When I was growing up I lived in Dubai and obviously I grew
up in a privileged environment. I realized how privileged I was when I returned
to India from Dubai as kid. I have written about it in my past blogs that I was
super pained about India and all the adjustments I have had to do. Sometimes I
wonder how mom and dad managed to make the transition from desi economy to
petroleum economy and back to desi. What I remember of it was that they
adjusted very well. From a Toyota Crown he went to a scooter with a buggy
attached and he was happy taking his family across town, roaming around and
getting back to the humdrum of Mumbai life. I remember thinking about how cool
kids we were to be ‘Dubai returned’ and that how many times we had flown on an
airplane. That was super cool. In an era when AC travel was the ultimate
luxury, airline travel was the greatest thing ever, and I in my 9 odd years had
flown 18 times. Hah! I am too cool.
I also remember feeling rich and cool when I took Jispa and
Jasmine on a vacation via a flight! Cut to the last vacation when to experience
train travel we came back from Delhi via train and that felt cool. No matter
how unique our experiences, over time mind adapts to everything and they aren’t
so cool anymore. The novelty wears out and you get back to the humdrum of the
known.
This last two weeks, I had the privilege of going to the US.
I have always wanted to go to the US. US is the final frontier. It’s the
greatest land ever, where arguably the greatest civilization ever existed, in
the history of mankind (my proclamation, not backed by anything factual). It is
an unsurpassed rich nation with supreme military prowess. It built this great
nation, uniquely – only by immigrants. It is the ultimate example that you can
build a great nation by attracting the best of the best from all over the world
and only those hardy enough to make the journey will make it there and
therefore natural selection will ensure that the collection of these
individuals make for a great nation state. Amazing nah? NO. not so. The new
world were not one but two. Even the South Americas were used as an occupation land
by essentially the same mix of colonizers from Europe, but not to the same
effect that US has had.
The argument is that US firmly believed in the simple adage
that men govern themselves best when left to themselves. They actively hate
higher government involvement and want as less of governance as possible. Also
– they simplified and cleaned up their land records to allow the squatters to
simply claim the land and move on. Both these forces acted as a catalyst and
along with an amazing wealth of natural resources, the North American region
experienced a wave of prosperity and domination that the world has probably not
seen before. Possibly it was also lucky that it was so far removed from the
rest of the world that the world wars never reached it shores ( barring – one
Jap airplane, a few random bombs and pearl harbor). It was able to keep its
industry intact and keep producing for the rest of the world.
The Arab states also got a rich natural dividend in the form
of oil and so did Venezuela and some Nordic states. Except the Nordic states
which decide to invest it returns in the form of a sovereign fund held on
behalf of its citizens the rest have no real greatness to show for it.
All said – THE US OF A is a dramatic story of our times and
is the Ultimate destination for the ambitious. It was a fascination for me for
long. The few countries that I wanted to visit. I have been lucky that through
my travels thanks to my work, I have been able to visit a lot of countries and
see the places. It has always been an exciting learning experience. When I was
growing up, I never did realize that I would one day be able to see all these
places. I remember the first time I got to go to London on a work visit. It was
the place that my dad worked for a year or so before I was born and I thought
it was amazing that after so many years I managed to go there. It was
especially special for me as for some vanity led reason I was excited to travel
there in business class. Of course this was the crazy cheap money fueled boom
of 2004 till 2008 and travel was cheap and money was cheaper.
This time I was excited to travel to San Francisco on work.
My job was to go as a part of a delegation and meet the hot tech companies for
US dominating the world. Google, Facebook, AirBnb, Adobe, Microsoft, Oracle,
uber etc. It was an amazing line up and promised to be an amazing experience.
And it was. Now that I am back, I am full of stories and insights and thoughts
on how to change the world. But that was expected. What I found every
interesting is not to understand how the tech works. That one can sit in India
and surf the internet and get a sense of all the tech driving the world. But
when I went to SFO, I realized how the air is over there. There no one cares
how big you are. Everyone believes that you are just one innovation away from
disruption and obsolescence. The people all think big and solve world problems.
