Life in Silicon Valley

"If we hadn't put a man on the moon, there wouldn't be a Silicon Valley today.”

- John Sculley

Its one more quiet but stunningly beautiful Sunday in "High-Tech Heaven". In my fanatic engineering days, I always used to think about this place called Silicon Valley. The land of technologists and venture capitalists, situated in about a 30-mile radius around San Jose in California. Blessed with wonderful weather, the "Valley" is nestled between Diablo And Santa Cruz Mountain ranges. Pacific ocean also adorns the beauty of the valley. There are excellent places nearby like San Francisco, Napa Valley, Santa Cruz beach, Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, Reno and many more.
It is first home for most of the big names in engineering and IT like Apple, IBM, Google, Yahoo, Intel, Oracle, Cisco and lot more. Their concentration and sheer size create melting pot of opportunities in this area. There are more jobs than workers in the valley. Consequently, resulted in insane cost of living with apartment owners increasing their goody bags. To be very frank, here you have to pay for your breathing as well. The houses are relatively packed but a lot of ostentatious showing of wealth. Most houses don't have basements and there's no such thing as an all-brick home, both because of the threat of earthquakes. Unfortunately, a black spot on the glowing beauty.
Commuting is relatively good with local trains and buses but its better to have car to save the time. I found good air but you better watch out for water. San Jose is titled as the safest big city in US for the past several years. But, its always safe when you are safe. ;) I saw a small India resides in the valley with 20-25% of Indian population. There are many DESI turned American families in this area. Some of them are maintaining the culture and ethnicity. DESI restaurants and grocery shops are booming with most of the south Indians and gujjus making their business. Importantly, you can find any Indian grocery item whatever you want from Parle-G to Chavanprash.
This is about living in High-Tech heaven. :)