It’s been about a month since we returned back. Over the course of the past 3 weeks or so, we have met several friends and I have met some ex-colleagues, in person and on phone/IM/FB chat.
The conversation typically goes like this: “Oh, you are back? Wow, welcome back. What happened? What didn’t work?”
Given that we learned a lot, my instant reaction is to go over the details on how things were just not working out for any of us. With some friends whom we meet over drinks and dinner (where we have time to discuss), I in fact do go into the details. With others, I have to resort to a generic “lots of stuff, we should meet up and talk about it”. My concern is that I don’t want to convey that it was a snap decision; there was a lot of thought given to the various options we had and it was not an easy decision to move back.
For some of the folks asking the question, there is a deeper thought process – they want to move to India at some point. If I know that, I feel like I should give them a list of tips and tricks and do’s and don’t’s. I feel like giving them some heads up to the stuff that we didn’t know of, and also convey that despite knowing what’s going to come one simply cannot fathom what’s coming until they go through the experience themselves.
I suspect this will continue for some time, until we meet up with most of our first-level contacts, and until then, we will re-live all our pain points over and over again :-)
Now that we have decided to move back, I have been thinking hard, really hard about what could have been done differently, what could have changed our experience, and in general, how I can help anybody else in our place.
So here are some tips, tricks, suggestions and gotchas. If you are reading this and have any additional points to add, please let me know and I will gladly update the list.
First and foremost, find a place to live close to the person you are closest to in that city. If not in the same complex, find something that is less than 15-20 minutes of drive time. Ideally, walking distance. You may not pop into their home all the time, but it sure is a huge help when you need to find the nearest/best hair cutting place or a reliable plumber or grocery stores to avoid, etc.
Be ready to become dependent. I am not talking about losing independence because you may have to move in with parents or in-laws. I am talking about being dependent on domestic help of various kinds - full-time/part-time servant, driver, the guy who presses your clothes, grocery delivery, etc. All these service persons are available, for relatively low cost too (esp for "IT" salaries), but most of these tasks are not doable without them. Usually there is no dishwasher, so if the maid does not come, you end up having to wash each thing by yourself. It is very dusty, so there is no way you can go more than a day or two without dusting the whole place. Driving is extremely stressful, so you do need a driver for most of the day. And so on. So be ready to give up your independence (in that way).
Even though cities like Bangalore are "built for the expat" as in they have communities catering to expats, services built to address expat needs, etc., I would strongly urge you not to live life in India as an American (or any other country person). You decide to move to India, live like an Indian. You will get extremely frustrated if you live life like an American. Don't get fooled by the setup. Underneath, it is all Indian, no matter what the façade looks like.
Related to the above point, don't try to live in a bubble too much. Don't protect yourself by living in air conditioning, drinking only bottled water, etc. After the initial few weeks of transitioning, just let go. Roll down the windows and take in some of the diesel smoke. Have normal "RO" water at good restaurants. Let the kids into the community swimming pool. The sooner you blur the line between "there" and "here", the better. Of course, you need to use discretion like eating at roadside stalls but not drinking their water, but in general, live outside the bubble.
If you have a choice between an extremely large complex with plenty of amenities and a small complex with basic amenities, choose the latter. I know it may seem counter-intuitive because if you live in a big complex, the chances you will make more friends are higher. However, what we noticed was, the bigger the complex, the easier it is to not meet the same people more than once or twice, ever. If you are in a smaller complex, I feel there would be a better chance of actually getting to know the neighbors.
Service providers are not responsible. Just keep that in mind. They have no sense of ownership, no attention to detail, and most importantly, no sense of responsibility. A plumber may say he is coming at 10am but won't show up all day and will never even call you that he cannot make it, and worse, won't apologize for either of those issues. Just know that the biggest issues will arise when you set up various services. Typically you won't need to interact with these guys on a day-to-day basis. However, as I experienced, it is extremely frustrating when pretty much every single service provider repeats the same crime - being late or not showing up, doing an incomplete job, providing incorrect updates or instructions and in general doing what would be considered an unsatisfactory job. Just be ready for it.
