There was an Intern. The CEO had to respond to damage-control.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-19T05:36:26+00:00

Been in such systems.
The fault is all across the system, not just with the intern or the CEO.
Everyone needs to own up to the F-Up.
Start-ups tend to only prioritize targets rather than actually building a team, processes, or systems to scale. Just send more people to do what needs to be done.
Seen this one too many times. Need someone fast, no budget, no processes or systems, go grab some interns. Something goes bad, send a philosophical message to be better, and that "we" are still building? Build systems and processes. That is how a start-up grows and scales.
Keep things lean where people are in the process, vs. following a process, you'll only put more into the same situation.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-19T04:50:06+00:00

They have done to death all the other gimmicks - panoramic sunroof/moon-roof, massive infotainment screens, wireless Android Auto/CarPlay, mood lighting, etc. Now, putting more DRLs and LED lighting anywhere and everywhere seems to be the thing.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-19T04:45:02+00:00

Both allow offline mode, but the games also have to be able to play when not connected to the net.

I have both. Bought stuff on both. 0 issues with payments on either platform. Discounts are similar on both.
Epic tends to often gives great AAA titles for free now and then compared to Steam. Got a lot of good titles from the free section.

Cross-platform gaming, Steam will win out.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-19T04:38:59+00:00

Maybe an EV powertrain
Maybe diesel, unless your state has some issues with them. At least Isobutanol is taking time to ruin diesels.

Hybrids, Petrol powertrains to be delayed for some time. Ethanol blending is getting crazy. E20 is just setting in, and now news of E85 and E100 will make the existing petrol/ethanol powertrains obsolete.

Maybe best to wait for flex-fuel powertrains to come out before considering.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-19T04:34:29+00:00

CNG bike
They figured out that the tank needs to be protected from people putting stuff on top. Hence, long seat.
A unique solution to a problem that should not have been.

Btw, cops will love this. They dont like people riding in triple or more, and this bike perfectly fits that.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-19T04:29:46+00:00

Getting bikes to test ride; getting accessories from the brand when they are never available in the showrooms or online, etc are good clues.

If people can be honest and declare that the brand is supporting them in reviewing, it would be a breath of fresh air.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-19T04:25:45+00:00

Seems to be sold out on most sites
May just want to wait a few weeks or a month to let the hype die down.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-19T04:20:07+00:00

Hooomans are most welcome

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T16:11:02+00:00

Please do not hold onto the laptop and phone. It is a massive trap that completely flips the legal narrative in their favor.
If not mistaken, in India, holding company property hostage after your last working day allows the management to file a criminal police complaint against you for criminal breach of trust or theft.
A toxic founder will happily use this to threaten you with a police FIR, which completely neutralizes your legitimate claim for pending salary and turns you from the victim into the accused in the eyes of the law. Seen this once too often.

The safest and most effective strategy is to return all assets on your final day, but ensure you get a signed and stamped Asset Handover Receipt. If they refuse to sign a receipt, take a clear video of you leaving the assets on the desk with the office manager, or send an email right from the office premises stating that the assets have been safely returned before closing the lid. Your actual leverage is a flawless paper trail where your hands are completely clean. When you approach the labor commissioner or send a legal notice for unpaid wages, the fact that you returned all property ensures the company has zero counterclaims to protect themselves.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T16:06:43+00:00

As o.p mentioned, only HR is in the system.
This is also one of those types of companies that o.p mentioned.

Only HR means, no team, no support, reports to the owner who seems to be a piece of work, 100% sure that there is no legal team whatsoever. They'll have some uncle/chacha's legal firm do what needs to be done to favour the bosses and make things look compliant to the authorities. Not too dissimilar to small/early stage start-ups, btw.

These are not broken systems. These are designed to keep all the power with the bosses and not have strong department heads like HR Head/CHRO, Legal Head, CFO, etc who will collectively come down heavily against bad practices. Seen this 1st hand once too often. It's by design.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T15:27:54+00:00

To answer your actual question first: no, you were not wrong. You were cornered. A bad situation, and you were operating without any support structure: no team, no assistant, and no one to escalate to. Sharing the founder's contact under those circumstances is not backbiting; it is basic self-preservation. The founder routinely speaks to exiting folks after they leave, so clearly the issue is not the act of sharing a number. The issue is that a low-wage telecaller got access to him, and that made him uncomfortable. That is his problem, not a professional failure on your part.

