Check out some of the jobs on the job board:

• UI Designer for Delhi startup
• PHP & MySQL engineer for LillyChilli
• Senior .NET developer
• Engineer - IT operations at Chaupaati bazaar

So many others too. Check them out.

• Startup jobs galore and looking for a SEO expert
• Startup Jobs that might interest you

Something similar along the lines of what followed in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings. I for one am eager to show my whole hearted support on my blog, my Orkut and Facebook profile.

If we have a graphic designer in the audience, probably we can have a symbolic graphic like the VTech ribbon ? Drop me a line at contact@startupdunia.com if you can design such a graphic.

I’d also like to know what you think about this idea or if you have any other suggestions.

• Startup jobs galore and looking for a SEO expert
• KamlaShow on LiveMint, Sramana’s book ‘Entrepreneur Journeys’
• Brand reputation Management for Indian companies

Comments

• November 27, 2008, Rizwan commented: I think this is necessary...but I believe this should be an online campaign aimed at beefing up security measures. Bombay is an island, with three routes to come inside and a shore which is guarded by some of the best naval and local law enforcement vessels. Terrorists getting into Bombay with AK-47's and hand grenades using the sea route and planning an operation at such a large scale is a shame on us. We are all responsible for our city's security. the online campaign should not only show support and solidarity for all those who have been affected but also help gather momentum for fighting terrorism in our city's
• November 27, 2008, Vikas commented: I'd do a campaign that calls for the Home Minister to resign. We cannot go kill our minister in broad daylight, Rang De Basanti style (sorry, I am frustrated!); but if we can a unified call for his removal across all blogs, tweets, orkut, facebook and startups - it should hopefully send a message to the government that they better act up or get lost.
• November 28, 2008, ektameinhaishakti commented: I think it is a great idea.. i know people are engrossed in discussing what went worng and what needs to be done.. but right now it is the time to show our solidarity to the forces and also make a statement that we can stand upto it.. no matter what they (terrorists) can try and however low they can go to kill and destroy.. until there a single real indian in any part of the planet, we will not be short of the spirit or the courage to rise back after every single hit. I wish there was someway to show this spirit in Mumbai.. front of the Taj.. maybe a flag.. or a pin-up on t-shirt.. maybe the reporters who have access to the area could.. since the normal public is not allowed around..
• November 28, 2008, pranav commented: i was listening to some of the speeches by vilasrao, manmahon etc. their speeches are so lackluster and pathetic. You can sense neither empathy nor anger in their voices -- in fact their speeches seemed so stoic, so devoid of emotion that i was disgusted. we need some fresh blood to lead our country -- that can stand up to the occasion and be a true leader.
• November 29, 2008, snigdha commented: pranav, I agree with you. However, can you make a list of all the things that you would want your young, dynamic leader to do? I think ( I might be wrong) you would fail because we fail to nail it right. We fail to identify and name this terrorism. Whether our secular and political righteousness prevents us from saying this I don't know (I face it myself and it has taken me great courage to even write this) but this is Islamic terrorism. This is nothing else. We as a country have failed to recognize that. France, America, UK, Australia all recognize it but it is not like they are persecuting their muslims. But to say it aloud means that one knows and one is prepared. And, India and Indians are unwilling to do it. On a business vein, I wish you should avoid these topics on your blog. This is not the right place for it.
• November 29, 2008, Gautam commented: i think for any such online initiative to be a great success it needs to be backed by the govt.. something like the army or something... Also there needs to be an offline connect of somekind which can be in the form of workshops, discussion forums etc...
• December 1, 2008, www.gftupk.org commented: stop kiling to humanity around the world.
• December 5, 2008, Hardeep Singh commented: I express my deep sense of remorse at what happened in Mumbai. These terrorists, operating on whims and fancies of some bad elements dont not recognise any relationship, brotherhood, country and humanity. We should put up brave front and say that we are stronger than them and none can kill the sprit of humanity. My condolenses the the Isrealies, who for no fault of their or anybody had the sacrfice their lives. Lets rebuild India.

I just hope that unlike the other recent attacks, this attack doesnt become just yet another attack that is forgotten with time. Its high time we take a stand and put an end to this insanity. 