Give up your politeness. When dealing with any service provider including servants, drivers, waiters, parking garage attendants, watchmen, etc., don't be afraid to be what you may consider borderline rude. Being bossy is always better than being polite. If you notice that the other person is someone who can handle politeness, you can turn down the volume on the bossiness. The general rule of thumb is if you don't indicate that you are running the show, they will. And you don't ever want that to happen. I must admit, this was one of my biggest challenges. I simply could not behave like that.
Some logistics - get proof of residence established early. Address verification is a big deal and if you don't have a local address it would be hard or impossible to get any service started. Keep 100s of passport-sized photos of the entire family ready. Well, not 100s, but dozens at least. You need them everywhere, just like the proof of residence. Make sure you have an ID proof that shows residence too. California driver's license did not fly in some cases for me, because it did not have proof that I am an Indian. :-( Finally, make many photocopies of these various proofs.
Save yourself the trouble and get an automatic shift car. I know there are advantages in a manual shift, biggest being a cost advantage, but my left leg is screaming for rest after maybe 10 minutes of driving in a stop-and-go situation. Which happens all the time. An automatic shift car will give you the much needed relief when driving around in traffic.
These are just some of the thoughts that I could collect. I may keep adding to this list over the next few weeks.
I realize that this may be something every person who returns to India may write, but I didn’t want that to stop my contribution. Hope this helps :-)
I wrote something earlier about how I felt frustrated with the lack of attention to detail with most Indian service providers (and software developers).
Our elevator recently got new wooden/laminate flooring. All good, except it seems like the goal was to “cover most of the floor” and not “do the flooring”. See how they have left about an inch off the edges? It’s not like they are going to put some sort of cover there. The flooring has been like this for 3 days now.
We are on a small vacation. At this resort, one of the service staff asked my son where he is from. Without batting an eyelid, he said “America”.
I was a bit stunned, actually. We have not told our kids about our decision to move back, so it is not like he had a hint at all.
This does reinforce our hunch that the kids are not settled here at all, and are reacting negatively in their own ways (being more cranky, being different in behavior than they were, etc.).
Yes, after 5+ months of being in India, we have decided (after some weeks of discussion) that we are going to move back to the US. It was, for obvious reasons, not an easy call to make.
The decision was made because we got the letter from our kids' current school about registering for the next year, and since we were unhappy with how things were going here, we had to start seriously considering the options.
Some of the options we considered were moving to Bombay where our entire network is, staying put for a few years, or moving back. And we thought, all things considered, that moving back would in fact be the best option. Nobody has seen the future, but as far as we could see, it seemed like for all of us, it would work out well.
We have learned a lot here in the past several months. We have enjoyed many of the things we came to enjoy, like being in the same time zone as our parents, being closer to home, the convenience of having domestic help, getting things done by someone else (car wash, car drivers, etc.) and such. We have also, of course, been frustrated a lot. I have written about some of those examples in this blog earlier. The wife has even more examples of things not working out well for her.
And of course, the kids. They really miss their friends there. They are unable to connect with their classmates here like they had connected with their friends there (naturally, it takes time). There is not a single day that goes without them remembering their friends and something they did with them "back in Santa Clara". They don't protest the life here directly, they are too young to express it. They have changed for the worse instead, in terms of their behavior. They are more cranky, they are more dependent on us for the smallest of things, they have regressed a lot.
No idea about the timing when we move back, but it has to be before the school ends there so that we can at least enroll the kids for the next year. I have to think about my job too. Will keep that topic off the record for a variety of reasons.
The venture/adventure was worth it. Anyone who is planning to move, I strongly recommend actually doing it and experiencing it themselves. The adaptability and the comfort level will naturally be different for different people, so it is best to do it yourself. And if it does not work out, IMO it is definitely ok to cut your losses (so to speak), and wrap it up.
While I have been less than impressed with how service providers behave here in India, what happened this morning as I got to my work really, really annoyed me and made my flip my table.
I have long suspected that my desk was being used by someone else when I was away. Of course, I haven’t been able to prove it, or convince the facilities folks about it. Nevertheless, what I saw this morning was enough to prove it.
I was unpleasantly surprised to see food marks all over my desk this morning. As if someone ate their food (sloppily, too) at my desk and left without cleaning up. It was absolutely disgusting to see those food marks all over the desk.
I barely found space to put my computer down and take some pictures to send to facilities and have them clean it up.
