diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d1e58fb1ff..4cbc511196 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,11 +7,17 @@ Place `greenhat.py` in your Git repository. Make sure your [remote repository UR
 	python greenhat.py <n>
 
 It might take a while to generate all the commits. If greenhat stops before it finishes, you can resume where you last left off by specifying a date before today when you want it to resume, like so:
-
+	
 	python greenhat.py <n> <date>
 
 `n` is the remaining days you want to generate commits for, and `date` is a date string in the form `yyyy-mm-dd`  (e.g., 2013-04-05).
 
+
+You can also give the starting date relative w.r.t today's date 
+
+	python greenhat.py <n> <m>
+	For eg. python greenhat.py 30 5	
+	This will make commits for one month which ended 5 days ago. 
 #### An Example
 
 The following calendar is the result of running `python greenhat.py 365`:
diff --git a/greenhat.py b/greenhat.py
index 48a11116e6..3d8c537645 100755
--- a/greenhat.py
+++ b/greenhat.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 import subprocess
 import os
 
+COMMITS_PER_DAY=5
+
 # returns a date string for the date that is N days before STARTDATE
 def get_date_string(n, startdate):
 	d = startdate - timedelta(days=n)
@@ -16,18 +18,22 @@ def get_date_string(n, startdate):
 
 # main app
 def main(argv):
-	if len(argv) < 1 or len(argv) > 2:
+	if len(argv) < 1 or len(argv) > 3:
 		print "Error: Bad input."
 		sys.exit(1)
 	n = int(argv[0])
 	if len(argv) == 1:
 		startdate = date.today()
 	if len(argv) == 2:
-		startdate = date(int(argv[1][0:4]), int(argv[1][5:7]), int(argv[1][8:10]))
+		if len(argv[1])<=4:
+			m = int(argv[1]) # note: m can be negative 
+			startdate = date.today() - timedelta(days=m)
+		else:
+			startdate = date(int(argv[1][0:4]), int(argv[1][5:7]), int(argv[1][8:10]))
 	i = 0
 	while i <= n:
 		curdate = get_date_string(i, startdate)
-		num_commits = randint(1, 10)
+		num_commits = randint(1, COMMITS_PER_DAY)
 		for commit in range(0, num_commits):
 			subprocess.call("echo '" + curdate + str(randint(0, 1000000)) +"' > realwork.txt; git add realwork.txt; GIT_AUTHOR_DATE='" + curdate + "' GIT_COMMITTER_DATE='" + curdate + "' git commit -m 'update'; git push;", shell=True)
 			sleep(.5)