Lalitha and I are back home. We spent 3 days of week 8, in the USA rather quietly with the children. We went to see the workspace of Radha,( Deloitte - San Jose) Shravan (Apple - Vallco Park, Cupertino) and Sangeetha (Texas Instruments, Santa Clara). I was pleasantly surprised that Unlike India, Shravan and others came up to the security checkpoint and so we could spend an extra one-hour post-check-in etc. ( I had such prior experience before 9/11, but assumed that would have been done away with post 9/11)
The Inward Journey (SFO-DXB-BLR) was as comfortable as the outward one. Emirates is a great airline. When I pointed out to the stewardess that our seats are adjacent to toilets, (That did not show when I selected seats a few weeks before, in the seating plan) they changed our seats within minutes before take off!
Please find our observations, thoughts, and comments on this 50-day trip. Let me know what you think and comments if any.
Regards
Karthik.
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Overview of our USA Visit:-
Lalitha and I are back home today (11th Tuesday Morning). We had a great time at Cupertino and Foster City ( 25 miles apart) with Shravan& Sangeetha and Radha & Eshwar. 50days just went in a jiffy. It was a bittersweet moment -bitter that we couldn't spend more time with them but sweet that nothing like being back at your home, where you live.
I am glad Lalitha enjoyed her first overseas visit (mine 1994 Switzerland) and glad the four children of ours, made it a memorable time for both of us.
Lalitha and I have had some observations and we thought that we share them in a larger context.
USA Positives:-
1. My dream of 40 years, to visit Golden Gate, Alcatraz materialized. I missed the Universal Studios visit in 2007 (Corporate travel)due to work urgency. Glad it worked 15 years later. Also, the visit to Hollywood, Griffith Space Observatory at LA, as well to Dallas, and Portland was rewarding. JFK's assassination sport at Dallas was an overwhelming movement. The Pacific coast drive (Big Sur) and Aquarium visit was nature at its pristine best. It was great to meet my collegemates, Thirumalai Rajan and Chidambaram after 40 years of passing out. I am glad I met my Monsanto colleague, Clyde Roe at LA after 20 years. Lalitha had her fair share of Hindu temple visits too.
2. Infrastructure, Orderliness, Discipline, and following the law/ rules, are just seen to be believed in America. The penal system in America is very harsh (America incarcerates the highest % of people, as well as fines are very hefty) which could be one reason the compliance level is high. The law enforcement agencies at some levels are incorruptible.
3. The real governance happens at County, small, segmented city levels with each county wooing corporate and other interested parties to work for funds through programs and collecting taxes. It reminded me a lot of the way Gandhi wanted to build a "Panchayat Raj" (Bottom heavy driven). (San Francisco a big city has a population of 800,000, a village by Indian standards), Cupertino (Apple) is a town by itself as is Mountain View,(Google) Palo Alto (Facebook / Stanford ) etc. have no administrative connection to San Fran even though they are all within 20 miles from SFO. Each town's budget is separate and managed. (The immigration officer when we landed at SFO, was confused when we said we would stay in San Francisco and the address given was Cupertino and said they are two different cities, why you are mixing it up, he wondered! …( 30 miles apart!!).
4. The school system is well-developed. Children must study in the schools that are established in their area of living like Singapore. Most schools' playgrounds resemble professional sports venues. The Libraries in a few counties have tons of books so much so that a person can take up to 100 books and keep them for some time. Schooling I am told is Free until 12th grade or so.
5. Freedom to children is enormous, child abuse report lines exist, and children are a protected species despite all the tantrums they can do. I was amazed/perplexed to see Parents spending a good 90 min every day at the playground watching children practice. Maybe that is the time for their social networking with other parents!. I didn't spend 90 min in 12 years of their schooling to know what Radha and Shravan did!! As was my father to me.
6. Preservation of Science, Arts, and History in the form of a museum is a uniquely Western aspect. Each museum is well-developed and a source of immense knowledge. The rich and famous have given away quite a lot to fund these museums. The park for outdoor activity is the norm every couple of miles or so. Some Parks are as big as 3 Football fields.
