What does it really take to make the Bay Area feel like home? In this intimate conversation, we follow Akshay's journey from his first Oracle interview in 2012 to discovering that traffic jams might actually be a sign of hope. Through honest reflections on adult friendships, unexpected sushi revelations, and the unique challenges of building community across sprawling distances, this episode captures the authentic immigrant experience in Silicon Valley.
This deeply personal episode explores the immigrant experience in the Bay Area through Akshay's authentic journey of finding belonging. From comparing Bay Area weather to Bangalore's climate during his first Oracle interview, to feeling like an outsider at a Scottish distillery, Akshay shares the contrasts that shaped his perspective on home. The conversation delves into the real challenges of making adult friendships, the joy of discovering incredible sushi worth a 30-minute drive, and how living in one of the world's most expensive regions changes your perspective on costs everywhere else. We explore what success means from an H-1B visa holder's perspective, moving from basic survival needs to working on cutting-edge technologies. The episode concludes with an unexpectedly optimistic take on Bay Area traffic as an economic indicator and honest reflections on building community across the region's challenging geography.
Episode Chapters"The weather is a lot like Bangalore, like, say, 10 degrees cooler. And I know a bunch of people. Their beach is close by and mountains are close by, so I'll take it."
— Akshay (00:35)"I remember trying out their sushi after a long time recently, and I was just blown away by how tasty it was. Like, you know, I was getting similar kind of sushi near my house, and then I was like, no. Wait a minute. This is worth the thirty minute drive."
— Akshay (07:29)"For me, I think, like, being a, you know, immigrant on a h one b, success is a lot lower in Maslow's hierarchy of needs for me. So, yeah, just being able to be here and work on something interesting, that's that's good enough for me."
— Akshay (08:19)"What gives you hope is the fact that when you see very bad traffic, it means the economy is doing well."
— Akshay (13:55)"Friendships other than, like, school and people I knew before, that's kind of rare."
— Akshay (05:11)Resources MentionedSubscribe for more authentic stories about finding home in new places
