A tryst with the Silicon Valley

For an average person working in the IT industry, the United States of America is also known as “Onsite.” And the average IT professional wants to be onsite, preferably permanently 😉. This involves a lot of discussions with higher management and might include pleading, scrambling, clawing, and every other tactic in the book. Anyways, once in the US, you will appreciate the place. After all, it claims to be the number one country, the superpower, and the leader of the world. What’s not to like, right?

Well, there are certain things you might not like, for instance, the long and totally exhausting flight time from India to the US. So much so that I have written two blogs to help you with what you should carry and what you should do on long flights!

Typically, my travelogues start with a few basics about the place but there isn’t any basic information that you don’t already have about the US, thanks to Hollywood movies and TV series’. So mine was an official trip and I stayed in Los Altos, which is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Silicon Valley. Los Altos is where the CEOs, CFOs, angel investors, and business owners live. Sundar Pichai lives there too!

1. Visa Process

Let’s begin with the most tedious and random visa process I have ever seen! The B1/B2 visa grants multiple entries to the US for up to 10 years, and to obtain it, you need to carry a sh*tload of documents and visit one of the US consulates. They are situated in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Once there, you need to get your biometrics done and then attend an interview. The interview is what makes this process super random, as the interviewer may or may not grant a visa at his discretion.

PS – You cannot carry your phone in the consulate, which means it is not possible to book an Ola/Uber after you are done. The autos will thus charge in lacs!

2. Currency Exchange

First up, here’s my blog on the best way to get foreign exchange. Needless to say, DO NOT (under any circumstances) exchange currency at the airports. Compared to other currencies, USD buy and sell rates are much closer to market values which is definitely a plus. USD is what a typical international airport accepts (in addition to the local currency), which is a testament to the power of this currency. And this also means that if you end up with some extra dollars after your trip, they can always be used for your future international travels.

3. The LONG Journey

Who likes long, everlasting journeys? Definitely not me! No matter how comfortable your flight is, jet lag is the real deal. In my words, jet lag is the state where you are in the US but your body still runs on India time. So you might not be able to sleep all night and feel sleepy the entire day.

But let’s park jet lag aside. While you are on the flight, you will be served food multiple times, so much so that you will lose track of whether you’re having breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And it doesn’t really matter because the time zone you land in will screw everything up anyway. Our Indian brethren will be busy with alcohol during the entire flight (only if it’s free). Why, you ask? Well here’s why!

If you wish to use the washroom on the flight, well, you’ll wish you didn’t have to and could save yourself from the endless queues!

The best thing about my Emirates flight, though, was the free Wi-Fi. The Internet is mostly slow because it relies on satellites in Earth’s orbit. It is no match for your broadband connection back home, but it’s still pretty cool to be able to tweet mid-air or WhatsApp your loved ones. What’s even cooler is realizing how ‘The Economist’ articles keep you abreast of what’s happening in the world ~ I read about inflight Internet and how it works for the first time in an Economist article.

4. Climate

It was pretty cold since my visit was in December. I was also told that it rains in the Bay Area during that time. The cold is much worse as you go further north in the US. Better pack all your woolens, gloves, and headgear if you are visiting during the winter. Oh, and December is when you’ll hear “Last Christmas I gave you my heart” pretty much everywhere you go.

5. Wait… What?

Probably the first thing you would notice (at least I did) was the inconvenient measurement system America uses. I always knew they used miles and pounds, but being there is when it becomes an annoyance. The only three countries in the world that haven’t adopted the International System of Units (or metric system) are Burma, Liberia, and the USA. So, pounds, miles, gallons, and ounces are what you’re dealing with here. These do not conform to the world’s standard measurement base of 10. Now here’s why it gets cringeworthy as an outsider – when you want to buy something and it says $2 for 8.5 FL OZ, you just cannot calculate the per liter cost without completely blanking out. 1 FL OZ (fluid ounce) is 29.5735 mL. So that’s what you’re dealing with 😏. The same goes for making sense of distance for a place that is 2 miles away, remember that a mile is 1.60934 km!

You may also notice the homeless folks living on the streets. I surely did because I didn’t see a single homeless person on my recent trip to Dubai. It makes you wonder why a role model of democracy and an advanced economy like the US faces poverty when a nouveau-riche monarchy like Dubai has none of it. Probably because Dubai would deport the poor and pay the Emiratis enough, even if they were jobless. Not suggesting monarchy over democracy, but just saying.

Here’s another thing I noticed. If your order is paid for online, Amazon drops the package at your doorstep. That’s it. No calls from the delivery boy, no coordinating to check if you are home, none of that BS. I always wondered how drones would deliver without being robbed, but I guess I got my answer.