7. Oh Yes, being away from the Equator, days are longer in summer (5 am to 9 pm) and shorter in winter. One can enjoy the day much more as Sun brings vibrancy to people. The sunlight can be deceptive too, as bright sunshine exists with the temperature at 11C making wearing a jacket a must!!
8. American enjoy their holidays seriously, the amount of crowd I saw at Universal Studios & at Battleship Iowa tour (Memorial Day Weekend) and July 4th are in staggering numbers. Also, the respect for the Military and Police is amazing. ( I have seen common people exchanging their business class boarding passes with Soldiers on flights).
9. Airports in SFO, San Jose, Dallas and Portland are big but facilities are no match for Asian / Indian airports. The interesting part is every airport has at least 2 to 5 terminals (Airline carrier specific), so the crowd gets distributed for check-in as well as security. All my 5# security checks in the USA, were hassle-free, without anyone touching /patting me, done within 5 min at most in line. TSA agents appear to be friendly with jokes as conversation & less threatening. English communication (which is a universal business language) puts people at ease, unlike Hindi here, which as a language not spoken by 55% of the country's population puts people at unease while undergoing airport security. A TSA female agent at Dallas Airport, spoke to Lalitha in TAMIL that she would be checking/ patting her (based on body scan m/c output) and if she need privacy that they both can go to a private booth to do the same. I must also mention Airport security checks at Dubai Transit were faster than Breeze. US Airlines' inflight service is a joke.
10. Discount sales and offers for products are amazing spending motivators, I had told Lalitha that we must come back to India with 2 empty suitcases. (We are allowed 23 kg each* 4 to USA for 2 persons). Lalitha managed to buy 45 Kg of materials!! (Same as what we carried from here)! American spending can be very tempting, and $ can go down the drain in a flash!
11. Practically 0 pollution, very good waste management systems, clean cold-water drinkable from tap. Water in peak summer is also supplied at 10C. Hot water is available 24*7 to facilitate clean-up etc. faster. Also being away from the Tropics, the dust/rust, and heat are much less so much so that I didn't wipe / clean my laptop even once in 50 days, (It is a weekly affair here in Bangalore!)
Our Other Observations:-
1. Public transport is non-existent in most cities. The car culture has spoiled Americans with cheaper fuel prices. So, a visitor without an international driving license would be dependent on friends/family for commute and his mobility will be severely restricted. The walk to shops is at least a mile one way, oh yes that is good exercise in a larger sense to see the positive aspect. Uber works out to 1.5$ a mile for travel.
2. Manual Labour is very expensive, so machines replace men and families must put a dedicated time to carry out activities themselves. So, if you are short on time then the system that requires attention at home can become a mess. We got the sense in our interactions during our walk in the park with other Indians, that many grandparents are glorified nannies and cooks as well as caretakers when their children are away for work. (Most Indians we met are elderly Green card/Citizens who settled to take care of these tasks!).
3. We felt that Indian children who are born and brought up in America are caught between what happens outside their home (American way) vs What happens inside their home (Indian way) The children/ teenagers are caught in a cultural conflict that can impact their mental wellbeing.
4. Indians, Other Asians live in a cluster of their own. Cross-cultural interactions /living outside that cluster appears absent.
5. Every job, however, mundane/non-sexy, it looks to us from the outside, people take pride in doing it and they cherish it. (That would be unthinkable in an Indian context for 80% of job doers as people appear to be grumpy, moody, irritated and appear unfriendly.) Tipping is very generous. (10% to 30% be at a Barbershop or delivery or Uber driver or a waitress!).
6. Begging and Homelessness are at their highest I had seen this time in my 20 years of travel. (Especially in Portland and Downtown San Francisco). This is the biggest change I had seen since my last visit to the USA in 2012. Few of the LA / Hollywood Begging placard signs we saw, were interesting, but we didn't take pictures, as it was borderline absurdity/vulgarity.
Biggest Surprises:-
1. 8$ to take a trolley to load your luggage at SFO Airport. (Free in India!).
2. Huge packet sizes of commodity/goods (5, 10, 20 Pound packs), Massive size clothes washing/ Drier, Dishwasher, Fridge. Americans when they go to Europe and Asia frown / wonder at clothes being hanged in the sun for drying. We are puzzled at the reverse of no clothes hanging around for drying in America. (I deliberately let my used bath towel hang in open, to defy the rule. HHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA)!!!!
