in hindsight, I feel I shouldn't have ditched Fortek - they were a nice company, in hindsight still - joining Kenetec (in Connecticut) - a telecon / networking startup was not a bad idea either. Rather - Kenetec changed my life - for the better. Exposed me to the way startups work, the kind of stress, pressure, and a zeal to accomplish something. Bad economy (but mostly bad luck - WTC, Worldcom ...) led to investors pulling the plug from Kenetec. A Phoenix happened with Kenetec in the form of EdgeOn - and we pulled it along for about 15 months - but it was bureaucracy (and also bad economy of 2003-04) that investors took off of EdgeOn as well.

In April 2004 I joined Nirvana Infotech and moved to California - San Francisco area / Bay Area :) WOW. I started providing consulting services - the client was EXP Pharmaceutical Services Corp.

My H1 visa ran out in May 2006 and that's when I moved back to India. Started my own offshore outsourcing and software development company - TarKia Software in close partnership with my ex-boss - Jim Yekrang of TarKia LLC (now TarKia Inc). The TarKia's (US and India) are a work in progress - and we are continuing to build the company.

On the personal front - well I have a wonderful set of parents - S. Jarnail Singh Arora and Mrs. Raj Kumari Arora. I have two siblings - S. Sarbjit Singh Gugnani - 2 years younger to me, and Mrs. Gursharan Kaur Grover - 4 years younger to me.

I got married to Ms. Pankajdeep Kaur Sood in Nov 2006. Rather unfortunate - we were both nice people - just didn't click well enough together. Maybe we didn't give each other enough time to understand each other - maybe it was just destiny :) - our marriage didn't work for too long. We were married for just over 4 months, when it all (and really all of a sudden) went berserk - and we ended up divorcing each other. Indian legal system put different kinds of holds on divorce - so legally we'll be divorced on Nov 29, 2008.

Except for the unsuccessful marriage, I pretty much have been blessed with the best of everything.

And today is Tuesday - Oct 21, 2008. Brand new day, brand new energy, and brand new happiness. You hang in there.