I am just shocked by how brazen and daring this attack has been and my sympathies go out to all families that have been affected by this senseless act of horror.

• Happy New Year and some news catchup
• Online campaign to show solidarity for Mumbai blasts
• See you in 2009

Comments

• November 26, 2008, snigdha commented: yes, it is a very sad day. i have stopped thinking the romaticist notion that terrorists are misguided youth who can be reformed.
• November 27, 2008, Rama Vadakattu commented: Iam thinking on....... what a common man can do to prevent such attacks in the near future? What role should we play? HOw can we be helpful to our country in preventing such attacks ???
• November 27, 2008, Rizwan commented: Rama exactly what I proposed on the online campaign article.......am frsutrated and mighty pissed
• November 28, 2008, pranav commented: @rama, most of us (me included) have sat along the fences for too long bringing up the same questions - what can a common man do ? what role should we play ? I believe for starters, we can begin by getting rid of our stoic attitude. Bomb blasts have happened so frequently in India recently, that folks have come to accept it as a normal thing...and life just goes on. that should stop.

The satellite is planned to be launched within the next two years.

Earlier this year, Japan launched a satellite that provides crazy fast Internet.

• Happy New Year and some news catchup
• See you in 2009
• Yet another sad day for India

Comments

• November 23, 2008, lvs commented: I think we must use satellites in the fight against terrorism. High resolution (upto 10 m) are possible today. And image processing techniques exist to detect suspicious activity. We must think of innovative ways to make our lives safer.
• November 26, 2008, Rizwan commented: I am happy...finally we can have T1 connections .... simply rocks........cant wait for this to go live.....

Do you listen to music while working / programming ? If so, does it help you focus better ? What music works best for you ?

Let me know your thoughts - experiences.

• KamlaShow on LiveMint, Sramana’s book ‘Entrepreneur Journeys’
• Apologies about the feed republishes
• India planning to launch satellite for Internet connectivity

Comments

• November 17, 2008, Gaurav commented: It helps me a lot. I prefer listening music using headphones instead of speakers. I tune into one of the shoutcast hindi radio. Recently, I tried the streams with "talk shows". They didn't work that well for me. I found that listening random songs (no talk shows and jingles) helps me focus better.
• November 18, 2008, Web Analyst commented: If you got used to it then it does... it does help me... back in high school days it was studies without music.. and there still was concentration.. but all this music stuff started to happen to me only in engg days... with my roommates introducing me to pop, I did not like it much and still used to love it without music... then I was introduced to Rock.... thats when everything started to fall in place... I started enjoying good old 70's to 90's Rock... and now it always work with music... Pink Floyd, Doors to name a few... But then if I am listening to the song for the first time, the concentration is mostly on the song rather than work... I think it totally depends on work too... If you are doing something very interesting - would you really care what is happening around you ???
• November 18, 2008, Nikhil commented: I tend to be more productive when listening to music...prefer to listen to songs that I've been listening to for years. I used to listen to music while studying in the hostel - people were too noisy, and there was no other way to study. One doesn't get distracted by familiar music. What about you, Pranav.
• November 19, 2008, Sandeep commented: I for some reason never liked playing music when working. I used to hear friends who had music on and i felt stupid that i cant seem to 'handle' it. But i read a fabulous book - Peopleware, that talks about team building, people management etc. It describes an experiment done, i believe, at Cornell. 2 sets of people were put up in isolated rooms. They were given a set of problems to solve. One room had music playing and the other didnt. Both the teams did solve the problem but the quiet room solved it faster. The problems were such that some steps were purposely extended. If you could see through that pattern, you could eliminate those steps and derive results quickly. The quiet room folks did it this way. The reason being the part of the brain responsible for creative thinking is also processing music. So music processing interferes with problem solving. Atleast for me, it explains why even if i had music on, either i never remembered which song was playing or it was a irritant. So if you are working on startup ideas DONT play music! :)
• November 19, 2008, john commented: Music really help me a lot while working,i never get bored during work as i always listen light romantic Indian songs along with my work.
• November 19, 2008, pranav commented: I am a huge music buff and can generally listen to anything from hindi film to ghazals to rock to techno etc while working. however, often times, there are certain instances when I'd prefer to switch off the music and focus on the work at hand. music helps me tune off the rest of the distractions (especially with the new set of noise cancelling headphones) and noise from elsewhere. it does help me focus better with music on...
• November 20, 2008, Anoop Kumar commented: Hi to all, Yes, music help me too while working, but Only if, I have to write a program and have already complete idea, what to do. For a new and research working, I might need to turn off my music. But overall music keep me energetic.
• November 21, 2008, dacosta51 commented: Hi. The music help me to have a good concentration, but I only can listen classic, new age or another kind of smooth music. But some times.. I need to stop it and work with the sound of the silent.
• November 22, 2008, Rahul M commented: Theres nothing in life without music! And it does help a lot of people concentrate. But while studying or working which requires concentration I find it distracting. Everyone to himself I guess.

