Being In the Valley

Hi, I am a student of Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi, which I was eager to tell anyone whom I met in the 'valley' because we were appreciated and recognised by almost everyone there. I spent last summers at San Jose, California which is better known as the Silicon Valley working as an intern at Qualcomm MEMS Technologies (QMT).

First, a disclaimer - The place where I worked was ranked as one of the best places to work at in the Valley. So, my descriptions might seem to be a bit exaggerated for some people (that's the excuse I can give for exaggerating :) )..

California Dream
Well, now that I think of the place (it's been 1 month since I came back) I think first of how AWESOME the people are in the tech hub of the world. I feel that the spirit of the valley is just a reflection of the spirit of the bear-flagged state it is situated in. Before going to the states, I used to be of the opinion that the songs about 'California' and 'California girls' might just be some stretching the things a bit too far. But soon, I realized that just an American dream resides in a corner of the mind of majority of the people, Americans (outside CA) have a 'California dream'. Well, what's the struggle worth if there is nothing to work for!!

But what do Californians dream of? When I think of this, the answer (perhaps wrong) to why so many rich people in LA end up in rehabs. They simply have nothing to work for. But Again, I was in Northern CA which has some really smart guys who are using their position (as in geographically and of course, intellectually) to lead a change.



Indians as Immigrants

I had been to France in the later part of last year. Now, In France there are lots of Chinese and Arabs (apart from French ;)). I did not find many Indians (my theory - Indians already know a lot of English compared to the Chinese people so, why take pain to learn a new language? ). But the Indians whom I did find there were so nice that I was beginning to think that the Indians whom I found in the valley (and there were a lot of them!!) are 'good' and there to help me out (partially because I am from IIT and Indians in valley respect me). But within 15 days I was approached by a gujju and tried to get me into some 'Amway' cult by offering me food (as if I am a dog) and so called 'networking'. I realized that I need to be careful of the people and do not rely on generalizations (read 'stereotyping'). This is one thing France did not teach me. I feel that there is some size of immigrant community beyond which they are no longer nice to each other - but I am working on that theory.

The Successful Ones
Now, the description about Indians in the valley is really incomplete without mentioning how successful and hard-working they are. My director at the company was from IIT Madras and he was smart and rich. He truly appreciated him (mainly due to the IIT Pride thing). But Anyways, I met a lot of people (at company and otherwise) who had done their masters from US. Sadly, I could not meet many IIT alumni (I think they were busy working at the best consultancy firms in Bangalore or too busy/rich/famous to be in my radar).

On several occasions, thanks to my uncle, I had chance to meet the Indian families settled out there. The kids, who had never been to India were really amazed to find out that I had 'just' come from India. But later, I felt they were really happy for me as I was rescued to US. Sadly, their parents had the socialist view of India they grew up in 1980s. And it was really funny to see their Bollywood style angry young man which had turned into angry middle-aged man in isolation. Though, some talked about how many Indians are going back to India nowadays for tapping the newly open opportunities. Now, what do you say to this? You just market the country you came from as if you are responsible (or a big part of the change). It feels good to be a messenger from home.

I can't really put everything about the trip on here right now. More to come (hopefully) on the place I worked, the project I worked on and the people with whom I worked and lived and spent the most time with and enjoyed!!