My irritation is as much with someone using my desk and associated problems like my chair being constantly switched, but the absolute unprofessionalism that one of my co-workers showed by not cleaning up after eating. It’s not like my cubicle seems abandoned - there are a bunch of cables lying around and of course, a giant monitor and my freaking name plate!
If my co-workers behave this way, what am I to expect from “the common man”? These are educated people working for a multinational company and if they care so little about such things, the situation is quite dire in general.
I know this may seem like an overreaction if you read it in vacuum, but the fact is I have been seeing similar unprofessional behavior all over the place across several people interactions I have had since I moved back.
At this point, it has been about 30 minutes, and nobody has responded from facilities. :-/
I have two issues to report, one is major and one is minor. I will start with the minor:
A few days ago I tweeted to Airtel_Presence that I need the usage SMS stopped. This had been stopped earlier but for some strange reason it restarted. They said someone will get back to me. Yesterday someone called me and they confirmed that it has been stopped.
No, it hasn’t. This morning, I still got the SMS. How difficult is it to stop one SMS message? I shouldn’t have to call 5 times to get this one thing taken care of!
Now, the major issue. I have a smartphone, and I have mobile internet. So, I was surprised that yesterday I got an SMS that my phone calling will be suspended because I have gone over my credit limit. I was shocked, so I looked at my bill online and I saw the total but I didn’t see how it added up to that number. So I called 121.
I was explained that I had Rs. 700 worth of internet usage above my allotted capacity. I was surprised because I got no indication that I went over, during the billing cycle. (Let’s ignore the fact that this was nowhere on the billing details online.)
So I tried to reason with the customer care person that this should be waived. She kept reciting the rules, and I kept harping on the fact that I had no indication that I had gone over my limit. I requested to be transferred to the manager.
The manager went through the same nonsensical procedure of reciting the rules to me. I begged her finally, to waive and she created some sort of a case which would investigate the issue and provide the waiver (or not). Meanwhile, I told her about the suspension and she said that my line was not suspended at the time, and that she has put a note that until the case is resolved, it won’t be.
False. This morning when I tried to use my phone, I got the message that outgoing services had been suspended. I called 121 again. The first person I reached started with the same recitation of the rules and I had to tell her I understand all that, and while my case is being investigated, I just want my hold to be removed. She said she could not do it, and that she had put a call back request with her manager, who would call me back in a few minutes (even though, as she claimed, the SLA is 4 hours).
I waited for 30 minutes, and no call back. So I called 121 again, because I need my phone for my work! Reached customer care and once again I was made to go through the rules and I kept telling her that my call is not about my bill but about removing the hold, which according to the manager yesterday, should not even have happened.
She tried contacting her manager and said that she can only put a call back request and that the manager would call back in 4 hours. I told her it is unacceptable that the manager will call back in 4 hours. I said I will stay on hold until the manager is available. She waited for a few minutes and came back and said she will have to put the call back request. I stayed firm and said no way I am getting off the call without talking to the manager.
Finally, the manager came on the phone. She went through the exact same stuff that each and every person had gone through with me since yesterday. I had to tell her that this is not about the bill itself, because it is under review. This is about me using my phone immediately, and I need her to override.
Guess what? She disconnected the phone on me. Going against perhaps the first customer service rule, she hung up the phone on me. I was speechless.
If signing up for new service and porting number were not such a hassle, I would have left your service long, long ago. I am sorry to say, you are probably the worst company I have dealt with, ever.
I strongly suggest you call me back at the number in the subject line, and let me know the status of my issues. If not, my only option would be to go to consumer court.
As you land, there is a good chance the pilot will announce that it is hazy and warm.
The expected weather around the year is warm, hot or extremely hot. Throw in heavy rains at some point in the year.
Heavy rains are expected to stop the heavily used suburban trains due to flooding at least once a year.
Heavy rains also result in a few “rain days off” during the year.
The city is probably known for its tolerance as much as its communal riots.
It is probably also known more for the riots than the bomb blasts that preceded the riots.
The city has what used to be one of the largest slums in the world, and at the same time, it has restaurants with $500 bottles of wine that customers actually buy and consume.
It is one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in the world. Rooms are small, apartments are small, and independent houses are almost non-existent.