Kamla’s radio show recently got a syndication deal on LiveMint and has been launched as LiveMintRadio. If you havent heard her show before, I’d definitely recommend you to give it a try. You’ll love it.

Meanwhile, Sramana has published her first book titled “Entrepreneur Journeys“. Its a collection of amazing entrepreneur stories including how they started, their ups - downs and how they succeeded. The following description sums up the book perfectly:

Listen to their stories. Watch how they formulate ideas, navigate turbulent waters, create strategies, change directions, and make choices. Listen. Learn. Empathize. Agree. Disagree. Develop your own point of view.

Most of all, I hope you find inspiration in these conversations – enough to help you become great entrepreneurs yourselves.

Bottom line: Grab a copy and get inspired !! 

Congrats Kamla & Sramana !! Way to go !!

• Online campaign to show solidarity for Mumbai blasts
• Does music help you focus better while working ?
• The Big Picture features India

Comments

• November 16, 2008, Sramana Mitra commented: Thank you, Pranav. I just want to say one thing to readers in India: The book isn't available in India yet. I am talking to several publishers for India Rights, but have not yet finalized. It will take me until next year to get it to you. If you want a copy right away, I'd ask whomever of your friends and relatives that are coming home this winter to bring you one from Amazon. Believe me, it is one of my absolute top priorities to get an Indian edition out ASAP. Kind regards, Sramana

Advice from experienced entrepreneurs and VC’s is great. Its invaluable.

But then how much is too much ?

Lately, it seems that everybody who is somebody, is offering the same set of advice, topped with a personal touch. Its the same set of principles, no matter which way you spin it. I say enough of it already. 

The bottom line is:

1) Conserve cash — equate this to layoffs or cutting down on non essential costs or anything that comes to mind

2) Generate revenues — try to generate revenue that will help you sustain the business

Thats it - plain and simple.

There - I’ve spared you reading through yet another survival advice.

• KamlaShow on LiveMint, Sramana’s book ‘Entrepreneur Journeys’
• What a Shame
• Startup jobs galore and looking for a SEO expert

I know I have been missing in action for the past few weeks — I was hacking away at a personal project of mine. Got a working demo completed with several kinks still to be figured out. Boy !! When you get to a working demo, it gives you such a sense of accomplishment, no matter how small the coding task might have been. 

Blogging shall resume in the next few days.

In the meanwhile, feel free to check out some of the interesting startup jobs on the job board. Who said anything about a bad economy ? 51 jobs & counting, Indian startups are hiring. Check them out.

• Startup jobs galore and looking for a SEO expert
• How much is too much ?
• A very Happy Diwali

Been caught with shit @ work — regular blogging should resume soon.

• Happy New Year and some news catchup
• See you in 2009
• Apologies about the feed republishes

Comments

• October 31, 2008, Deals Ghost commented: Check this new deals and discount website and please review Regards, www.dealsghost.com

In case you’re oblivious to what happened, Jet Airways announced layoff for 1900 people to cust costs and align with the current economic scenario. This set in motion a frenzy, with folks protesting outside airports and such and even the political ministers weighing in on the scenario.Ultimately, Jet Airways reinstated the laid off people.

This is a load of BS and Indian hypocrisy at its best.

When the going is good, employees can freely hop on from one job to the other as they please. Now, when they get laid off, they protest and cry foul ? I guess as the Indian market is moving towards a capitalist, consumer driven economy, people need to get rid of their socialist mindset when it comes to getting laid off as well. You simply cant have the best of both worlds. Thanks Nehru, your legacy still carries on !!

