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Comment by mcritz | Hacker News Reader

This story reminds me of the time I paid my butler to travel with me to the Four Seasons in Milan. What was I thinking? </sarcasm>

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I think you should attempt to understand the culture before being sarcastic. Most people don't own cars and don't drive in India. Getting a driver in India is more like getting a ZipCar for the afternoon here in North America.

Well, kind of. The difference being that a much larger fraction of the American population can afford to rent a ZipCar than the fraction of Indians who can afford a driver.

Edit: I just realized that your statement makes more sense if one counts taxi services as "hiring a driver".

I dont think you have ever been to India. My driver has been with me for 10 years and his job has allowed him to fund his daughter to attend high school (in her village) - something that is unheard of in rural India. Also my driver sends a nice stipend to his family every month. India has 1 billion people - if they all became drivers, we would be 10 times richer than any nation in the world.

I don't understand what you're trying to say. I wasn't claiming that being a driver is a bad job in India. My point was that most Indians cannot afford to have a personal driver (or even a car), whereas most Americans can afford to rent a ZipCar.

FWIW, I was born in the US but go to India regularly to visit family. My dad grew up in a mud hut in a rural village in Tamil Nadu, where much of my extended family still lives.

(Sidenote: How did the son of rural farmers get the kind of education that allowed him to immigrate to the US? It started with government programs that were put in place to bring affordable education to everyone.)

Poor fellow, one should never take the help along on trips or, indeed, have them anywhere near the living quarters for terribly long. I well recall the termination of my last scullery maid: she took a nasty head cold and would most stop sneezing at all hours. Being most inconvenienced by the--I couldn't sleep!--we had to let the maid go. Though the head butler carried out this nasty bit of work, the poor wench's sobs did ruin a perfectly good tea time.

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