And yet, whenever I am here, and especially now as I visit it from Bangalore, I feel at home. In my city.
After about 3 months of being in India, and about a month-and-a-half of being in our “own place”, that’s the thought that came to mind on the drive to the office this morning. I am uncomfortable. The wife is uncomfortable. The kids are not directly uncomfortable but they have changed and are probably showing their disconnect by their changing (for the worse) behavior.
Fish out of water? Not quite, but fairly close. I was in the US for 16 years, and my wife for 12. The kids have only seen the US life and lifestyle. Neither my wife nor I have set up a family in India. I left India when I was still kinda under the security blanket of my parents.
It is not the traffic. It is not the lack of true, good friends. It is not the lack of discipline. It is not the lack of ownership. It is not the fact that despite being close to most of my team here in India, most of the management is still in the US so I am always “behind” on email because I have to react to management emails.
I think, for me, it is a little bit of everything above, and maybe some more. I feel uncomfortable. I don’t feel “at home” when I come home.
Can’t tell if this is something that I can get over, or not. At this point odds are very small that I can get over. Especially considering that everyone else in the family is going through the same, and maybe in the wife’s case, even worse state of being disconnected.
The road was expected to be bumpy, but as it turns out, the bumps may be too many for us.
So, I have now spent two months in India and about a month in my own place. Across several products and especially services, I have noticed two trends which really bother me. Sadly, both of these are deeply imbibed in the culture and I don’t see how the habit will break.
First is the lack of attention to detail in 99% of the work that gets done. I am not only referring to things like building an apartment complex, or painting the walls, but I had also seen it earlier in terms of software deliverables in the workplace. There is a strong tendency to “get it done” but absolutely no regard to getting it done right. As a result I see paint splattered around the edges, some last-minute electrical wire roundabouts making it look ugly, incomplete code, badly washed cars, etc.
Some ideas I have about how and why this may be happening: first, the people who work on these things are not completely invested into the final output. They are paid for their work and that is in no way tied to the success of the final product. More often than not, the money they get is more important than the customer satisfaction scores (if ever there were such a thing that gets measured). Going back to an earlier point, the incentive for the workers in the trenches is just to complete the task at hand and move on to the next.
The second pattern I dislike, and do so even more than the first, is the lack of ownership. The two are tied closely, of course, but still needs to be called out separately because I have reacted a few times and have realized it is only for my blood to boil. For example, I have been using a service which allows you to book a car driver for a certain number of hours for a fee. I have had several drivers come late and as a result I have had to miss or cancel some meetings. I have tried to reason with the drivers that it is bad that they are 45 minutes to an hour late. Almost invariably, the response is a shrug of the shoulder, and some mumbled explanation about traffic. Everyone knows the traffic is bad in Bangalore, so if they really cared to be on time, they’d account for it. Most of these guys have a two-wheeler, so it’s not like they really get stuck.
To take matters to the next level, when our direct-to-home satellite installer came 6 hours (yes!) late for his appointment, I actually cut some money out of the payment I made to the retailer. He tried to reason with me that the cut would come out of his pocket and I tried to tell him he should pass that penalty off to the installer. His response left me speechless: “they won’t ever change”. This is after 30 minutes of arguing with me that the small percentage that I held back, was actually a big deal to him.
Both of these aspects of service providers as well as product teams is disheartening. I can understand missing some things because we are human, but this habit of being satisfied with “good enough” is a worry. A big worry.
I went to the container location yesterday to get our good passed through customs. I thought, for kicks, why not document the experience so I can look back in the future. I tweeted during the process from my other twitter account @MehtaRomit (where it is more personal tweets vs @TheRomit which is more tech news-related tweets). Here’s the storify story:
Arrived 10 minutes ago to container location. Need to "inspect" and explain what we have, to customs, apparently.
It is hard not to observe how much help you get (like it or not) when you have money in India. I am not just referring to servants and cooks and drivers. It is everywhere. I recently experienced some of it:
As it turns out, my company has a tie up with HSBC Bank for savings accounts (equivalent of “checking account” in the US). They have two points of contact dedicated to my company. I sent an email to one of them, asking him to send me the details of the types of accounts they offer and the terms for each of those so that I can apply. What was the reaction? He calls me from his mobile phone and is in the office with the application forms that afternoon! Not only that, he actually filled out the form for me! After putting all the relevant details in the cumbersome-to-fill form, he pointed me to where I should sign and that’s it.