• Happy New Year and some news catchup
• KamlaShow on LiveMint, Sramana’s book ‘Entrepreneur Journeys’
• Did Google AdSense just screw you up ?

Comments

• October 17, 2008, Yash commented: This was not the first and last incident. Nehru's disciples will try their best to drag India back in the 1950s. Jet in my opinion made the mistake of sacking so many people in one go. They should have laid people off in batches and over a period of time. Like how IT companies are removing excess staff under the guise of poor performance and falsified resumes etc.
• October 17, 2008, radhika commented: I am sure you wouldnt say that if one of you relative was laid off!
• October 17, 2008, pranav commented: if the relative got laid off and went protesting in front of the airport, yeah -- i would say the same. feeling sorry about getting laid off is one thing -- i feel sorry for those who get laid off -- but they've got to accept it as a part of a capitalist market. It's all a part of the package. Jet airways is after all, a private entity. If it were a govt driven company, and then these folks would have complained, that would still be ok.
• October 17, 2008, VIvek commented: I couldnt agree more.. worst was this tat jet employees approached raj thakray MNS when they wer in trouble....i bet they wer the one who would have mocked him the most when he was carryin his protest against north indians in mumbai ..
• October 17, 2008, Thennavan commented: I believe in company restructuring during times like this. One thing that does not make sense is Jet is losing $100 Million dollars every month. Cutting 1200 employees is a drop in the ocean. These people get paid 825 per flight and less fixed cost. If Jets cuts the routes then the variable also comes down. If it is right for the business then why backout at the first sign of resistance. Looks like some one in Jet came up with this as a low hanging fruit. The only way is to increase demand.... When dollar was at $120+ they were charging 3000INR per ticket as fuel charges... Now the government has cut ATF by 15%... Why don' they cut prices and increase utilization... The only one who is happy with the airline policies is Lallu as trains are running at peak capacity and he will be again a hero.... Companies like Jet Airways are setting a bad precedent in India by not thinking through while making the cuts....
• October 19, 2008, Devakishor commented: It is inevitable, the job cuts. They have reinstated but that doesn't make good business sense. People should understand that Jet Airways is a business entity and not some charity organisation. They are losing crores every day and cost reduction is the need of the hour. If they more employees on the payroll than what is needed, layoff is a must.
• October 20, 2008, Siddharth commented: Dude.... layoff is not the only way ... there are thousand other ways .... i am not sure if your "American idea" influenced mind could understand or find one such reason .. there are thousand ways not to lay off and still exist.. sorry to see such immature post ....i thought the owner here was with a sound head on his shoulders....
• October 20, 2008, pranav commented: @siddharth i couldnt help but be amused by the irony. While you call my thought as "American idea" influenced mind but you begin the comment with "Dude..." !!
• October 20, 2008, siddharth commented: Dude .... and i am happy i could amuse you ....
• October 20, 2008, siddharth commented: looks like you are really not for the topic but to take pot shots....
• October 21, 2008, ekerala commented: Pranav, I disagree partially on this. I'm not sure if this entry is an emotional outburst. Even though India follows the western world, out business and youngsters are still different from other part of the world. India is not yet a capitalist market. We still run business with more on a socialist setup. Which I think is good. At least India was able to avoid suicides and other trauma happened in the states on this economic cycle. As a country we are still growing, and as a growing countries business, we are still maturing in terms of our business practices. Give us some more time we may even avoid a collapse like Lehman or Merryl Lynch did. ps: by the way having a socialist mindset is not that bad after all, Socialist runs a business with profit in mind but dont kill the opponents to increase the profits :P
• October 22, 2008, Sudhanshu commented: Pranav, I think that the employees got their jobs back not because they were successful in crying foul but because the oil ministry agreed to give the airlines 6 months to pay back the old dues. (up from 2 months). Maybe it was just a good old blackmail and it worked like crazy. And when Mamta Banerjee can be crazy enough to drive out investments worth 80,000 crores from Bengal for just over 300 more acres of land, why can't these guys protest their sacking. Also, I don't understand that why is it that every post I read, has a comment from somebody in sutrajobs!! Sudhanshu
• November 6, 2008, chandru commented: I completely agree with your idea. When the market is doing good, the employees are hoping between company (here airlines) to company. When it is the other way they should accept the reality. But I am not sure about how Jet handled the situation. They could have given advance notice and then could have proceeded further.
• November 23, 2008, Ayushman Dash commented: I completely agree with you. Its high time politicians stayed away from corporate decision making. Its a global thing for crying out loud. Millions have lost jobs across the world. India cannot be an exception to this. My relatives have lost jobs too in other sectors. That does not mean I go out and start shouting. One needs to try out other options. I would highly suggest upgrading ones skills. This is the key to survival.

