SAN FRANCISCO BAY A DREAM PLACE TO LIVE! (VOL 20) CONCLUDING PART DOWN MEMORY LANE!

 

Bay Bridge

 

NRI BAY AREA STATISTICS:  In 1970 Indian population in Bay Area was only about 20K (0.4%). In 1990 before Y2K, it was still only 50K (0.8%). There was a dramatic increase since then. Asian population grew to 1.2million in the year 2000 (18.8%) and in 2010 it became 1.6 million (23%). Today Bay area has the second largest Indian American
population after New York Metropolitan area. The Bay Area Asian Indian population is primarily concentrated in the Santa Clara Valley with San Jose having the highest population, while Cupertino, Fremont, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara have the largest concentrations. The South Bay-based 17^th Congressional district is represented by Indian Ro Khanna. Indian Americans are the fastest growing minority population in the Bay Area.

    Indians living in California's Bay Area have a median family income of $88,540, which is the highest among Asians and 24 percent more than that for the total population.

17mile Drive Monterey Bay

   17mile drive Monterey Bay: It took Spanish explorers a full year to find Monterey Bay, and this beautiful destination is named after their early visit. Taking the 17-mile Drive from Carmel to the edge of Monterey is one of the best scenic routes for fun. There are 17 stops where you could halt and park and see the nature at its best.  Though every stop is different the most popular stops are Bird rock Vista point, Cypress point lookout where you see a majestic view of the coast and cypress trees and the Pebble beach and the adjoining golf club. This route to Monterey Bay area will be misty like in Balu Mahendra movies with plantations on either side. In the last few years monsoon has failed and ground water is being pumped indiscriminately for farming and this makes environmentalist worry for the future.

SFO is paradise for visitors:  We could meet most of our relatives here at Fremont without going to India as Bay area is a big attraction for visitors. One never feels that you are away due to buzzing cultural activities all year. 

TRS Rajan mama and mami in 2015 at Livermore temple

The biggest Indian temple Shiva Vishnu temple at Livermore is the only temple built with a master plan with ample parking space and which follows the tradition rigidly. This was the last majestic temple in US built by the great sculptor Muthiah Stapathy just like Indian temples.  I have mentioned on this in my earlier blog (Vol 17) on Chicago.

Yahoo!: The initial social media beginning was from Yahoo HQ here which lost its leadership when Google came later with the ad free search engine concept that captured the imagination of the public. Yahoo is struggling ever since then.

Rajan mama and Baby mami at Yahoo HQ

Thomas Heatherwick Designer

ABOUT GOOGLE HQ:  British Designer Heatherwick who designed Google HQ developed the Googleplex HQ for whole of Mountain View rather than creating a “smug, separate bubble for exclusive, elite workers.” Google founders wanted to create something more natural that gave some of the Bay Area’s streams and plants “a chance to be amplified and multiplied” and an opportunity for the public to roam relatively freely between the various Google buildings. Flexibility was one of Google’s key criterium given the company may need to use the spaces from time to time. The solution for Google was four vast hangars and the final one is a Theatre. 

Shanthi's niece Sitara Sundar at Google HQ

The visit to Silicon valley will not be complete without seeing Apple HQ at Cupertino

Our family star Sitara at Apple HQ

About Fremont:   We had everything near our home at Fremont starting from Coffee shop(Suju’s coffee which is more spacious than Starbucks) where you can spend all evening. Also close was Elizabeth Lake for a walk. If you make one round it is almost a mile!

My cousin Ravi during his visit to Elizabeth Lake

    Another amazing fitness test for you is trekking in Mission Peak. I tried like Mahmood of Gajini,  that many number of times before finally only day reaching the peak! It was like climbing Everest for me to see the panoramic view of the Bay Area from the Peak! Parking in this residential area is a huge problem and again all streets look same when you return from hiking.

Farmers Market

    Farmers market in the downtown Fremont in the weekend runs across streets and if you don’t remember where you parked the car (or not lucky to get the parking in the post office), it will be merry go round. Also, so fresh and tempting are the organic vegetables straight from nearby plantations that whatever cash you carry will disappear in no time and you will be penniless. California is the food bowl for entire US thanks to hard working Mexicans working and owning farms. If you are health conscious, then the best grocery is Sprout for organic food that will have all  stuff in buckets where we can weigh and take and of course all this healthy recipes comes with the hefty price tag!