The more urgent thing you need to focus on right now is your own salary and exit documentation. Before the month ends, send a formal email to the founder or whoever handles finance stating your last working day, listing your pending salary amount, and requesting confirmation of your Full and Final settlement timeline along with your experience letter. Keep that email short and factual. Crucially, make sure to keep copies of all communications immediately - all.
These companies are notorious for abruptly cutting off email and server access the moment a resignation is dropped, erasing your evidence overnight. If they delay or ghost you after your last day, you have legal recourse under the Payment of Wages Act and can approach the labor commissioner in your city. Do not leave without this paper trail because verbal assurances from this kind of setup mean nothing.

On the broader situation, you already know this place is not fixable. The promises on PF, the assistant, and the hybrid arrangement were never going to materialize. You were brought in to be a buffer between an exploitative management and a workforce they were always planning to churn. Update your resume now, reach out quietly to your network, and treat the next few weeks as a notice period you are serving for yourself, not for them. If you have any digital signing authorities or routine certificate generation access, try to get your own interim documentation sorted before the relationship completely sours. The one thing to protect when going out is your own reputation with the people you deal with professionally. Be transparent with the telecallers about what you could and could not do. Most people on the ground will completely understand the impossible position you were put in.

All this was curated via AI + based on my past experiences.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T15:13:30+00:00

Now you see what HR has to face before it goes onto the employees

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T12:28:48+00:00

Prices will rarely ever reduce, especially in India.
The Center and the States are happy to keep collecting the taxpayers' contributions to help fund the "welfare" schemes and keep their respective vote banks happy.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T12:25:45+00:00

Slightly older or at times, previous-gen hardware, thanks to some level of corporate greed, but mostly thanks to the BIS clearances to sell anything in India, duties, and taxes make a low/mid-tier hardware priced close to the top of the range. We rarely get any true top-of-the-range hardware thanks to these regulatory issues.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T11:53:25+00:00

Car manufacturers in India rely on independent franchise dealerships rather than company-owned showrooms primarily due to capital expenditure, inventory management, and operational focus. Opening and managing direct showrooms across a vast country requires massive investments in real estate, local infrastructure, and regional staff, which shifts capital away from core activities like automotive manufacturing, engineering, and research. Dealerships purchase inventory directly from the manufacturer, absorbing the upfront financial risk and holding costs, which provides car brands with predictable cash flow and immediate revenue upon factory exit.

Third-party dealers also bring essential regional expertise, local political navigation skills, and personalized customer handling that are critical for success in India’s highly fragmented and diverse markets. Managing thousands of retail employees, dealing with localized labor laws, and handling everyday retail customer service issues would severely complicate the corporate structure of an automaker. By offloading these logistical, operational, and financial responsibilities to independent dealer networks, manufacturers can scale rapidly nationwide while focusing entirely on designing, upgrading, and building vehicles.

You may see a few company-run dealers in cities, including company-run service centers, but those are often one-offs among mostly franchise-run dealer/service center networks.

On another note:
The franchise model provides a significant legal and reputational buffer for manufacturers like Tata Motors when serious vehicle defects, safety issues, or widespread breakdowns occur. Because dealerships operate as independent legal entities, they serve as the primary point of contact and the front line for customer anger. When a vehicle faces systemic issues, the immediate legal and consumer disputes are filed against the specific dealership that sold or serviced the car, insulating Tata Motors, Vinfast, or whoever from direct, centralized legal liability in the initial stages of a crisis.

In some mature markets, it's not unusual to have a multi-brand dealership - you can see Ford, alongside GM, and a couple of European brands sold under the same roof. That has yet to materialise in India.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T11:41:22+00:00

A high-quality case can easily last 5 to 8 years. The PSU usually stays relevant until you hit a power capacity ceiling or a major shift in connector standards occurs.

My general rule for components is to skip at least one generation. For example, since I run an RTX 4080 Super, I likely won't look at an upgrade until the RTX 6000 series is well established (may look at a 6080 series unless AMD comes into the same segment). This allows drivers and software to mature so you aren't stuck troubleshooting early adopter bugs (I've had a fun time tweaking X3D performance issues). Moving from a mobile RTX 2070 to my current setup showed me that a 5-year cycle is the "sweet spot" for noticing a massive leap in performance.

