[starmilk]

$0.02: I honestly feel that Google's CEO being Indian hastened the adoption. In India, Sundar Pichai is a celebrity. There are billboards, advertisements, and the whole country is cheering for him, a "local".

There is more to it than this (of course), but I think that the community view Google through the friendly face that is their CEO, while viewing Facebook as the big blue tech conglomerate which that have become.

[ethanbond]

It probably didn't hurt. And it definitely didn't hurt as much as Zuckerberg's nearly colonialist attitude towards the Indian people and their government.

[sonink]

I didnt have a problem with facebooks effort, till I saw the patronizing ads they put out. Zuck read India wrong or maybe it was Marc - either which ways India will be closed for anything like this for facebook now.

Maybe Zuck needs to work harder on his Chinese, not that its going to help when that mirage unfolds.

[toomuchtodo]

Facebook can expect to receive the same treatment in China as Uber did.

[DarthMader]

Or Google

[DSingularity]

Whoa. How is it nearly colonialist?

[ethanbond]

Basically when the Indians started to sway against him, his PR campaign boiled down to, "we know what's best for you."

It's not a popular stance for a rich white westerner to take towards a previously (abusively) colonized country. Well, or anyone else. But especially not them.

[senthil_rajasek]

There was a huge controversy when Facebook announced free basics. Here is a good source if you want to know more, http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/02/12/466...

[kelukelugames]

The only thing I saw was Marc's tweet about India being better under British rule.

[tamana]

That was Marc Andreessen, not Mark Zuckerberg. Marc A is on FB's board, though, and sadly a parody of his former self -- classic case of someone who got rich for luckily being in the right place at the wrong time, and coming out thinking he is a god.

[ganeshkrishnan]

Yes that's true that him being an Indian hastened the adoption but mostly because he knew what the pain points were and how best to get started.

However, he is hardly a celebrity in India. Google has been popular here much before he became a CEO.

Also what damaged FB was the tweet by Marc :http://www.forbes.com/sites/saritharai/2016/02/10/marc-andre...

Directly implying that India was better off colonized.

[nnain]

That tweet, omg! Marc Andreessen got hit so hard because of it that he apologized on his Twitter account and said he won't participate on any political discussion about India again. I like his work, but the particular tweet was grotesque.

However the tweet came late. The activism against FB's Free Basics was in full force already.

[nnain]

I stay in New Delhi and visit Bangalore often. Don't remember seeing Sundar Pichai on a single public Billboard or Ad. Go on with your fantasy stories!

[alecsmart1]

This is 100% untrue. 99.9% of the population has no idea who Sundar Pichai is. There are absolutely no billboards or advertisements about him.

[parthdesai]

To add to your point, facebook's whole internet.org thing didn't help them in India as well. Majority of the tech-literate population was against that.

[plinkplonk]

I live in India and have never seen Pichai on a billboard. Any references to this phenomenon?

[shripadk]

I haven't seen a single billboard of Sundar Pichai in India. Stop spreading lies.

[starmilk]

My bad! I read a biographical article on him and that was what was said. Sorry I can't edit it. :/

[shripadk]

No worries. Can you, if possible, point me to the article so I can see who wrote it? Typically you never find billboards of founders/CEOs etc in India and if there is one that is a first.

[RhodesianHunter]

Unless you've walked every street in India, what right do you have to call them a liar?

I would be willing to be that there are at least two such billboards somewhere in the country, making his statement factual.

[shripadk]

I am willing to bet that there are none. You'll find billboards of politicians, bollywood celebrities or businesses at the max. Billboards are expensive. I'm sure even Sundar Pichai wouldn't want his photo plastered on a billboard anywhere... especially in India.

[shripadk]

Have you seen a billboard of Sundar Pichai in the US? If you haven't, then why would you expect to see one in India? He is no celebrity here. We are proud of the fact that he achieved a lot. But that does not mean he automatically achieves stardom.

[throwaway_45]

A lot of indians who come to this country never want to go back to india. They seem to kind of hate their country. So the fact Indians are celebrating someone who made it out is quite ironic.

[singhrk]

Indian here. Not true, most of us love our country. And people do love to go back. Relocation in general is tough, once you have a family and kids going to school, its really tough to go back

[throwaway_45]

You can't raise a family in india? Once you get used to that 150k salary you ain't going back. Pretty much all my cousins and stuff are trying to get out of the country.