    A lively Desi Radio in the company of Shreeja in 1170AM Radio is good to start in the morning. She is the most prolific spontaneous DJ in my opinion who can manage the show solo for hours. Also, from this radio Srini (for motivational talk) and crazy Mahima AltuPaltu team for Bollywood entertainment used to keep our spirits high while driving to work and return. Once lucky to answer a question on music quiz in this radio on OP Nayyar got me a free ticket for Asha Bhosle live concert. I was asked to come to the venue to collect the ticket. Like buying in black a guy appeared in the last moment to deliver the tickets. As the concert started by 8pm (instead of 6pm as advertised), desi people who got irritated with the organizers showed their frustration by jumping from gallery to the empty front rows.😄 Desi Crazy! 😁After this  never attended any live shows.

   One must learn how to promote concerts from the Bay Area.  Every time a new Bollywood performer arrives at Bay Area the Mahima team will start promotion about one month back that it will be the greatest show on earth and if you don’t attend you will regret for ever. This promotion goes on until that day. Immediately after the show promotion will move on to next arriving Bollywood star.

   There were two popular Indian temples SVCC and Fremont Hindu Temple at Fremont. The competition between these two temples is similar between Android and Apple users as each temple has loyal devotees. Both are old church converted temples located in the busy residential area with limited parking. These Bay area temples celebrate every Hindu festival grand like in India. There is lot of innovation like Kids Ganesh Puja (SVCC) for involvement of the future generation. There are so many temples in every city in the Bay Area and the NRIs make sure that their children do not forget their roots.😊

  Our dream van Chrysler Town and Country which we brought from Virginia worked fine close to 150K miles, just to remove the misconception of the Asians on the durability of American cars.

Chat Bhavan and Saravana Bhavan:  We have never been to a better fast-food restaurant than Chat Bhavan the pride of Fremont. This restaurant has multiple chat options.  To complement this a fully south Indian restaurant is Saravana bhavan also in Fremont.

Ravi in front of Saravana Bhavan

With Vasu and Ramachandran ECE classmates  from PSG Tech at Saravana Bhavan. 

 This is where we had get-together with family when PSG E&C batchmate Vasudevan came from Texas (Ramachandran lives in SFO)visited Fremont and we had a good time at Saravana Bhavan.

Vasu  Ramachandran PSG Tech Family get together

 If this is not enough another favorite of mine was Tirupathi Beemas at Milpitas for full Andhra meal. If you are more Chennai foodie there is Komala Vilas at Sunnyvale. As a result of eating all these tasty unhealthy buffets when I went for annual checkup with our PCP the doctor warned me based on BMI, I should lose 50% weight. Never saw her again after that!!!😞

Fremont Satya Sai Samithi and Ramana events: Our association with the Fremont Sai Samiti  opened our eyes to service. We had amazing singers during bhajans in the Samiti and it was held weekly at SVCC, and we can walk there from home. I also was fortunate to observe Ayyappa Vritham for few years associating with our Guruswamy Prasad at SVCC.

Home Ayyappa Bhajan at our Fremont home  in the year 2014

    We had the opportunity to join the weekend Breakfast Seva of the Sai center at Homeless Shelter Fremont. We learnt humility there from our revered devotee Ganesh Sharma. Ganeshji has been doing this Seva for decades. We had to prepare breakfast within an hour for the homeless whose number changes from less than 50 to sometimes 150. The challenge is to  serve them hot in that  30 minutes without making them wait. The menu is vegetarian and so we choose the recipe that make it taste like American breakfast. Sharmaji  constantly used to  get feedback from them and  used to make sure that we make is what they want.

With Ganesh Sharmaji at Fremont Homeless Shelter

    The homeless shelter is barometer of US economy. If the economy is good, there will be less people here and during recession more. The government makes all efforts to get them employed and they normally are in shelter for a few weeks only.  The local grocery shops used to supply free  all the material for the shelter. Sharmaji is particular about feeding the birds and he will ask us to separate the expired breads supplied and we used to make it to pieces . He is passionate about feeding the birds with that expired bread. We miss all that now.

    My Guru Ramana Sat Sang group used to meet at Fremont community center during special occasions and what a dedicated humble team to be associated with. We are blessed to be in that group.

   Our younger daughter completed her Masters in Biotechnology at SFSU taking the evening classes when we were there. I was able to see the night life in the San Francisco downtown driving through colorful lighted Bay Bridge and the SFO downtown where the university was located.

   All good things have to come to an end eventually as it has happened to us all through our life. We are destined to be born with wheels and experience new places and new friends who become life long friends!. As we recall those golden years in the Bay area it brings us smile and that is a great feeling of the past!