Seriously recommend adding it to your bookmarks.

• Brand reputation Management for Indian companies
• KamlaShow on LiveMint, Sramana’s book ‘Entrepreneur Journeys’

No worries - startup jobs galore on our job board. Check out some of the openings:

* Flash programmer at Delhi-NCR

* Software Engineer (PHP), MySQL DBA, Senior S/W Enginner (Java) and other openings at Burrp !

* Rockstar tech lead at InvestmentYogi

* PHP coder at ThinkMantra

* Web designer at FirstPhera

I’m also looking for a SEO expert for some SEO related work. Drop me a line at contact@startupdunia.com.

• Online campaign to show solidarity for Mumbai blasts
• Indian startup jobs
• Startup Jobs that might interest you

Comments

• October 16, 2008, animesh commented: hey there is comphrensive website available for start-up hiring why dont you take a look www.sutrajobs.com
• November 5, 2008, Yuvvraaj commented: After the failure of Heroes & Hello in the Box Office, Sallu has all his hopes fixed in his forthcoming movie Yuvvraaj. The main attraction of Yuvvraaj being Katrina Kaif who has tried more than 200 gowns to get the looks right for the movie. A R Rehman's music sizzles in the movie with the lyrics being written by great Gulzar. Needless to say that this the most awaited movies for the year 2008 in Bollywood Cinema... So best of luck to Sallu and all fans of sallu. For Music, Mp3 songs, Wallpapers, Videos, News and exclusive pictures related to the movie, kindly visit http://www.yuvvraj.info
• November 22, 2008, Animesh Singh commented: hi i willing to work with you, i have three year experience as a freelancer in the field of internet marketing please contact me for more more details thanks

Brand reputation management, in my opinion, is closely coupled with customer satisfaction. To me, a negative review translates to an unsatisfied customer. Keep your customers happy and brand reputation will automatically follow. For now, lets leave aside the possibility that some of the negative reviews may be coming from competitors and pranksters.

The first and the most significant step in this whole process is to accept the fact that your company is far from perfect. There’s always something broken - be it your product, be it your service or be it your customer support. If customer’s are complaining, then its a definite indication that somewhere, something is flawed, in your otherwise successful company.

Its essential that you come to terms with this, because only then, will you be able to give a positive spin on negative feedback from customers. The way I see it, you should view negative feedback and customer complaints as constructive criticism.

1) Who is complaining about my product and what are they complaining about ?

To begin the quest of brand reputation management, you need to first gather data on who is negatively reviewing your product and what are they complaining about.

Use Google search, Google Blog search, Technorati to identify the issues being raised with your product. Create Google Alerts for your brand so that each time a reference is made to your brand (good or bad), you are alerted about it. Sign up on sites like Mouthshut.com and collect data on why users are “cribbing” about your brand. Familiarize yourself with Twitter, signup for an account, and search for mentions of your brand. Setup alerts for Twitter just like you did with Google Alerts.

Once you have all this data collected, analyze it to identify the most common issues being raised by your customers. Share this information with your product managers and execs. Negative reviews enable you to close the feedback loop between concept/development and the real world usage of your product.

Now that you have the most common issues listed, revisit your product and try to locate if anything is really broken. If so many users are complaining about account registration, probably this component is broken somewhere ?  Are refunds not getting processed correctly  ?  Probably, there’s some problem with the payment module or the payment gateway ?

Who knows, this process might actually reveal a feature that was previously overlooked by your team ? Take any corrective action that might be necessary and most importantly, reach out to some of the users who complained about the feature / aspect and inform them that the problem has now been resolved.

2) What can I do to protect my brand reputation ?

