Brian Hart
India in 2019

India in 2019

My third trip to the Bangalore office, by way of an overnight layover in Dubai

· 16 mins read

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Back in India

This time with travel buddies

I’m back in India. Arrived here Saturday evening with two colleagues, Walter and Andy. A few things stand out about the trip from San Francisco to Bengaluru; the rest is the usual travel stuff of hurrying and waiting.

A man in a dark navy sweater and jeans sits cross-legged on the curved beige leather banquette of the onboard lounge on an Emirates A380, holding a phone in one hand and a short glass in the other, with wood-paneled walls, three oval windows, a brass vase of pink roses mounted on the wall, a polished brass pole in the foreground, and blue LED lighting glowing along the base of the seat

We did an overnight extended layover in Dubai, arriving around 7:30pm on Friday night and scheduled to depart at 1:30pm the next day. It’s the second time I’ve done this long layover and I scheduled it that way by design: it offers the opportunity to start to adjust to the wicked time change, allows us to see the spectacle that is Dubai, and so far it’s been much less expensive than the ~3 hour layover itinerary (even when you factor in taxis and a hotel stay).

Since there were three of us traveling, I decided to try an apartment on Airbnb instead of hotel rooms. I was expecting I could give the taxi driver the address listed in the Airbnb listing and that we’d be whisked right to our destination. This turned out not to be the case: the building name is what you need, and I hadn’t pulled that info to my phone beforehand. We sorted it out by tethering phones and starting the check in process in the Airbnb app, but this was unnecessary complexity… especially after a 15 hour flight. There was some confusion at the security desk, as well, but we worked through it. The apartment itself was perfect for our needs: amazing views, close to things to see and do, and nice amenities. We learned some travel lessons along the way, so I’d feel comfortable doing Airbnb there again, and would be better prepared next time.

Selfie of four men around a restaurant table in Indiranagar, Bengaluru: a man in glasses and a white shirt in the foreground, a man in a blue polo and a man in a black T-shirt seated against a brown leather banquette, and a man in a gray sweatshirt at right. The table holds a wooden board of fried appetizers, a bowl of chicken, bottled water, and glasses of beer, and the cream-colored cabinets behind them are painted with whimsical line drawings, beside a lamp shaped like a gramophone horn

Inner courtyard of Bangalore Palace, framed by a carved stone column in the foreground: two stories of pale yellow pointed Gothic arches trimmed in orange and cream, white columns with gilded capitals, ornate white latticework railings on the upper gallery, framed photographs on the walls below, and a small tiled fountain surrounded by potted plants. A man in a black T-shirt stands in the courtyard while another man looks at his phone at right, under a partly open sky strung with wires

Rooftop bar in Bengaluru at dusk, with a curved translucent canopy on white steel supports edged in glowing blue LED strip lighting, green-lit racks of hanging wine glasses above the bar, bartenders at work, a row of empty gray bar stools along the lit counter, potted palms, and an orange and pink sunset on the horizon

Two men eating dinner at a table on the same Bengaluru rooftop after dark, both lit in purple and blue from the LED-edged canopy behind them: a man in a dark T-shirt in the foreground at left and a man in a white G-Star sweatshirt at right, with a pint of beer on the table and empty tables, chairs, and potted plants across the deck under a hazy violet sky

Sleep has been a problem. Last night I slept from 10:30p to 1:30a or so, and then from 5:30a to 7:00a. (Aside: Burning Love was on HBO in the middle of the night; I’d never heard of it but it’s a Who’s Who of funny people, and they do an amazing parody of The Bachelor/The Bachelorette). The night before was similar, and I only managed around 2 hours of sleep on the 15 hour flight. I’m fighting through the jet lag but a full night’s sleep sure would help a lot.

It’s only been a few days but I don’t know if my writing practice here will bear fruit. I’m not happy with my writing voice. I’m saying “I” and “I’m” way too much but can’t figure out how to do otherwise yet. Getting frustrated. I need to write about topics instead of what I’m up to. That would help. 😕

India day 2

A foggy morning, a shared cold, and why in-person still matters

Foggy. Damp and cold. That clammy cold which finds its way through clothes and sticks to your skin. Bangalore feels unusually chilly this morning, too chilly for my morning routine of breakfast and laptop outside at the Leela. The upshot is the dampness might’ve knocked down the pollution a bit.

The sleep gods smiled upon me last night and granted me the gift of 7 hours. While I wouldn’t say I feel amazing, I’m in much better shape than yesterday. All three of us have picked up the same low-grade cold: slightly sore throat, constant post-nasal drip. The jet lag has passed, at least.

Why do I drag my meat body halfway across the planet like this, paying the physical and financial cost? Because there’s no substitute for being in the same room with someone. The hour-long coffee chat with someone in person over coffee seems to forge a stronger bond than any number of videoconferences. Some may not see the value of all that travel and expense for something that is half socializing, but I do. My team and our customers will reap benefits well in excess of the cost, I’m convinced.

