lewstherin

I think it gives a reason for why the Feds went after lavabit.com and the reason being CP.

I can't speak for others but I chose Ruby/ Rails over Python/ Django, because the Rails community seemed bigger and much more active. This may not be necessarily true of course, but I took a look at Ruby and liked what I saw, so much that I never looked back :)

It looks like the mortality rates mentioned are for the entire chain of hospitals, not just Dr. Shetty.

That seems absurdly low. I stay in Chennai and typical taxi rates run upwards of 18Rs per KM (approx 0.48US$ per mile). I agree there is a considerable difference in the cost of living, but what you likely paid the guy was a tip for the entire week. Even assuming the car, gas etc. was paid by your company, the amount still seems low for a driver's fee for a week. My dad's driver makes 11,000INR a month.

94,000 Rupees is a lot of money in India but it is not so huge either. A small local doctor in a city will make around that money in a month.

(ps: If you actually had a guy driving you for 25$ in Chennai, do pass me his number. I will happily use him.)

I think it depends on the country. For folks from India, it usually takes at least 5 years.

"Me : I am not sure whether I can generalize." That was the clearest, most rational thought in the entire post and it is unfortunate that you did not pay heed to it.

1. These guys have worked pretty hard and/or are pretty damned smart which was the reason they got in there in the first place. The placement opportunities reflect exactly that and that is a pretty strong incentive for them not to launch their own startup.

2. Getting some working experience is a very good thing because their jobs offer them great exposure and experience, a pretty strong network of people and a clearer picture of what they are up against. While jumping off a cliff might be very brave and fashionable thing to do, it might not always be the smartest.

The startup ecosystem sucks in India and is nothing compared to the US (I leave room for the grass is greener effect - I don't think that is the case here). Funding is hard to come by and most business don't like dealing with startups. When the odds are that badly stacked against you, a broader network of people helps enormously.

3. A good %age are gasp actually interested in their engineering courses (IITM particularly has a healthy number & tradition) and pursue further studies abroad. A few of them go on to start their own companies in the US and others contribute to startups there.

4. When I see the word solution, I expect to actually see a solution - not read why you think it is an inherent quality.

5. Never use statements like "X group never does it". It takes away whatever miniscule credibility the article has. Some obvious examples of IITians doing startups: Flipkart, Rabi Kisku entertainment (Rabi Kisku and Siddharth Nuni are about to release their movie Software Hardware kya yaaroon) and several several more. You just have to look.

6. Startups are not for everyone. Hardworking and smart alone doesn't cut it and it is not a bad thing that not all these guys are doing it. Doesn't mean they are wasting their life away.

Disclaimer: I was one of those Vetti 5 pointers at IITM, who took a 2.75l job in 2006 ago and I am running my own bootstrapped startup with my batchmate since 2011. If my startup fails (at my last stand), I don't think I will do a bootstrapped startup in India ever again and that has very little to do with the size of my cojones.

No CS degree (B.Tech in Biotechnology). My very first job (in 2005) was as the System Administrator of my college, which was normally filled by CS undergrads. They had this supposed unbreakable new faculty portal and several CS profs and students had vouched for its security. Fortunately for me, the outgoing admin had not heard of SQL Injection and I basically showed that you could break into the system. I became the admin, which helped me land a programming (SAP, IT Services) job and 4+ years later I started my own mobile apps startup.

I had pretty good growth when I was working for the big firms, so it did not affect me there. However, after starting up, I find that I really wish that I had some formal education in CS. It bothers me that I might be coming up with really inferior solutions to certain common problems. But my hands are a little full right now. Some day, perhaps.

Edit: Fixed a couple of grammatical errors.

X-org -version on Kubuntu 11.10 says 1.10.4 and the bug seems to have been introduced in 1.11

So yet to get the killer feature.

Just can't wait until tomorrow when it gets delivered. This is the first time in India we are getting this so quickly.

Regarding Sanderson's books, it is amazing to see so much material come so quickly.

May the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

Thank you very much! You've been a great help.

That book does sound extremely interesting. Will definitely be reading that.

Please watch some old episodes of Bill O' Reilly. He screams and shouts at people saying they are unamerican, a traitor yada yada yada. If you really would like links, I can look up a few for you.

I am making the below post assuming you are Indian citizen. Lets look at the truth then.

> when I walk by a child slaving in a teashop.

You know quite well that child labor is illegal in India and we have a huge enforcement problem. When you walk by such a child, why don't you report this to the cops? Why don't you pass on this information to CRY or some such NGO. Have you tried speaking to the guy who employs the kid and tried to get the child enrolled in some school?

My point precisely is that as a dispassionate observer, you are not doing anything to solve the problem. I will state why I believe there is reason for hope.

When I had gone to get my driver's license in Hyderabad, I was turned down on the pretext of not knowing some archaic clauses because I did not come through an agent and hence had not bribed the person incharge. However, next time round, there was a redhat system on which I had to give my test (no more answering questions to some guy). Now there is a very clean smooth system with very little scope of corruption.

A billion plus population and a poor one at that will lead to chaos. To jump from that to a country disintegrating calls for quite a leap of faith. I highly doubt that there has been a study of failed states to definitively conclude that your figures lead directly to a disintegrating state.

A political statement would explain the one sided view of all that is abysmal in this country. I strongly believe that problems that are as important and need immediate attention can be found in any country. It just seems extremely pointless for someone to just list out such problems and say I dont want to live there anymore.

Rather than trying to point out the areas of hope, I would not have really bothered to take part in the discussion.

Get surrounded by neighbours like India does, have your workplace called as chop shops, be the butt of several "stealing jobs" jokes and you will automatically feel a little touchy when some armchair critic sits and posts twenty things wrong in the country and basically calls your nation unfit to live. What I see above is not loyal dissent by any means.

As much as I want to believe your statement that it is not meant to be a political statement, it certainly sounds extremely like one. However I will take you on your word and reply accordingly.

If you ask me, there is perhaps a brighter side to this. As a nation recovering from massive looting for over two centuries, a large number of us are actually doing quite well. Compared with other nations who became independent at the same time and considering the amount of resources we had at that time, we have managed a fairly prosperous growing democracy.

Regarding abject poverty and health care resources , a considerable number of people are actually getting the promised benefits. Wen I broke my hand a month, I saw a guy who earns by plying rickshaws waiting to see the doctor at a top tier hospital thanks to some government insurance scheme. Human rights issues are actually brought to the notice of people thanks to the media and public outcry often forces action.

Yes there are things to be worried about and a good number of our problems will actually be resolved much faster if the educated masses actually got out to vote. However in the mean time, technology is certainly helping solve most of our problems. Especially reducing corruption.

It says so on their faq page which is why I have applied :)

I was referring to the kind that constantly keeps trying to get offers from elsewhere and uses that that to keep renegotiating their pay/ position. Of course you need a trustworthy environment and taking such a stand for everyone might actually build that.

   -> Telling her to "wait three months until the next review process" will probably lose that employee.

Is that really the kind of employee you want? The minute you cave in, you start setting a dangerous pattern. I guess this is where your leadership skills should come into play and you convince the employee to wait. In the mean time you could perhaps plan to transition the employee to a better role/ add further responsibilities so that she feels like she has gotten something. And come appraisal cycle, you better reward her for sticking by you. Anyway, thats how I would do it.

Wonder how interested he really is considering his predecessor himself accused the current CEC of favouring the ruling party.