The very reason why users are leaving negative feedback on other “cribbing websites” is because you have not provided them any channels to voice their complaints directly to you. Yes, you have the standard 800 number, but seriously - who has the time & patience to sit through the series of automated messages ? But we provide an email address too !! Yeah, and when was the last time you accessed it ?

My suggestion to you would be to start a company blog. This enables a direct, two way communication channel with the customers, who can leave their feedback and suggestions via comments. ClearTrip has been doing this successfully for a long time now and I’m sure they’re reaping the rewards too. Be frank and open on the blog, without treading into confidential matters. Announce any known maintainence downtimes via the blog. If you’re aware of a particular, unresolved issue, share it with your customers.

At the same time, keep doing the steps mentioned in the earlier point as well. Reach out to customers who are leaving negative feedback about your product. Just a simple message like

“Hi, My name is ___. I work with the customer service department at ___. I read about your experience and wanted to reach out to you and try to get your issue resolved. Thanks, ___ “. Attach the company blog url into the message signature.

Trust me, just this simple message can work wonders towards the customer satisfaction. Treat each negative review like a genuine complaint, irrespective of the fact that the user might just be a prankset/competitor.

Customer service / support is highly underestimated and undermined most of the times. On the contrary, I believe customer service is crucial to the success of any business, and can work wonders in terms of customer loyalty and word-of-mouth.

As I end this post, I’d like to link to some wonderful examples of customer service zealots - how they’ve mastered the art and how their brand is reaping the rewards.

• Zappos
• Comcast
• Wufoo

• Nows a good time for moonlighting as an entrepreneur
• Fostering Entrepreneurship does not translate to handholding or babysitting
• A very Happy Diwali

Comments

• October 21, 2008, Guru Krishnan commented: Customer satisfaction is the Key for all the business locks ;)

• Programmer at Phonethics Mobile media @ Mumbai
• Java / J2EE Developer at GreenMango @ Hyderabad
• Flash Programmer @ Delhi
• UI Guru for seed funded startup - MoneyVidya @ Mumbai

Check out other startup jobs on the job board

• Startup jobs galore and looking for a SEO expert
• Indian startup jobs

Seems that instead of reporting an exchange rate of 1$ <–> Rs. 46.55, the payout reports are listing an exchange rate of 1$ <–> 1 Rs.

A glitch no doubt - but significant enough to screw up your minds

via SEORoundtable

• Brand reputation Management for Indian companies
• What a Shame
• India planning to launch satellite for Internet connectivity

Comments

• September 26, 2008, yup commented: Yup they have indeed screwed up. i just noticed it in my account in the payment info!!! I hope they rectify it and do the correct exchange rate and pay us accordingly!!
• September 27, 2008, Anoop Kumar commented: I have got mail from google about this issue... And everything i alright now.... :) ------------------------------------Mail From Google Adsense---------------- Hello, We're writing to let you know that your AdSense account is displaying an incorrect exchange rate for your most recent AdSense payment issued on September **, 2008. While the exchange rate is incorrectly listed as 1:1, please rest assured that your payment has been issued with the correct exchange rate. You can expect your check to arrive according to the normal delivery time, within two to four weeks. If you normally receive communication from us in a language other than English, we will provide additional information in your preferred language next week. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. Sincerely, The Google AdSense Team Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043 USA
• September 28, 2008, pranav commented: Anoop, I wasnt surprised that this was just a glitch. Hopefully, you get your $$ soon :-)
• September 29, 2008, VIvek commented: Yeah me too got a mail from adsense

Check it out here.

• Apologies about the feed republishes
• How much is too much ?
• KamlaShow on LiveMint, Sramana’s book ‘Entrepreneur Journeys’

1) Designing and Implementing Scalable Applications with Memcached and MySQL:

Very interesting technical presentation in PDF format.

2) Early YouTube engineer talks about scalability and outages:

via GigaOM

3) The audience for US websites is becoming increasingly international. Sites like Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn etc. not only get US visitors, but they also attract a significant share of international visitors also. This story from Wall Street Journal digs a little deeper into this scenario and how the sites need to gear ads targeted towards these international visitors as well.

