Yak ride

5 days in Gorkhaland (West Bengal) and Sikkim

The northern part of Bengal known as Gorkhaland and Sikkim is the Nepali-speaking region of India. This part is known mostly for its mountainous beauty. If you are flying in, Bagdogra is the closest airport. The airside of this airport is congested, so, I would recommend not to check in too early. Day 1 - Bagdogra to Darjeeling We took the taxi from Bagdogra to Darjeeling. It is a risky mountainous drive and most portions of the narrow road allow only a single car, so, definitely budget 4-5 hours for this. In the evening, we checked out the local market as well as the local Mahakal temple . It is a bit of a hike and you will encounter a good local market in your journey as well. I would highly recommend trying momos here. There are tons of sellers selling veg and non-veg momos for ₹50 a plate. ...

The Terrible Economics of running a Restaurant

A new Indian restaurant had opened within walking distance of where we live. We, actually, discovered it on the day of its inauguration ( Muhurta). The owner politely told us to come back the next day. We did. We were fifth in the queue on a long line outside the restaurant. A phone call came in from an acquaintance. The call was a good way to pass an hour-long wait. We would have certainly left the queue otherwise.

Double-negative jobs

There are positive jobs and then there are double-negative jobs. Positive jobs when done well increase the revenue of the company. On the other hand, double-negative jobs when done well, prevent the loss of revenue. Consider HR, lawyer, physical/information security personnel, all are double-negative roles. If they do their job well, you won’t notice any harm. It is hard to justify spending on double-negative jobs. They don’t increase the bottom line. The shareholders question the spending. But when they don’t go well, you end up with huge losses . ...

January 1, 2022 Â· 1 min      Misc

Fundraising rounds then and now

Then Seed/Angel Series-A Series-B Series-C IPO Now

Caribbean map

Where to go on your first Caribbean trip

If you are planning your first trip to the Caribbean and you want to decide where to go to then this post is right for you. If you are looking for something very touristy, international, and easy to access then pick between English-speaking Belize and the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic . Both of them have all the comforts of the mainland US. And are good for both singles and couples. Both are relatively cheaper than other islands I list below. While Belize is not technically an island, it has great access to the Caribbean sea. ...

Spanish Pronunciations for Hindi speakers

Every resource that I came across tries to teach Spanish to English speakers. Those who already know Hindi/Devanagari have certain advantages. Both in terms of producing the correct Spanish pronunciation as well as being able to read/speak the Spanish language. Like Hindi, Spanish is much more phonetic and rule-based than English.

Cruise

Dominican Republic in 5 days

The Dominican Republic is probably the most touristy Spanish-speaking Caribbean island. In my experience, it can be aptly called the tout capital of the Caribbean. We went there in the shadows of COVID-19. The island has pretty good intra-city and inter-city public transport. The local currency DOP, Dominican Peso, is about 1/60th of the US dollar. Day 1 - Santo Domingo to Punta Cana We landed at the Santo Domingo airport, took a 200 DOP guagua to Parque Enriquillo, and from there took a 2.5-hour bus ride to Punta Cana. We stayed there near the beach. Punta Cana is a typical Caribbean resort city full of touts. You won’t miss much if you skip it. But if you go, I would recommend Kat’s corner for breakfast. ...

Jupiter Cave

Cave Exploration at Lava Beds National Monument

There are several caves at Lava Beds National Monument of varying levels of challenges. I would recommend starting with a few easy ones first before taking it to a higher level. The caves do get really shallow at times, sometimes, less than a foot in height, so, don’t go in if you get claustrophobic. Gears to carry HeadLamp Helmet - even a bike helmet would work Knee Pads Good hiking boots A small chart summarizing which caves to do Detailed report with maps of the caves Caves I started with the Balcony cave, it’s an easy fun cave with a 5-minute journey from entry to exit. The exit of Balcony cave is joined to the Boulevard cave, it was another fun cave to explore. ...

Go language

Go Language concurrency and an easy pitfall

What should this code print?

Test changes to CircleCI config locally

Rather than pushing the code to a remote branch and then testing via Circle CI servers, it is best to run the tests locally first and make them work. Here’s how you can do that.