I am not going to blame you are anyone else trying to make it, but I find it quite hypocritical that Indian publications glorify people who have pretty much left the country for good.

[pm90]

Why is it hypocritical? As you say, a lot of Indians do like to work abroad, and someone who has accomplished the very best of that particular ambition would definitely be of much interest to the Indian public.

[shripadk]

It is hypocritical that Indian publications glorify people who have left the country for good? I think your statement is hypocritical.

Has the West not done the same? Who was Mother Teresa? When she adopted India as her home, leaving her birthplace for good, to help the distressed, did the West not glorify her as a "savior" and elevate her status to a "Saint"? Heck even after her death, lots of Western publications still continue to praise her work (and rightfully so). Should we call the West hypocritical then?

Just because Sundar Pichai left India for good does not make him any less Indian. At the same time, he is also not a celebrity.

If you bother to look at other articles published by the same publications you referred to, you'll notice that they praise a lot of other, more powerful Indian entrepreneurs as well. Sundar Pichai is not even on the same plane as those of Tatas, Birlas, Kirloskars etc. These are the local celebrities (household names if you will). Not Sundar Pichai. Go ask any Indian about Tata and s/he will tell you everything they know. Then ask about Sundar Pichai. That is when you'll understand who is the real celebrity in India.

[geodel]

I am sorry but what you said is just lame excuse. There are enough schools and colleges in India from basic to very fancy.

I have seen from most of my friends in US, their love for India is mainly remitting dollars there and talking about politics/cricket/cinema.

[Manishearth]

This misses the point.

Indian schools are very different. Indian education (up to but not including college) is very different. While top IB schools and whatnot (which are super expensive and may not be affordable even if you have earned money in the States -- besides, you will be earning less money now) exist and are closer to the Western model of education, most likely you will be in something less expensive. There is an enormous focus on rote learning. There is a very high competitive attitude. These things are _very hard_ to adjust to. Rote learning especially; that's not taught in the US, and is a very hard skill to pick up at a later age. This is not something that can be trivially brushed away.

(The reverse is true too; I know Indian kids who have had a hard time when moving to the West.)

And really, schools are often why people avoid moving from state to state in a country, forget moving to another country altogether. Its generally about not wanting to uproot your family's life. Schooling is a big part of that.

Nobody's saying schools don't exist in India.

Source: I'm an Indian-American who came back to India and had to switch schools. I know many other families who have done this.

--------

Edit: Some other things that I missed:

The school year is different. Furthermore, many schools (at least in Mumbai) start the year in feb-apr before summer vacation.

Languages. Depending on your location and the grade you're in, you may have to learn one or two languages other than English. If the child is very young this is okay, but you can't expect older kids to pick up the new language and get to the level of proficiency expected at that age. Most Indian-American kids do speak one Indic language, but not necessarily to the degree of proficiency required. They may not speak Hindi at all.

Many exam boards allow for some flexibility with choosing a different language, like French. But most schools won't have the faculty for that.

In my case there was exactly one school in all of Mumbai where I would not have had to have Hindi as a subject AND would not have had to sit out a year of school (this was after leaving my American school a few months early -- they were okay with that because I had good grades. Imagine the situation people would be in if they didn't have the grades necessary to be able to leave school early.)

I actually still started after the school year was underway, but fortunately this school was okay with that. Didn't help the transition between education systems though.

[geodel]

Any person of Indian origin successful in west becomes local celebrity unless that person makes his dislike for India very public. India as a nation has very few contemporary role models to look up to so either they resort to mythology or look for successful PIO in west.

[shripadk]

Not true at all. We have a lot of contemporary role models to look up to. In fact I can bet that 99% of Indians know nothing about Sundar Pichai. However, I can also bet that 99% would have heard of J.R.D Tata, Kirloskar, Narayan Murthy or Azim Premji. Have you heard of any of these people? I'm sure you haven't. These are local celebrities in India, not Sundar Pichai.

For us, an Indian going abroad and making it has a different charm. That's all. It does not suddenly accord him a celebrity status and put him on par with the likes of Tatas, Kirloskars etc. Don't look too much into it.

[r00fus]

A lot? A phase that doesn't have perspective... What about their families and general patriotism and kinship with their birthplace?