A year in India

Well, its a little less than an year, but enough to be able to write this post. Even though I was born in Bombay, I have not spent any significant part of my adult life here and so this has been quite an interesting year. I have the interesting vantage point of both understanding the underlying cultural nuances and being able to notice them since they are so fresh to me.

A year is genuinely the magic mark. Things do genuinely get better with time and one has worked out most of the kinks by then. You are also clearer about what you really came here for, and whether it was all working. Given all that, a few random observations:

BANGALORE

• The noise never stops. The entire country is under construction it seems and the view from my window is a Mordor like hole in the ground with tons of work going on everywhere. On the other hand, this whole city is reinventing itself literally in front of my eyes. Its an incredible sight
  

• The work required to settle in is not too different from settling into any other country to be honest. Utilities, various cards, housing etc is a breeze especially if you have professional help ( I do agree that I have had way more professional help than the average incoming person). Though my wife had to file for an FRFO card and that was an incredible pain. It was like time-traveling to old India
• The traffic is not that bad if you live very close to work (I live around ~1km away), and know when to venture outside the bubble that is your gated community. The weekend rocks, mid-day is ok, early mornings and nights work well to head into the city. It could also be that I have just resigned myself to not really exploring the city on a whim anymore… I sincerely feel unless drastic measures are taken, this city will become unlivable in a few years
• You will really really miss open spaces though. There is no real Castro street or a typical downtown area to walk around. No hikes in the vicinity, no waterfront, not much of sidewalks to be honest. Only a couple of parks and they are very dispersed. The one thing that is incredibly hard to do in India is go for a long, thoughtful walk
• As soon as you leave Bangalore, the infrastructure miraculously improves, the roads are awesome, the views are incredible and there is just tons to see and do. One trick is to avoid all published tourist areas because they are inevitably overrun by umm..tourists. Talk to the locals and go see stuff others do not know about. There is so much to check out

ENTERTAINMENT

• The community is very welcoming, social life is buzzing and there are tons of people around (sometimes way too many!). If you have family in the area, then your house will be almost always full of parents, relatives of all stripes and shades. Its fun!
• Festivals are incredible. There is song, dance, lights, parties, friends, family, food everything you want. India is at its absolute best during festivals. Its key to party up during those times
• I have not found anything interesting to watch in Indian TV. The shows look like knock-offs of bad american reality shows, or crappy family soaps. I mostly survive on Netflix original content. The theatres are amazing but the movies they show are mostly ordinary. The really good, independent stuff never show up in the really good theatres
• Bangalore has an incredible variety of shows, comedy events, concerts, pubs, cafes to choose from. The restaurant and food scene is great. There isn’t really any good place to go dancing, but then the clubs close way to early here anyways. Bombay rocks for nightlife. Its better to fly there for the weekend or head to Goa from what I see

WORK SCENE

• The startup scene is buzzing and this place is absolutely filled with tons of entrepreneurs and folks who want to solve all sorts of problems using technology. I believe a great Indian product company is being incubated somewhere in Bangalore as we speak. Its inevitable given the ambition, the energy and the tons of smart people
• In general, I notice a lack of thoughtfulness in the air. The roads are shoddily built (and then rebuilt every year). The work that your average plumber/carpenter/electrician does is ramshackle. Glass buildings are being built all over the place with no thought for the dissonance with the tropical climate they are set in. It permeates everything. Overall, there is an acute need to step back, be thoughtful and try to aspire for completeness in whatever mission one is aspiring for.
• I think this lack of thoughtfulness permeates the business/startup culture too. There are a lot of lofty ambitions, but in the breakneck speed in which things run, stepping back is hard to do
• There is no lack of entrepreneurial leaders to look up to. Folks who have build companies against all odds. But there is a real lack of product/tech leaders to look up to (even if I say so myself). The next evolution of Indian startups will be based on core tech and so its key that there be most folks who can mentor and build stuff. And also key that folks understand the value of that work in building long term companies

On that note, I want to do my humble bit to learn more and give back to the startup community here given some of the experiences I have had the fortune to be a part of back in the valley. I will be starting weekly office hours (on a personal basis and for a few weeks) focused on conversations with founders, startup folks, whoever wants to chat with me about how to build stuff/culture etc. Niket (my chief of staff) will post the details in a bit. It will be probably on the weekend or Friday pm, and will be in a cafe somewhere in the city. More soon. Its an experiment, and so we will see how useful it is and then iterate.