3. Ice is with anything and everything so you must mention NO ICE. Else you get a mountain of ice. I joke to Lalitha that the Annual USA Ice consumption Electricity= Bangalore city's Annual Electric consumption!
4. Parking distance between cars while being at Red Signal. (Easily 2 cars can squeeze in that space). People err on the side of caution. Penalty and traffic rule violations are hit with major fines. Finding parking slots on important dates/ destinations is harder than finding a needle in a haystack. ( You can drive around 1 hr. and still won't find a parking slot, even a paid one at 20$, which happened to us on a memorial day on our visit to Battleship Iowa at LA).
5. America is a very liability-conscious society, so everything is worked on how to protect oneself from court cases. So, Insurance companies have a field day, thus everything appears costly.
6. The #people walking on the pavement in 10 min in India= # walking in our 50 days stay. The high traffic noise on walking during Golden gate bridge was the same as the daily traffic noise in Bangalore. (easily above 90dB(A).
7. Childcare is very very expensive. The lack of social support system makes such expenses a must. ( Up to 2800$ a month per child). Medical aid is free and through insurance. Despite that, you can wait up to 6 hrs. in the emergency room before you are attended to unless your head is broken into two or you are overdosed with Narcotics and are minutes away from dying. We had a close call for a medical situation, but we wiggled out without much of an impact.
8. Personal space is an extreme priority, people want to be politically correct. So, reaching out even as a well-wisher may come out as being far too intrusive. In contrast that when we landed in Bangalore, all 4 bags of ours weighing 23 kg each were taken off the conveyor and loaded onto a trolley by fellow passengers and Emirates staff, without us even asking for it.
9. Yes, In all my US business visits, I never touch Indian cuisine. ( I never eat Indian food outside of India) Ironically this personal visit, I never visited an American restaurant for the Bagels, Waffles, Pancakes, or Eggplant stuff… One exception was a quick lunch at EQUATOR to grab a quick American lunch on our transit from Golden Gate to Alcatraz.
10. Hindu temples are aplenty, be in Dallas or Portland!! Far cry from seeing an Indian face 30 years back in the general Western world (especially Europe!).!!! I felt that overseas Indians are more spiritually engaged in religion/ protocols than folks back home. They also have prospered well. No wonder I am not surprised that The Economist brought out a cover story a couple of weeks back on the Indian Diaspora and why the USA needs India the most. (The Indian diaspora's average annual income is 150,000$ vs 75,000$ the whole American average!).
Conclusion:-
I used to mention even 20 years back,
Heaven:- Indian Wife, American Salary, Chinese Food, English Home, German Car.
Hell: Indian Salary, American Wife, Chinese Home, English Car, and German Food. Appears true.
I feel, India in General at present, is 20 years behind the USA, yes, we made up 30 years in the last 10 years. America with its debt/ Dollar being pressurized / Inflation, and corrupt politicians of late, can easily fall off the cliff say in 30 years. My biggest worry for America is woke/ left liberals who are rich and powerful calling shots and appear to be winning by manipulating everything in destroying America from within!
For the first time in my living memory, I had thought not twice but thrice about some $ spent, despite Lalitha urging me. The Rupee was getting weaker and taxes and surcharges on Indian credit cards, made me hesitate. (Hell-Indian Salary is right!)
I hear of a few Indians (H1B) from bigger metros in India, who are actively considering returning to India after completing a maximum of 7 years of stay, without pursuing their Green Card (Permanent Residency); a situation unthinkable even 5 years ago. This trend is started already with folks from Eastern Europe,(Poland etc.) going back home. (Boomerangs)
U may or may not know that 10,000 American Passport holders are living in Bangalore, so no wonder a new US consulate is being established soon)
For me, the thought of leaving India to work and settle in another country never came up. I was always comfortable going across the world for 15 years in business travel, 2-3 weeks of a trip a few times a year, and always coming back to Bangalore. That way it was the best of both worlds, Heaven in India, and Heaven outside India.
Regards
Karthik.
14th July 2023.
