Life is a journey:
During the early days of my childhood we lived on the suburbs of Kolkata. It was around an hour journey from our school, South Point High School. It was fun and hard time to be on the train. We used to board the train of 9:36 AM and always be on the same compartment. It used to get crowded as the train reached the city. If we did not get a place to sit down, co-passengers, who would see us everyday, used to squeeze some space for us to sit down. There was a group of co-passengers, who played regularly “bridge” on the train. This is a regular scene in the local trains around Kolkata, where you will see a group of people sit opposite, place a white cloth bridging the gap between them and play cards. Watching my co-passengers play bridge continuously for six-seven years, it helped me learn bridge before I was in class V. I guess, everybody who has traveled extensively on trains can tell a lot of interesting stories.
When I was in Class V, we moved to Calcutta. I studied in South Point School, which once secured its place as the world’s largest school in Guinness Book Of World Records and then after Class XII, I went to study at IIT, Kharagpur. Kharagpur was a totally different town compared to Kolkata, with not many things happening. Some of the interesting things are the late night stop at Chedis, tea at Harris or the treats at Waldis. I loved first year's NCC camp at Kalaikunda. It was a marvelous experience, where we stayed in camps, did training early in the morning, and used the open-air toilets. In our first year, we still remember, while barding the train between Howrah and Kharagpur, how we used to find the correct compartment, without any seniors, such that the three-hour journey can be little peaceful.
After completion of my BTech studies, I went to USA and did my MS, PhD from UC Santa Cruz. I still remember my first meeting with JJ, my PhD advisor. When I reached Santa Cruz, I asked him what should I study. He told me to relax, have a nice time and then start working. Some of my friends were toiling from the first day.With JJ, you always do the best, but you never get the unnecessary stress. He has been one of the greatest mentors, who would always invoke inspiration in your mind. He has a great presence and his students admired him. PhD had always been a memorable experience for me. It taught me how to mature, how to handle questions, how to give public speech and how to understand problems and solve them. Above all, it taught me openness, sincerity and perseverance. Fun part during those PhD days was the 2AM tea party or a trip to the coffee shop, tennis games and soccer practice. Santa Cruz is always a town, different from other places in USA. You will always bump against people, who had visited India many times or know Madhuri Dixit. I used to stay in a ‘room-in-a-house’ and my German landlady was a big follower of Ramana Maharishi. During the 2003 world-cup, when India went to the world cup cricket final, we arranged viewing of the world cup games in our apartment. I remember, for the famous India-Pakistan match, we had thirty students watching the games in two small rooms. We had a blast.
After my PhD, I moved to Philadelphia. I remember few funny incidents while I was interviewing for Ipsum Networks and I travelled from CA to Philly. They sent a Lincoln to pick me up. My landlord wanted to hold the door while I left to give me enough respect. I landed at Philly at around 11PM and I was very terrified, given the reputation of Philly. I was given a phone number to call for my pick up and I called the number. I was told by an automated machine “do u want to check out some hot cheeks”. I was at my wits end and I was relieved to find out that the dialed number is one editable distance from the correct number. While on the way back, after my interview, I remember my cab driver showed me a new stadium, where “Eagles play”. That time, I did not know that Eagles, apart from being a band, is a famous American football team from Philly. My stay of two years at Philly had been extraordinary. I loved the east coast as also the west coast. I was staying at Wayne, the suburbs of Philly. There only, I volunteered some good time for Asha For Education. Also, used to go to Upenn to play soccer, tennis or cricket. I even played for an Upenn cricket team. I always like the university environment. Therefore, at the slightest opportunity I tried to be in an univeristy place. At Ipsum, I got to work with Roch, Roch had also been a great inspiration and he is the prime example of a person of high efficiency, discipline and intellect. I have the highest regard for him.
Then I came back to India to Bangalore. Bangalore had been a difficult experience with lots of frustrating moments while settling down and finding a house for rent. Bangalore as a city has absorbed people from all culture from all states. To me, the best part of Bangalore is IISc, a great place of learning. Visiting IISc had always been a soothing effect on my mind. Apart from being a great center of learning, it is a nice place to spend some quality time. I got married after I came back to India.
