boston feels bigger + lokal love
TRIDENT CAFE, HOME—
coming back to your old stomping grounds, whether it be a childhood home, a first Big City, or for me right now, a college campus, can be a bit gutting.
the places you cried, the places you shone, the places you got rejected from all your internships all still exist, but feel different and look different. i’ve barely washed my flight anxiety off of me, but after ~31 hours in boston so far, i’m amazed by how different my home for four years feels.
and it’s a welcome difference.
s described coming back to your college campus after graduating like looking at a stage set after the play ends, with the lights on full blast. i agree completely. there’s no more dynamics clouding your perspective, you aren’t distracted by the moment, you aren’t wrapped up in the emotion. whatever pedestals were stage center, have gently been placed to side stage, or aggressively shoved into storage.
and life, by nature of life, just feels like a bigger picture production.
more later, but first my words + reads:
my words: i wrote about three recent deals from bengaluru’s tech scene. the city has scored of $18 billion across 2,514 deals in the crunchbase data set, and is worth, imo, a dedicated beat re: the struggles and networks that exist for founders there.
etc: one of the startups i talk about above is lokal. i first met them via demo day at y combinator, and they created an app to offer multilingual digital-first news across cities in india. there was another startup that makes podcasts more accessible in india in the same YC cohort. because so many startups are making “hyperlocal” in a part of their dna, and yc believes in that as a future method of high growth, i wonder if america is still a coveted place to be.
learning lesson: while neither of my parents live or have ever lived near bengaluru, both of them are tuned into it as a hub for great talent and companies. in fact, my mom said it’s been 10 years in the making, and my dad said that from his side, the IT talent of india heads there right after graduation.
unorganized tab time:
is it a crime to encourage unauthorized immigration?
anyways,
i, for one, appreciate being back in this city and feeling a bit off.
being back in a place so defined by the past means it is really easy to stay in that filtered time. it’s been a blessing to have friends in boston so naturally willing to look into the present and future, instead. that is helpful, because even in sf right now, i bring up boston a ton partly out of the romanticism of the past. now, seeing how different it is, it feels like i’ll be able to talk about my past in a healthier way, nodding to nostalgia instead of bowing to insecurities.
i’ll end with an anecdote that jumbles up all these feelings into a perfect sentiment.
on saturday, i went back to the coffee shop i spent the greater half of my senior year working at as a barista. since i was last there, the ownership has changed, the inside has been completely remodeled, and it’s no longer called kookoo cafe. the lighting, on saturday, reminded me of all of this. but when i walked to the new, shiny counter, the espresso brownies were ready, jack and chelsea jumped over the counter to hug me, and my order - a greek salad in a wrap with one falafel and light feta - was already in the works.
so i think that’s why we end up visiting old homes, even if we feel like take-your-shoes-off-at-the-door visitors at times. we visit because we get to play with familiarity contrasted with growth. we get to be reminded of a past that supports us in our present. and for the luckiest of us all, for those of us that did our time right and full in each home we’ve ever lived, we get to come back through the door and find someone who knows our coffee and lunch order waiting for us, unchanged.
to light feta, the best coffee, and the special city that took me seriously before even i did,
n
thanks jack!