Work brought me to Kolkata from Mumbai. My grandfather's continuous need to hear about Kolkata saw me put pen to paper - or rather words to Microsoft Word. Started to write just out of solitude and urge to do something to kill it. Was startled by the results as loneliness vanished and solitude became livelier. Suddenly felt that Kolkata is not too different from Mumbai and fell in love with Kolkata as much as Mumbai. Inadvertent comparisons cropped up like loads of mushrooms at the onset of rains.

What started as a hobby soon became a passion.

Never a person to use one word where one word would suffice, writing initially went into tons of meaningless words.

My first writing in English would have been the alphabet. It would not be different for you either. Later, it progressed through the academic rigmarole, branched to Physics and Mathematics 'technical' thesis at IIT, Bombay and rested at learning the SQL language of Oracle, which has sustained me in the IT field.

Aimed at IAS, dreamt of a Professor of Physics, accepted software.

It was predicted that I would obtain a post-graduate degree in Economics or Literature. Obtained neither, as I sought the conventional Master of Science. Economics is hard to decipher, medical sciences tense my not-too-strong heart, while Engineering and Management are passé for me. I have strong reservations about expressing my ignorance of politics. Cricket is great till India wins and Sachin dazzles, while tennis ended for me with Gabriela Sabatini and Steffi - in exactly the reverse order.

But with books, I go into a frenzy. Can't really go into a bookshop and come out emptyhanded. Was introduced to books by sheer luck and things have never looked the same since. Now even the 'official' email provides a great opportunity to unleash creativity.

Ayn Rand made me arrogant, Krishnamurthy a wee bit sane, Shaw lent cynicism, while Amit Chaudhari completed the romance. But writers I am obsessed by are Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Ernest Hemingway. Would give anything to emulate them - but realise my own limitations.

Am an ardent fan of old Hindi songs, don't really understand much in music except that I like to listen to it.

Reality hits late - always! Romanticism is never suppressed - so keep on dreaming. Sometimes like a mystic, sometimes like a commoner, at times philosophical, at times cynical in criticism. Half man, Half horse.

Were I to be given a pink slip, can think of writing as alternate career - unless your criticisms ensure otherwise.