

Ask PG: Have you ever been to India or planning to? - skbohra123

Would be really, really great to have you here and take a deeper look on the startup scene here. May be I am just being to ambitious.
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aberkowitz
It is unclear what you are trying to accomplish with this post. If you want to
talk to PG, perhaps an email would have been better; if you wanted to start a
discussion about startups in India, the title could have been rephrased.

As you might have guessed, this is my personal opinion - so feel free to take
it, or leave it.

~~~
writetoalok
Its an innocent, curious question. Don't see why it has to accomplish
anything.

That said I would be interested in PG and other peoples response on this
question.

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endtime
>Its an innocent, curious question. Don't see why it has to accomplish
anything.

Because if you post something on HN that doesn't accomplish anything, you are
lowering its signal:noise ratio.

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pg
Never been, but I'd like to go one day.

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edanm
While we're on the subject, have you ever been to Israel? Great startup scene
here too.

~~~
shachar
seconded

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arnorhs
I was there for 5 months last winter. I'd like to live there. Crazy country
but so nice.

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zoomzoom
you will probably get more offers of hospitality on this post than ever
before.

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flacon
India is great. I spent 6 weeks there. Not really a good place to just wander
around though....I will eat you up....assault all your sense at once. I
recommend getting a few contacts before heading over there and then work from
there. Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad seem to be the big centers of tech
over there. Have fun!

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lusis
Haven't been in about 10 years but it was an awesome trip. I would love to go
back some day after the kids are grown. I spent a month there interviewing H1B
candidates.

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rbyrne
I know I'm not Paul Graham, but since we're on the subject...

I'm very excited and am actually going for two weeks in May/June for a class
to Delhi, Mumbai, and maybe Jaipur/Agra on the way for a day or so. Any
recommendations besides the obvious things everyone does/sees?

~~~
devasiajoseph
I would recommend Kerala also. Its in the far south

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timruffles
I'm heading out there in January, couldn't be more excited :) Any HN folks out
there?

Edit: Just found out there's a BarCamp there -
<http://groups.google.com/group/barcampkerala?pli=1> \- maybe I'll head along!

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jganetsk
I am going to Mumbai and Goa for 2 weeks in December, would love to meet up
with some hackers.

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ankeshk
Buzz me when you'll be in Mumbai. My email is in my profile.

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rikthevik
I've very excited to see India from a tourist perspective.

From a business perspective, I'm a little leery. I've read too many articles
on the bureaucracy and corruption that makes running a business tough, even
for the locals.

~~~
enry_straker
Take things with a pinch of salt.There's a local saying here which, loosly
translated, is as follows:

That which you see is false; That which you hear is false, only that which is
well researched is true.

As a person who started a software product organization in 1995, i can tell
you that pre-conceived notions are just that. Preconceived.

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jason_kelly
I will be staying in Hyderabad for 6 weeks in Jan and Feb. It will be my
second time there, and I'm definitely interested in plugging into the hacker
scene there. Any events/tips to know about?

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gauravgupta
There's probably no big "startup scene" here worth talking about (except may
be in Bangalore) but if you are in Delhi, it'll be great to to meet you :)

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panbhatt
most welcome skbohra,, hope to see forward to your visit. please contact, if
required help in Delhi, NCR.. my contact id is in my profile...

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eriksank
My experience with Indians is fantastically good, but I am wary of India
itself.

They have a very elaborate system of granting and refusing permission for
doing practically anything, called the "license raj"
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licence_Raj>). The ultimate purpose of that
system is to make sure that the designated winners win, and that the
designated losers lose; as everybody happens to be born into their designated
places.

If the situation accidentally starts working out differently, the "license
raj" bureaucrats will keep changing the rules, until the social order desired,
has been restored, and the designated winners are winning and the designated
losers are losing again.

Nowadays they pretend that they are abolishing that system, but that is not
true at all, because they cannot abolish its underlying motivation. As soon as
too many designated losers start doing too well -- instead of starving as they
are supposed to -- they will urgently reign in that kind of social disorder.

As a foreigner, you cannot expect to be anything else but a designated loser;
even though you are probably still considered "touchable" :-)

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ankeshk
This is true. You absolutely need to know the art of bribing to get things
done in India. Because people who pay Rs50-100 ($1-2) to the right person will
jump way ahead in the line. So if you don't bribe - or don't know how to bribe
- things will take very very long for you. This goes for everything from
getting a new internet connection to filing papers for a new company
incorporation.

The reasoning about "everybody happens to be born into their designated
places" is not true however. India had the caste system. Not anymore. Sure
you'll find a few pockets of exceptions - a few villages that still think they
are living in the 16th century. But by and large, this is not true.

If you can hustle, you can succeed in India.

Case in point:

Dhirubhai Ambani <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhirubhai_Ambani> Made his
money in textiles and oil, gas, energy.

Gautam Adani <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautam_Adani> Made his money in
shipping.

Both of them were very poor once. Their stories outshine Horatio Alger
stories.