That said, I’d love to work on technology that can put us closer to being in the same room without the travel woes. This is one of my VR areas of interest. Applications like Bigscreen VR, Altspace, VRChat, and even Rec Room enable a richer level of togetherness than previously possible. While I don’t think they’ll replace being in the same room with someone anytime soon, they could mean that you don’t need to travel as often.

A colleague I’m traveling with suggests the “India traffic problem” could probably be resolved by painting some more lines and increasing enforcement of traffic laws. I… don’t think that will cut it. (I also don’t think he’s serious, but we’ve used the opportunity for poking fun.) Even if meaningful policies could be put in place, it would take a generation or two to change behavior. Look at how Boston’s Big Dig trained a generation of drivers there.

Leaving India

Sick for the last few days, and some candid feedback overheard at the airport

Last day in India. Low-grade sickness has kicked my ass the past few days. It’s something I picked up somewhere on the way to India, and then I haven’t been able to overcome it. The constant sore throat and sinus drip made it tough to sleep; my average has been 4 1/2–5 hours a night. Friday I surrendered to the cold and lack of sleep and didn’t leave the hotel room all day. Today (Saturday) I feel a little bit better. Today is also the day I start the long journey back to the States. I accomplished what I needed to here in Bangalore, I only wish I had felt better in the process.

Sunlit gardens at The Leela Palace in Bengaluru on a hazy morning: a manicured lawn crossed by long palm shadows, a stand of tall coconut and fan palms heavy with fruit, dense tropical shrubs, a curving stone path at lower right, a pot of red and pink petunias in the corner, and the edge of a domed building visible through the fronds

Crowded shop signage on a street in Bellandur, Bengaluru, under a clear blue sky: a red and white sign for The Muthoot Group featuring actor Amitabh Bachchan in a red shawl with his palms pressed together in greeting, a red Gold Loan sign with the Muthoot elephant logo, a green pharmacy cross, an Apollo Pharmacy sign, and a large sign for Venkateshwara Enterprises in Kannada and English script, with strings of small lights hanging across the storefronts

A group of about a dozen colleagues seated along a long wooden table at a dinner at an open-air brewpub in Bengaluru at night, many smiling at the camera, with glasses of beer and candles in glass holders on the table, a blue E3 table marker, a large wooden barrel at right, and corrugated metal walls, a brick arch, and potted plants behind them

A black lacquered bento box lunch on a padded poolside lounger at The Leela Palace in Bengaluru, its red compartments holding penne in meat sauce, fried croquettes, a small salad, grated cheese, garlic bread, and watermelon, papaya, and kiwi, with silverware on a white napkin beside it and the bright blue pool, white umbrellas, and loungers under tropical trees in the background

Woman a few chairs down from me is on the phone, giving some very candid feedback. “You interrupt a lot. You’re interrupting me again. When you have a conversation, you’re entirely focused on what you want to get out of the conversation. You need to be self-aware.” And so on. Not yelling, very matter-of-fact. The British accent takes out some of the sting but it’s still 🔥.

End of third trip to India

Jet lag and mental fog

Dealing with the mental fog of wicked jet lag today. My CPAP machine reports 6 1/2 hours of sleep last night (which would be the second best night for the last 10 days or so) but I’m still fuzzy and moving in slow motion.

This was the third time I’ve visited India and our Bangalore office. I feel like I have my travel routine mostly figured out now, but there are still a few takeaways or areas I could improve:

  • Still a fan of stopping in Dubai for an overnight. Next time I would try to arrange an entire day on the ground in order to visit around some and start to adjust to the time difference.
  • The Airbnb presented a few challenges but I’d still strongly consider it for next time. Three of us were able to stay together in the same space (but without being crowded) while still saving money compared separate rooms. The view from the room was phenomenal. We had issues finding the building, and again getting buzzed in downstairs and dealing with building security, but we got over them, and I can’t say they’re unusual when dealing with an Airbnb setup. Mostly we were hampered by my not having data access to pull up the check-in instructions.
  • Forgot nail clippers.
  • It’s weird being naked at the airport, but showering there is 💯. Game-changer.
  • Try to visit for two weeks. Being away from family and being unable to help with the kids for that long is difficult, but a longer stay takes better advantage of the physical and financial cost of the trip. Staying at the Marriott next to the office would cut down on one of the biggest issues I have with India: traffic. Weekend could be spent visiting Mysore, or The Maldives as a stretch goal.

I started a Harvard online course called The Architectural Imagination this evening. Perhaps by my declaring it here, you’ll keep me accountable to actually finishing it?

Cryptocurrency prices are dipping again after a brief respite the past few weeks. I’m only checking prices daily now, down from every 10 minutes this time last year. I still have holdings in Cardano (ADA), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC) (got this from holding ETH pre-fork), KIN, Bitcoin (BTC), and Nano. I’d like to spend some time with Plutus, Cardano’s functional contract platform, but face a significant uphill battle getting my head around functional programming. The reasons for favoring functional over object-oriented for certain applications make sense to me, but I’m not a strong coder to begin with (I’m more hack & slash bash or Python) and I’m bad at thinking about recursion, so… yeah. I need to figure out the best way to program my brain for FP.