Comments

• July 14, 2008, Saurabh Sahni commented: Memcached rocks! Another cool reading on memcached/APC use at facebook http://sizzo.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/facebook_performance_caching-dc.pdf
• July 15, 2008, vBharat.com » Some interesting reading | StartupDunia focuses on Indian startups, Web 2.0, Indian Internet industry and entrepreneurship in India commented: From vBharat.com » Some interesting reading | StartupDunia focuses on Indian startups, Web 2.0, Indian Internet industry and entrepreneurship in India... Found some interesting reading stuff over the weekend. Take a peek: 1) Designing and Implementing Scalable Applications with Memcached and MySQL 2) Early YouTube engineer talks about scalability and outages...
• July 16, 2008, pranav commented: @saurabh, thanks for the link !

Anyways, time to announce the winners for the free Proto ticket giveaway. I drew the names out of a raffle to avoid any kind of bias whatsoever.

Congrats to Kenney,  Nipul and Aniket for winning free tickets to Proto. I have forwarded your contact details to Proto folks so please expect some one to contact you within the next few days.

Thanks to all for participating !!

• Free tickets to Proto giveaway
• Did Proto really uncover “new” startups ?
• Proto startups - Where are they now ?

Has any particular technique worked for you ?  If so, can you share some tips ?

The way things are currently, I’d be ready to pay, to restore some order in these three aspects of my life.

Comments

• June 3, 2008, Vikas commented: Distraction - I use the urgent / important methodology. Based on your day, decide what set of things you want to attend to - i.e. urgent only, important only, urgent and important or all. If you miss something that day, too bad. For Procrastination; Delegate. Move the money on someone else's back. I tried various tools as well, but the reality is that once you save it for later, chances are you will never get to it. That's why I hate delicious, gmail and all such tools that make it so easy for me to save tasks for later and fool me into believing that I will some day some how magically get to them. Information overload - still trying to figure something out. I think part of it is to just accept the fact that it is ok to live with less than perfect information in the world.
• June 3, 2008, Nag commented: http://paulgraham.com/distraction.html HTH
• June 3, 2008, Unmesh commented: cant we all use some help here :) I recently picked up Robin Sharma's book "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari". Some inspiring thoughts in there.
• June 3, 2008, Mahesh commented: Use different computers for Work and non-Work. (The summary of the Essay on distraction, Nag linked to) Also...Nothing speaks louder and clearer than actual Numbers. Try installing RescueTime to track how you spend you time. -Mahesh Celebrating Life...
• June 3, 2008, Ketan commented: For distraction and information overload. 1) Make absolute rules; how much to time access internet and what is must read information. Using tools like rescutime client or 8aweek firefox plugin can shorten your surfing time by atleast 10-15%. Dont log onto IM clients whole day. Mail is still best asynch mode of communication. Set up proper filters for your email clients. Outlook. As soon as email comes; align it with task in outlook and assign them priority and estimated time to complete along with reminders. If not using outlook; there is very good GTD tool called as nextaction written by steve yegge. Search on google "trimpath nextaction". If you are using google calendar; then set up mobile/email alerts for your google calendar account. This helps a lot. Most important thing would be to before you leave office ; plan atleast what needs to be done the very next day. This keeps you in synch with next day. Follow this for 2-3 weeks; it gets assimilated. Let me know if it helps
• June 3, 2008, pranav commented: First of all - thanks all of you guys for taking the time & pitching in your words of advice. @vikas - you hit the nail on the head - I have often wondered why I'm bookmarking all these interesting stories in delicious or why I'm starring feed items in GReader - Very seldom I come back and take a peek. @Nag - I was aware of PG's essay when I wrote this post. He has a post on procrastination also. however, his essay doesnt really provide me a good solution. @unmesh - if you've gleaned any interesting tips, do send them over. @mahesh - As I responded to Nag - PG's essay doesnt really provide me a solution. Having separate computers for work and non-work is less than ideal scenario for various reasons. I've looked into installing RescueTime, but since I use my work laptop during major part of the day, I cant install RT on it to meet security compliance requirements. @ketan I look into the nexaction tool that you mention above. Regarding the email policy, I try to maintain a different policy. Instead of filtering email, all email is received in inbox. I have created 3 different folders to process each email - needs action, processed and peek later. After reviewing each email, I take one of the three actions above. if i can respond to the email at that very time, i respond and send it to the processed folder. if response will take a longer time and some more thought, move it into the need action folder. else, if the email is just info only, move it to the peek later folder. anything else, read and delete.
• June 3, 2008, Sudhanshu commented: Give in!!! That always works...

