Thoughts from two trips to New York and Chicago in 2025.
- Standard of living is quite high relative to India and I'm always surprised because I always forget. One forgets because one normalises a certain standard one sees.
Big cars, roads, portions. Bigger and louder. Large houses. Large People. A middle class life is a rich life in India in many ways. - Everything is so big. And if there’s one memory that will stay with me. Its this. Wide roads, big cars, big houses. The largeness of it all really stands out.
- Great products. There’s so much variety and so much to choose from. One of the benefits of free markets and capitalism. They fall short of their service but the products that they have available always delight me. From flavoured Toothpicks with vitamins or nicotine, pet waterfalls, Apple Tags, a neck pillow that you can put things in. There’s so much variety and choice. I spent 3 hours in target. I could spend a whole week just going through the products and catalogs.
- More immigrants as the years go by. When I visited back in 2010 I don't recall thinking about it much but in 2025 its just filled with foreign born nationals. There were many people that were non-white and many immigrants in service sector jobs and in general.
- They talk about sports with such seriousness. It took me by surprise how important sports is. Perhaps that's why they are the top in Olympics.
- There is a directness to their conversation. A lack assumption and presumption. Less indirectness. In south India, it’s especially common to say one thing but mean something else. To not say something but say something else entirely. There’s indirect communication. In the US, it was direct.
- So obsessed with vampires and zombies. I can’t get it. Super creative movies though. The creativity is much more than say the Egyptian movie i saw in Oman.
- They are quite punctual. 12:30 means 12:30. It’s not 12:40. In india 12:30 could mean 12:45 too. Not being on time is not frowned upon.
- Service in general is not up to the mark and you can get a much better service in other countries. The service in India is usually better in my view. There is a service orientation that feels more nicer. From the bartender serving the drinks, to the barber cutting my hair, to the tsa/people at the airport, to the shop assistants at the mall, all of it felt a little less in quality. Is it just a personal anecdote? Was it bad service because Indians don’t tip them? Airport staff in general is horrible in the US. Not helpful and mostly rude. They behave as though you're homeless drug addict in front of their house.
- The personal space is in general much better. You won’t have someone standing very close to you, get touched, pushed as you’d like in India. There’s no such thing as personal space in India really. There’s space that needs to be occupied.
- Food wise, let's start with what i loved the most, the meat, snacks and cheesecake. Meat selection and quality is much better. Snacks variety and quality is better but it does come with a cost, higher calories and a lot of preservatives. The cheesecake in general is always good. Fast food too. Mid tier restaurants are bad. Higher end are decent but not worth the price to me. When i look back, the food that i think about the most include the italian beef at johniees, the beef brisket, portildo’s burgers, waffles, cheesecakes, the snacks such as dunkaros, cookies. But besides the meat & snacks, I wasn't very impressed by the food.
- The suburbs are so green and well maintained. There is a lot of green space. In general the quality of greenery and the maintenance of it is really striking. You can go to any neighbourhood and you will find top notch, well maintained scenic trees and plants. Air quality is good. The landscape too is so much more aesthetic, organised, clean and rich. Just look out the window when you land, the scenic views of the us versus the ugly disorganised pieces of concrete here.
- The weather changes quite often. One day its nice and sunny and the next its rainy and cold.
- It's so quiet in the Suburbs. Even cities for that matter. India is one the most noisiest places.
- American weddings were nice. I found it more organised and efficient. You don’t have to go up and click pictures, pose while the couple looks exhausted. Instead you have series of speeches and performances while you eat dinner at a designated place. There’s no time wasted in clicking pictures photos with the guests. No wedding crashers, no extra plates. I’d do this format than the Indian Christian format. It’s also well planned with most of the itinerary prepared well in advance.
- Every time i go abroad and come back i realise how overpopulated, poor, unclean, unsystematic, rule-bending, unsafe for women this country is. We are far away from the ideal and the basic. There are some silver linings and advantages but for the most part there’s a lot of work left to do.
- When i visit these countries I often wonder how they got here and set of values, beliefs, customs and choices led them to this destination. Its often complex but there are certain aspects that i often think about. The system and the people behind those systems building it. From lawmakers, to politicians, to businesses, to cultural voices, all play a part. Sometimes I wonder if its own self interest that led people or were there idealistic individuals that thought for the greater good, that built based on principles? Those that went beyond the base desires of us humans to something higher and grander? It’s these systems that perhaps are the greatest wonders of the world. How we got to this modern world.
- Even though its a modern, developed & advanced nation, there’s something wrong with the soul of the country. It's lost confidence & is anxiously selfish. Something off culturally too. As the years go by and my visits increase and though there's lots of positives to say, I feel less inclined to move there (if ever given an opportunity).
P.S. Guns are really loud. It was my first time shooting.
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