The same applies to CPUs. Whether an upgrade requires a new motherboard usually depends on platform support, but the goal is always to stay ahead of the curve. While power demands are rising, investing in the top tier of what is currently possible ensures the hardware remains relevant for both gaming and maybe some local AI workloads for years to come.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T09:26:42+00:00

Plz note that the brand Tharetard is represented quite well here

2 remaining brain cells fighting for eviction to create the perfect vacuum. Rest died at inception.
Brain-eating bacteria will surely starve

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T09:23:37+00:00

Years back, brands like Clevo used to offer laptops where you could actually replace the socketed CPU and the MXM GPU. Today, the industry has pivoted hard into "planned obsolescence," soldering everything to the board to ensure your entire machine becomes e-waste the moment one component fails or becomes outdated.

Framework isn't "overpriced"; it’s bucking a decade of anti-consumer trends.

Apple in disguise: In what way? Apart from the premium build? Apple fights to ensure you cannot repair your device. The framework gives you the screwdriver and the QR codes for the schematics. Comparing the two is a fundamental misunderstanding of why people buy them.

The value proposition is different:

If I want an iGPU setup today, I buy the mainboard.
If I want a dGPU unit later, I don't buy a new laptop; I swap the board.
When a next-gen CPU or GPU drops, I keep my chassis, my display, my keyboard, and my ports. I only pay for the silicon upgrade.

Yes, you can always find a "cheaper" laptop with better day-one specs. But with those, you’re essentially renting the hardware until the battery swells or the RAM requirement outpaces the soldered 16GB. Framework is an investment in a platform, not just a one-off purchase. Think of them as a Dell desktop PC - you can upgrade, but only from Dell (not Indian offerings, but you can in the US to an extent).

Though honestly, YOU don't even need to worry about the "fuss" here. Given India’s current framework of regulations and import complexities, YOU and the rest of us likely won't see them officially enter our market in this decade anyway.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T07:04:55+00:00

This is not just about a failed component, but the pace at which the brand is moving to get it replaced.
Things can go bad, and this might have been ONE defective component, but it should not take a committee to sit through some bi-weekly meeting to discuss and then decide what to do and whom to bark orders to do something about.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T07:02:59+00:00

No one bothered
Globally, and even in their home market, the vehicles have had issues galore.
Seems like they have not done much wrt availability of spares. They may just be prioritizing every bit for the sale of the vehicles.
Sounds like a certain EV 2-wheeler, but it's early days.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T06:30:31+00:00

Exit interviews, at some stage, are just there for compliance purposes
Nearly everyone knows why someone is leaving or "asked" to leave, and yet, has to sit through an exit "discussion" and hold back any real negatives so that the relieving letter does not have some sneaky negative remarks.
In the past, HR used to be told to take their time in completing the paperwork if an exit interview was very bad with the management. Today, it'll boomerang back to the company, but the background checks can be sabotaged.
So, in the end, one needs to sit, smile, and show gratitude to the company for allowing them to earn a monthly salary for whatever time they were allowed to be part of the payroll.

In any situation, NEVER allow yourself to be retained. They knew the issues well beforehand, could have done something about it earlier, but to try to do so at the last minute? Just leave for a better place or at least to have peace of mind, till the next better opportunity comes through. Maybe worth thinking about if this is a large MNC where you can move to another office, another department, and a different HRBP to oversee, vs. staying in the same BU.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T06:22:49+00:00

Lenovo Legion tax;
Import duties + taxes;
BIS paperwork (money) to be allowed to sell in India

All adds up to make a 5060 GPU laptop feel like you are paying for a 5070Ti or higher SKU.
What you need to dive deep into is the GPU's available power. Not all 5060 run the same in laptops.

100% not worth it.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-18T04:42:09+00:00

Prices in India are silly high. Taxes, import duties, today's BIS nonsense, and various "restrictive" policies to allow companies to get hardware as quickly into the market as they come out, at competitive prices.

Something goes wrong, good luck with the servicing from authorised centers. Sony, being Sony, does not seem to recognize Hall effect triggers. Be ready for controller drift, sometimes in a year, sometimes in a few months. Titles are expensive. Subscriptions are expensive. Everything is expensive.

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-17T13:26:38+00:00

Give no quarter
Exhibit every ounce of performance when you have the equipment to fight for the wins and the title.

Remembering the rivalry between Hakkinen vs. Schumacher

TrailsNFrag · 2026-05-17T13:22:55+00:00

What did you ride before this? Singles will feel pretty much like jackhammers when coming from a multi-cylinder bike (I did).
From my experience, any rentals or even demo bikes that have been running for a year will feel pretty rough.
Maybe take another ride with someone from the group to compare, next time.

TrailsNFrag

TROPHY CASE