I digress. Coming back to the title of this post - One of my favorite weekend activities is to read news stories and articles on global as well as the Indian business, technology, society etc. while sipping my morning cup of tea. While I have no problems in discovering some great quality content on NYT, Portfolio, NewsWeek, Economist, NPR, Salon etc, I find it incredibly difficult to uncover good reading stuff related to India. Besides BusinessWorld and BusinessToday, I cant think of any business-technology focused sites writing about India. For some of the most interesting humor, pop-culture, analysis etc. I read Indian blogs. In fact, I read more Indian content on blogs than on mainstream sites. Mainstream media just cant seem to get past bollywood, cricket, babies with 2 faces & 4 eyes.

I understand that I belong to a minority niche, but I’m pretty sure there are several others who feel the same.

So, in the quest to discover new, good Indian content, let me ask you this - What sites do you frequent for quality Indian content ?

Leave a comment with your top reading list for India. Hopefully, it would help us discover some really good sites, which go beyond the normal realms of bollywood and cricket.

• BlogAdda - a showcase for Indian bloggers
• Filmaka India - where user generated movies compete
• Web18 to launch horizontal portal ?

Comments

• April 14, 2008, Avashya commented: One site is www.avashya.com that aggregates the Indian tech news from NYT, Business Standard, etc.. as well as blogs.
• April 14, 2008, Sushil commented: I like dhingana.com for Indian songs, and news. they have a good audio, video section.
• April 14, 2008, Nishi Viswanathan commented: Here is another good one- www.window2india.com- it is geared towards NRIs though. Rediff.com used to be pretty good until they flooded their site with ads and low end content.
• April 15, 2008, chica commented: Mint newspaper is great on the content, you could try their website http://www.livemint.com
• April 15, 2008, Ayan commented: I like http://www.marketbuzz.in for stock market news & blog articles.
• April 15, 2008, pranav commented: @nishi - I never found any good content on Rediff ever. Not to mention I hate their UI and everything about them. @chica - that's right.I forgot about Mint. Mint has quickly become on of my favorite Indian biz papers. BS should take a cue and upgrade their offering - both, in terms of quality and usability.
• April 16, 2008, Swati commented: rediff, ibnlive and some times ndtv. I am getting frustrated with rediff though with their layout and ads though . Now a days I am using Live Mirchi to get a glimpse on Indian news content . This site is a News aggregator and is covering Hindi and telugu content too.
• April 19, 2008, aakriti commented: Livemint.com is a site you may want to check out. It has a good mix of business/fun/entertainment/technology..... And the fact that the site's UI are appealing, only helps.
• April 19, 2008, Prashant Maskara commented: I just started http://maskytech.blogspot.com with the aim to cover internet startups in India. I aim to cover more startups atleast on a weekly basis. Do let me know what you think of the blog.
• April 19, 2008, Pramodh commented: I like Rediff, Business Week, NewYork Times, IHT [International Herald Tribune]. All of them Rediff Rocks. when comes to Business, It is Business WEEK. And news, NYT,IHT. visit our site >> www.kotilingalatemple.com [ Lord Shiva ]
• April 20, 2008, Rajavanya commented: You wrote exactly what I had in mind !! Man India has 1/6th of the world population and internet users are growing at tremendous pace... Almost same thing i had mention in my post about the Times top 25 blogs of the world ! my favorite... godyears.blogspot.com written by a mallu doc @ mangalore and its awesome... check out some of his old archives... or best posts..
• April 20, 2008, Rajavanya commented: One post which I wrote aiming indian lifestyle change is here http://myselfindian.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-this-india.html
• April 25, 2008, Vikram Kamboj commented: Visit http://www.indyapulse.com . IndyaPulse.com, as the name suggests, is indeed a website which has the pulse of India encapsulated in it. It is an online web portal service offering a plethora of services for Indians around the world. All your queries are now just a click away!
• May 8, 2008, Mads commented: I use two justsamachar.com or onlysamachar.com both rock
• May 12, 2008, washim commented: well all i want to say is india guide is gud for indians