Later I found out that instead of a joint application, I needed to do a sole application. Guess what? He came to my uncle’s house (where we are currently, temporarily put up) to get the form filled out. Oh, one of the things does not have enough photocopies? He took the stuff, went on his motorbike and made copies himself!
It is not just the fact that they want the business. With waiters, I have seen that they not only serve you every single time you need to be served (like for second helping and such), but when it comes to drinks, they actually put the ice, the drink and the mixer in front of you!
I have a habit of picking up my plate and putting it in the sink (if not actually rinsing it too) after I am done with lunch/dinner. The servants here feel awkward when I do that and keep reminding me that I don’t need to do that. Overwhelming.
I am afraid this hierarchical nature of society (waiters have to listen to patrons, servants have to “obey” the boss, etc.) can give a sense of entitlement to people and that would be very, very bad. For example, I saw at Bangalore airport that a guy was shouting extremely loudly at one of the porters. I am not sure what was the issue because I was too far, but I imagine the porter may have not loaded all the bags on the cart properly or some such thing.
We hope that we don’t become like that guy, and given that as more people get educated the less likely they are to do servant-type jobs, it is inevitable that one day we would have to do much of the stuff ourselves regardless. Better to prepare for that and live mostly like how we lived in the US, than Indian-ize in that respect.
Tomorrow morning marks the end of our first week here in Bangalore. To say the least, this week seems more like a year. Perhaps because I don’t have to go to the office, or because we have simply been doing a ton of stuff, but it does seem like a long, long time ago that we landed here. A random set of notes from our first week:
Bangalore is a much nicer city, weather-wise, compared to Bombay. It has remained overcast (bummer) but because of that, and intermittent drizzles, the temperature has stayed in the upper-60s in the cooler times of the day and lower-80s in the warmer times of the day. Besides, pollution is way lower than Bombay, and as a result, knock on wood, the kids have not fallen sick in the first week after coming to India.
However, Bangalore has killed us with the mosquitoes. It is not like there are too many, not where we are currently staying, but that one stupid mosquito in the room is enough to bite us up and down the exposed body. The kids especially have been eaten up very badly. They have been good sports about it and after reminding them over and over, they have stopped scratching too much when they do get bit. We have got better mosquito repellants to try out, and we are applying various creams on their body. We may end up getting the tennis racquet-shaped mosquito-killer (just wave in the air and zap!).
We arrived over the weekend, so we ended up driving around town to get acquainted with the geography/landmarks and since it was the weekend, the traffic was not terrible. But since then, driving across town in peak traffic has introduced us to “crazy Bangalore traffic”. It is not just the volume of vehicles on the roads, it is also the gross indiscipline among the drivers (including ours, of course) which causes the nightmares.
First order of business was locking down the school. We had looked up and started a conversation with one of the many international schools in Bangalore so we decided to visit them first. We liked the school and instantly completed the kids' “interaction”. This was essentially an interview with one of the teachers to ensure the kids meet the standards they portrayed in the application form. Both the kids passed that interaction with flying colors. The next step was to talk with the kindergarten coordinator but she was busy so we could not close the deal that day itself.
Most of the international schools are located in the same area, and that is not close to any residential complexes. “Close” being a few minutes drive. As a result we had to start looking for residences where the kids would have to travel about 30 minutes in the school bus. Not ideal, but that seemed like it was going to be the new normal.
In the past few days we have seen several places in the Koramangala area, Sarjapur Road area and Whitefield. We like one place in Whitefield and another in Koramangala. There is a backup third option in Sarjapur Road. The Whitefield place is fantastic because it is in a tall tower at the top, and the Koramangala place is great because it is minutes away from stores/restaurants/etc. It is not going to be an easy decision to choose between the two. We have a lot of thinking to do.
We have started getting acquainted with some of the major roads, some of the major intersections and landmarks but we are of course not in a position to navigate ourselves from scratch. I believe as we drive more we will get more and more familiar.
