F - Facebooks, Apples, Googles, Intels and the Mentals…

Been there, Done that ...

F - Facebooks, Apples, Googles, Intels 

and the Mentals…     

           

It was the core of our pilgrimage and the excitement was unbearable.

The Google maps took us in circles  around the Google way.  We googled around for the headquarters  of Google.  It was a Sunday and all the offices were closed.  That  perhaps was a blessing in disguise.

We looked like lost souls driving around, not knowing where our destinations  were.

Only we knew what we were seeking.  

It was not about the destination but the sights and the very essence of this place which had played an important part in shaping our profession.

The treelined pathways  around the massive offices of Google was a pleasure to walk around.

It was that time of the year that the flowers were in full bloom. 

They were buildings, many of them made of glass and steel, nothing extraordinary  in terms of architecture. 

It was the feel that was exhilarating. 

  

Yahoo, Facebook, Oracle, Linkedin and  Intel  were not faraway.  

Each of their campuses  were large . 

But our Chevy Impala was such a pleasure to drive that driving through these campuses slowly and parking at the ample parking spaces available on a holiday was unimaginable on a weekday.

When we arrived at one infinite loop, we took a picture of the  GPS that directed us there

 One infinite loop is the address of the headquarters of Apple.  

Trust Apple to christen the name for its headquarters with a nerdy name like  that !!! 

The Apple showroom at the campus  was not open since it was a Sunday.  

It  would have been tempting to buy a souvenir to take back as a memory from the trip. 

It was all so exhilarating.  

It would have meant  nothing  to someone who did not understaind our context.  

But for us , the trivia freaks that we were, the business history nerds that we were,  every bit of this trip round the actual silicon valley felt like the reenactment of all that we had known and assimilated from thousands of miles across in India,  which was the back office of the Information   technology industry.       

  

The Information Technology industry shaped us to become who we became, it fuelled our aspirations, opened us up to the experiences of a wider bigger world around us and shaped us up to be global citizens.  

 This was a pilgrimage or sorts to pay our respects to the Giants of the IT industry that have over the years shaped the world into a different one from what it was  25 years ago.  

It was late in the afternoon and we had one more , possibly the most important place on our agenda that we had yet to cover.  The Drive to the Garage was a few miles away and so we set out before the sun set because we did not want to miss out on this historic place .

Stay tuned as we conclude out Californian Crusade @ G – The Garage.