Observations – 1
What follows is a collation of experiences from my trip.
For the first time, I took a flight to the US that left India during the day. Air India’s Mumbai-San Francisco nonstop departed Mumbai at 2:30 pm in the afternoon and arrived in SF at 5 pm. (This was also the first time I flew nonstop to SF; Jet Airways used to have a SF flight but that had a stopover in Shanghai).
Air India’s planes on the BOM-SFO sector have excellent interiors in business class. A friend said these are the planes leased from Delta and thankfully, the interiors have not been changed. Each seat becomes a mini suite with its own door. And thankfully, there is no middle seat in business classes. Of course, the prices are more than double pre-pandemic but that doesn’t seem to have impacted demand.
Indian restaurants have also upped their prices 60-70% from pre-pandemic levels, again with no visible impact on demand. In fact, delivery platforms have probably widened their market opportunity. In New York, I stuck to the four Indian vegetarian restaurants which have a wide selection of Jain options: Kailash Parbat, Pongal, Ahimsa and Saravana Bhavan. (I missed Vatan this time.)
All the 12 flights I took during the trip were pretty much on time. The longest delay of an hour was on my return flight from SFO to BOM because of runway closure in Mumbai at the scheduled landing time. At over 17 hours, it was also the longest flight I had ever taken.
My new favourite hotel in New York is Residence Inn Marriott at Times Square. The rooms have a kitchenette which is very helpful. The breakfast spread is outstanding, the location is perfect, and the views from some of the rooms (Empire State Building!) are superb. In the Bay Area, I stay at Corporate Inn Sunnyvale – very reasonably priced and great location on El Camino Real; I have been their customer for more than 15 years now. With Chaat Bhavan within walking distance, I can also get hot Indian food when I want!
The two startups which have been much maligned in TV series were also the most impactful: Uber and WeWork. Uber’s magic of cab-on-call brings in so much travel efficiency for people like me who do not drive. In California, it helps me do 5-6 meetings in a day. WeWork’s fractionalisation of office space is ideal for startups who can pay by the month. I spent much time at the WeWork on 37th and 7th where Netcore’s two-seater office is located.
Commercial real estate in the US is in for challenging times. Besides rising interest rates, the work-from-home reality means that there is a lot of empty space. I cannot see employees in tech going back to the office five days a week. But that also has implications for productivity. So, it is a fine balance. But seeing huge empty offices struck me as a bit eerie and scary – almost “ghost offices”!
