3 ms·

not sure why the reference to duct-tape. what's up with that? he and his wife are both engineers and they prototyped in the middle of the night -- every night

by noahth 16y ago

not sure why the reference to duct-tape. what's up with that? he and his wife are both engineers and they prototyped in the middle of the night -- every night!

noarchy 16y ago
I was half-expecting an article on outsourced Indian coders (an overdone stereotype, imo), given the title. It was nice to see that it was nothing of the sort.
gacba 16y ago
I believe the duct-taped reference is an attempt to get Western audiences to think about the article in the same light as Indian ones who understand the term Jugaad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugaad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugaad) loosely termed, "innovative fix". Although when I think of duct tape, I immediately conjure the term "cheap hack or fix", not the Jugaad connotation: Jugaad is a survival tactic, whereas a hack is an intellectual art form; i.e. Jugaad is the wile of the poor, and hack the pastime of the affluent cerebral. Jugaad is a hack to get around or deal with a lack of or limited resources, and has a class component to it - jugaad are things that poor but clever people do to make the most of the resources they have. They do what they need to do, without regard to what is supposed to be possible. Read the Wikipedia article as there's some cultural background that a non-Indian would fail to get about the richness of the term.
- Jun8 16y ago
  Thanks for the W link, it was an interesting article. The part that you quote caught my eye, too, although I strongly disagree with the idea expressed. This is a very narrow definition of "hack". As far as I understand jugaad, it is pretty much equivalent to what hack is, in its original form. Edit: Edited the W article and put a note in the Talk page, let's see how people respond.
- kranner 16y ago
  There's definitely a mildly negative connotation to the word 'jugaad' as I've seen it used in real life. More 'kludge' than 'hack'.
- ajju 16y ago
  In local usage, "Jugaad" is used like "Hustle". Both have a class component and imply getting things done in the face of difficulty. The difference is that Jugaad is less likely to involve something illegal.

by noahth 16y ago

not sure why the reference to duct-tape. what's up with that? he and his wife are both engineers and they prototyped in the middle of the night -- every night!

noarchy 16y ago

I was half-expecting an article on outsourced Indian coders (an overdone stereotype, imo), given the title. It was nice to see that it was nothing of the sort.

gacba 16y ago

I believe the duct-taped reference is an attempt to get Western audiences to think about the article in the same light as Indian ones who understand the term Jugaad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugaad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jugaad) loosely termed, "innovative fix". Although when I think of duct tape, I immediately conjure the term "cheap hack or fix", not the Jugaad connotation: Jugaad is a survival tactic, whereas a hack is an intellectual art form; i.e. Jugaad is the wile of the poor, and hack the pastime of the affluent cerebral. Jugaad is a hack to get around or deal with a lack of or limited resources, and has a class component to it - jugaad are things that poor but clever people do to make the most of the resources they have. They do what they need to do, without regard to what is supposed to be possible. Read the Wikipedia article as there's some cultural background that a non-Indian would fail to get about the richness of the term.

Jun8 16y ago
Thanks for the W link, it was an interesting article. The part that you quote caught my eye, too, although I strongly disagree with the idea expressed. This is a very narrow definition of "hack". As far as I understand jugaad, it is pretty much equivalent to what hack is, in its original form. Edit: Edited the W article and put a note in the Talk page, let's see how people respond.
kranner 16y ago
There's definitely a mildly negative connotation to the word 'jugaad' as I've seen it used in real life. More 'kludge' than 'hack'.
ajju 16y ago
In local usage, "Jugaad" is used like "Hustle". Both have a class component and imply getting things done in the face of difficulty. The difference is that Jugaad is less likely to involve something illegal.