Another thought that struck me last night: we have never, ever bought “white goods” (as they call those here), i.e., appliances. Refrigerator, washing machine, dryer. In my 16 years in the US, we moved 4-5 times and all the houses had basic appliances in place when we moved. So we have that decision to make as well, and since there is such a huge disposable income here in India, the choice is amazingly huge. We have to start looking and narrowing down on some models so that we can then shop around for that model.
I have one more week off and then I start work. Hope to lock down the housing situation before then, and especially be ready to move in by mid-October, when our stuff comes. (Meanwhile, we did meet with the coordinator at school and have paid our fees, the kids start on October 1!)
Went for a barbecue at a friend’s house today. It was a routine get together with a bunch of close friends, except as we were leaving we realized that it was probably the last time we would be hanging out together as a group. At least for a long, long time.
Wow. Can say it is feeling real now. It will of course to hit us till we get there, but these meetings and hang outs are what will be sorely missed.
We are hoping to find some families in similar boats as ours in India, so we can form similar ties with them. Fingers crossed.
We did a walk through with our agent and handed over the keys. The house we stayed in for the past 4.5 years, is now going to be “used” by somebody else. :'-(
As you may have read, we are planning to relocate to Bangalore very soon. One of the first things we have to do is get admission into a good school for both our kids. Since it is highly competitive there, and since the school year has already started, I wanted to get a head start and do some research and maybe even contact some schools to get the conversation started.
To my unpleasant surprise, search results for schools in Bangalore are full of SEO spam. I mean, the results are from a few popular (by visits?) domains but the content is just not there. It is truly pathetic. Content is scraped from one site to the other, so reviews are also copies of each other. Of course, reviews for the same school range from “I am pulling out my kid” to “This school rocks”, so I have learnt to take them with a massive pinch of salt (aka disregard them).
Not only is the content bad, the layout of these sites is also bad. These sites are built for pageviews and so, there are ads galore. I am always looking at how to avoid clicking on ads.
Finally, the schools themselves seem to have bad design taste in building their own website. Considering how much money they make on tuition and other costs, I would think they have to invest in getting their site updated with a more modern look. Most of them still have scrolling lists and Flash and many of them still don’t supply relevant information (like tuition fees!) thereby making the visit to the site futile.
Earlier this year, after about 2 years of thinking about it and not acting upon it, we decided to relocate to India. I have been in the US since 1996, and my wife has been since 2000. So for both of us, it has been a long time and we are quite settled here, so this is going to be a tremendous mental move on top of an already big geographical/physical move.
If all goes well, I will be able to move within my company, which has a big R&D center in Bangalore. That would be ideal, because I already work with folks there. It would be ideal if I can avoid the work place “settling down” while we settle down in our personal lives.
We have told the kids (4 and 6) about this and they seem to be excited but I suppose they have no idea what is coming up. Of course, by now they have also formed some close friendships with some of our friends' kids and in their school, but I am assuming for them it won’t be as hard a move as it seems for us.
Excited. Apprehensive. Anxious.
So, why did we decide to move away from what is clearly a thriving Silicon Valley?
The parents
My parents and my wife’s parents are all getting old very fast. From just a few years ago when they visited us and now, we can see they have physically slowed down and that is only going to get worse. We’d like to be closer to them so they have someone to support them if and when needed. They are still able, but as months and years go by, they won’t be.
The kids
We are currently sending both our kids to private school and it is freaking expensive. The second income in the household ha become a must, rather than a nice-to-have. It is either that, or we move to a place where public schools are excellent. The issue there is that we have to shell out more for the real estate and those areas a total sellers' market, making it hard to get a bargain.
Having gone to school in India, and hearing about the newer schools and newer forms of education, it seems clear that the quality of education in India is high, especially primary and secondary school. Despite the tuition being much higher than what we paid decades ago, it is still very, very affordable compared to the Bay Area. The second income is most certainly a nice-to-have rather than a must-have.
The Indian economy
India’s economy has been growing and many reports suggest that it is only the beginning. Bangalore felt like Silicon Valley from the late 90s when I visited last year - many startups with great ideas, many angels willing to invest, venture capital getting organized, etc. Of course, there are also the big multinationals with varying levels of presence there, so in general, the tech scene is booming. Inflation is a worry and so is the weak Rupee, but there is real growth (i.e. revenues and profits), so there is reason to be optimistic about the next 10 years.