No one is looking at small issues. I also realized how the tech is real and the
tech is now. We always knew about the tech of self driving cars and other
applications of Artificial intelligence but when you go there you realize that
when the world’s best companies with the world’s best people are putting their
brains on the problem, the pace of the adoption of technology is greatly
accelerated and can be real faster than what one can imagine it to be. It’s
crazy there. This makes one feel that the impossible is now and achievable.
I am reminded of the cheesy dialogues of the movie Raees in
which Shah Rukh khan mouths dialogues that the air of Gujarat is filled with
trade, how can you stop it. Here listen to all the dialogues. Almost everyone
is filled with the air of San Francisco. The enterprise culture filled with a belief that all is possible unless expressly
forbidden (that too seems negotiable) along with the intellectual capital
brought to the place by the two world class universities, makes for a potent
cocktail of imagination and achievement.
So my greatest learning is the culture of thought and scale
of amibition. And the potent combination it becomes as a cluster when you are
able to attract the world’s best all together in one place. SFO is a crazy open
culture where I could see first-hand what amazing things an open culture can
bring about. In SFO you can be what you want to be without a second glance. You
can be brown red or yellow. You can have blue or red hair. You can be a techie
or a dreamer or a painter. All feel welcome in the city. I was so much at home.
It’s a good thing that I was there for 12 days. It gave me a chance to breathe the
city and feel it from the core. It was quite a rich experience.
But here also, the first few days were heady and as time
wore on, one got used to the experience and it ceased to amaze me as such. One of
the things I always seem to think of when I step on a foreign locale, I think
to myself ‘the laws of physics work the same’. Hah. That’s something I have
always thought to myself. It’s a way of saying – its ok… it may be the most
beautiful place or the most intersing coveted place or the richest country in
the world – at the end – the laws of physics apply equally and you feel equally
heavy or light as you take your first few steps. It’s something that I always
think of. I think it keeps me grounded as I explore the city.
The fun bit – when I fly into the US, a friend knows a
friend who is some senior person and I got upgraded.. to first class. So if I went
to London on a business class ticket – I managed to reach the Americas on a
first class seat. That is one thing one get used to. Some small confusion
ensued on the way back and I was relegated to the economy section. Bah! I did
get first hand experience what a 16 hour flight feels like as a common man.
Short answer – not pretty.
All said – an amazing experience which I have recanted many
times to many people already. It’s good this way as now it will stay fresher in
my head. Soon enough I have to make notes on this to present to various
different people. Hopefully I would be able to condense these experiences in a
way that is engaging and relevant. I loved the chance that I got. I look back
at this and realize that this is also a function of the thought process that I bring
to the table and the ability for me to think imaginatively and help people. I
owe this strictly to myself, while of course I will have a million to thank for.
I also figure that now that I am reasonably senior and that I
have reached a higher level in corporate life, a lot of eyes are at me and that
they must be looking at me wondering how I got here or how big I must be –
going to SFO and meeting different people and understanding tech. I think it’s
my role to now talk to a lot of people about my experience and teach them about
what I Iearnt. I spoke yesterday to all the management trainees at lunch and I explained
to them that all their jobs are going to change in the next ten years. I explained
that all their jobs will be automated and that the world as they see it will no
longer exist in tier work lives. When I joined the workforce there was no
internet and there was no automation. Now the world is changing fast and the
workforce skill sets are completely different. Of my last 20 odd years of
working, only the last 7 have some value and that is also getting fast
obsolete.
It’s going to be interesting to be relevant in a fast
changing world. Who will win at the end of it all is anyone’s guess. The kids
were then asking me ‘so what should we do now’. I don’t know, was my honest
answer. I don’t know what will be there in the future, but one thing I know for
sure – it won’t be what you are doing for now. Be aware and always look for
something new to do. Things are moving, recognize them and try and be on top of
things. Be ready to encourage change and be ready to move in new directions.
Change dear boy change. The future is now and you don’t even
know of it yet. I see dead men walking.