6. Infrastructure

Except for the downtown areas of San Francisco, San Jose, and probably some other areas or cities in Silicon Valley, you won’t really see high-rise buildings. One of the biggest reasons for that, I figure, is that there is no shortage of land in the US. The population is ~32 crore, and the USA is the fourth largest country in the world in terms of area.

An infrastructure marvel of sorts is the Golden Gate bridge of San Francisco (Video of Reaching Golden Gate and a view from the other side). I won’t bore you with the architecture specifics, but it’s definitely a must-visit place especially considering how few ‘must-visit’ places there actually are in the bay area 😉. Fisherman’s Wharf is famous for street shopping. It is certainly worth a try. You can grab many souvenirs to bring back home. There is also a ferry ride from the nearby Pier 39 that goes around the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz island (as featured in the movie The Rock). Here’s a video of the ferry ride. I am pretty sure there is a ferry that takes you to Alcatraz island from one of the other piers.

Union Square is another place to try. Union Square is to San Francisco what Brigade Road is to Bangalore. There you have it, don’t you just love my analogies? Downtown San Jose is similar in that regard. Silicon Valley, as the name implies, is full of IT company HQs, and its infrastructure can be fascinating for those with a job in the IT industry. I visited the Apple Store at their Cupertino Campus, which has a model of the campus with a bit of augmented reality thrown in the mix (Video).

7. Local Transport

Since I am mentioning all these San Franciscos, Palo Altos, San Joses, and Cupertinos, you might think that getting around within the Bay Area would be easy. It’s the exact opposite! There is a two-storey Caltrain that connects these cities, but within each city, local transport is almost zilch (video of the caltrain ride). You can rent bikes, but figuring out how to get them can be confusing and time-consuming. Buses and trams are available, but for a newbie, they are often too complex to comprehend. Then there is Uber. It’s expensive, but that’s the only convenient option you have.

While we’re on the topic of Uber, you might be a bit surprised to learn that most of the drivers aren’t full-time drivers. They are folks with regular jobs who drive for Uber as a side hustle. The traffic discipline here is an Indian’s dream come true. Cars follow lane discipline, stop for pedestrians, let fellow drivers pass, and honk only when absolutely necessary (which is pretty rare). But comparing that with India is a bit of a stretch. America’s population is ~32 crores, add another 100 crores and then we’ll talk.

Overall, my conclusion is that Silicon Valley is not at all tourist-friendly when it comes to local transport.

8. Subcontinent Diaspora in the Silicon Valley

Where are our fellow American-accent-swanking, green-card-seeking, dreaming-of-at-least-once-dating-a-firangi Indians, you ask? Probably at Macy’s 😁.

Macy’s is a shopping chain that usually offers discounts. Costco and Walmart are the Big(ger) Bazaars. It’s actually quite difficult not to buy stuff while in the US. Also, contrary to what you might believe, some items are actually cheaper in the US than in India – clothes, electronics, and shoes from popular brands are among them. It might also come as a surprise that you will get change down to one cent at the billing counter (sometimes through automated machines). The Apple Store gave me a change of 70 cents!

Food might be one thing you end up struggling with. For vegetarians, it’s a nightmare. Even if you are a non-vegetarian, the excessive availability of beef and pork might turn you off. Halal is a different kettle of fish altogether.

The Bay Area was also one such place where I felt the Chinese outnumbered the Indians. There is a Chinese food outlet in the Stanford University cafeteria. That’s the only non-American food outlet there, by the way.

9. Final Thoughts

Since mine was an official visit, I am somewhat torn between looking at the entire experience from the perspective of a tourist and from the perspective of someone working there. As a tourist, Silicon Valley isn’t really worth spending lacs. But it could be different for someone working in the valley, chasing the American Dream.

The American Dream is a set of ideals like democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity, and equality. Barack Obama, who comes from a black minority community, became the President of the United States, that is what the American Dream stands for. Anyone with the right skills has the opportunity to make it in the US, and I found that to be quite true.

But just to give you another point of view, let me suggest that it is much easier said than done. Try getting a visa for the purpose of seeking a job in the US – I doubt a visa for that even exists. And if that isn’t enough, ask the folks with a dependent visa (typically the better halves of those already working in the US) about the issues they face. The American Dream is a good dream to have, but it requires significant sacrifices in a country of strangers that is 20 hours of flying and 12 hours of time zone difference away from your land and your people. End of the day, it all comes down to what you perceive to be more valuable.

Check out the second blog covering just the photos

Silicon Valley Travelogue Playlist –