Every rose has its thorn
The reason we could not finalize for so long is we kept thinking of the downsides, and there are many. At our age, it is hard to make new friends and we have a bunch of friends now with whom we regularly hang out. We will miss having close friends there. Corruption is rampant and poverty is unavoidable. Pollution and population growth/density creates a disease-spreading melting pot in and around the big cities.
On a macro level, politicians are a joke and because of the Parliamentary form of democracy practised in India, and the fragmentation of the big, national parties into smaller, regional parties invariably creates coaltition governments and as a result very little gets done.
Making the leap
All these factors were making us wary of taking the big step. For now, the benefits have overtaken the possible downsides and with certain assumptions made, we are going to try to make it work there. Not everything will be easy, not everything will be straight-forward, but we could actually benefit big time in the long run.
So here we are, about a month away from starting the next chapter of our lives. We are excited and cannot wait to get it started!
And that means we have to just beat Sri Lanka. Not necessarily with a bonus point.
But the way the Indians played today, it does not seem like they are going to be able to win against SL.
A lot has been said about this team of late. The consistency being the main point of conversation. But in this tournament, they are hardly consistent. Hopefully this is the first tournament and hopefully they will only improve.
If I have to use one word to describe ARY Digital’s coverage of the Asia Cup, I would use the word ‘sucks’.
It seems like they are re-telecasting someone else’s coverage. So the commentators seem to be in a studio (or maybe an apartment in New York ;-) ), and there is hardly any stadium noise. It feels quite dead.
And of course, the camera work, which I don’t suppose is ARY’s, is pathetic. It took me back to those old Doordarshan days where the camera and the ball would hardly ever be in the same place!
India won its game, as predicted. Sehwag scored a 0 instead of a double hundred, as I expected.
Sachin was comfortable and confident and got out to a soft dismissal. As usual.
Ganguly was clueless and he should have gone on 0 (easy slip catch dropped) and 4 (a tough catch in the gully dropped). But in the end, what he puts up on the board is more important. And in the end, time spent in the middle has not substitute. Good for him.
I slept off after the first 45 minutes or so. Later found out that Dravid scored a century.
This guy, I am telling you. Don’t know what he eats and what he does, but he is redefining consistency. No wonder he is The Wall or Mr. Dependable.
Hats off to you, sir.
I saw some of the initial bowling and man, Irfan Pathan is awesome. The way he is able to swing the ball is amazing to watch. He is a good prospect for India in the long term and hopefully he keeps fit and keeps bowling for India for a long time.
Of course, the rest of the innings was nothing much to shout about, except the fact that Sachin pocketed 3 wickets. Did not see how he took them (but I have the innings taped, so I will watch it later today ;-) ), but 3 wickets is quite a handful.
India has started the season 1-0. Let’s hope for more in the win column.
I went to the ATM today when I realized that there was a new Indian restaurant called Tiffins right next to it. I noted it and after doing my bank work, I decided to try it out.
After all, they served Naans, Paneer, etc. and they mentioned Tandoor too.
It is a small place that can seat maybe 15 people. There is a mini buffet where you can order 2 or 3 items and you get 2 tandoori rotis or rice or 1 Naan. I chose Naan, along with Malai Kofta and Matar Paneer.
The Naan was awesome - with butter shimerring on its top surface. I have not had butter naan in a while, so this was quite a good deal. As I was eating, I noticed a gentleman who looked like the owner, talking to the person who was taking the orders. They were talking business, I suppose.
Then he started walking towards me and asked me how the food tasted. I replied that it tasted good. Then, immediately, even without waiting to hear what I had to say, he turned away and started talking to a white boy who was waiting for his to-go order.
He talked and talked and talked. He in fact, gave him the menu for him to take and give it to friends. He also told him what other stuff they have to offer to him. A lot of things were discussed.
My problem is that why did he not choose to talk like that to me, or another Indian fellow who was sitting there? Why did he choose to talk so much in detail with the white boy?
And trust me, this is not the first time I have seen something like this happening. I have seen it all over the place, and a lot of times. Amber India in Mountain View is one place that jumps out for such behavior.
It is sad, but true. Why do Indians not like other Indians? Is there some bad precedent that Indian consumers in general have set? Do business people not want to bond too much with Indians? What is the reason?
