More about me....

For the uninitiated, I am a Mumbaikar - born and brought up in aamchi Mumbai! And for the non-Indians, that's the Urbs Prima of India - whatever anybody else may say :)

Many people think I am a 'madrasi' - from South India. Well, my roots (if you go back a couple of generations!) are definitely in Kerala - and further back (my Dad says 400 years!), in Tamil Nadu. For all practical purposes, however, I am a Bombayite (Bombay was the name of the city till 1995). I am more at home in Hindi and Marathi than Tamil, which is my native language. And to add to my embarassment (!), I think in English - which has become my de facto first language. My schooling was in English, and the environment (the Times of India!) might have something to do with it.... English is the primary language of instruction in most Indian cities. A legacy of the British raj, and Macaulay!

Since we touched upon my schooling, a little more about it. I spent fourteen years (from my kindergarten to the twelfth grade) in the South Indian Education Society's institutions. Upto the tenth grade (the Secondary School Certificate Examination), I studied at the SIES School (which was started in 1932), Matunga. That was a five minute walk from my home. The last two years (till the Higher Secondary Certificate Examination) were at the SIES Junior College (in existence since 1962, I think), located in Sion. That was a half hour's walk, though I went mostly by bus. I might add a link to the old school's website once I find it – here’s a link to the SIES College of Management Studies (the new rage sweeping the dime-a-dozen Indian college graduates).

I always wanted to study science, and after my HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate, the equivalent of the US High School Diploma, or 12^th grade), joined the MHSaboo Siddik College of Engineering (really sad site, exclusively devoted to the admissions process) at Byculla, Mumbai, a private college affiliated to the University of Mumbai. Studied automobile engineering (because I liked cars!), graduating in 1996. [Other engineering colleges under the University of Mumbai]

Going in chronological order, I was selected by Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (a premier Indian automobile manufacturer) as a trainee in it's Research and Development section (an overview of the Automotive Sector where I worked). This was located at Nashik, about 180 km from Mumbai. That was my first year away from home, and I stayed with a Maharashtrian family as a paying guest. That's the main reason I can speak Marathi - though I learnt Marathi in school upto the seventh grade, few people in Mumbai speak it. Sad!

The next year, I joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay for the Master of Technology program in Energy Systems Engineering. Returned to good old Bombay/Mumbai, and was more noted at Hostel 1 (the graduate students' hostel, also called the Queen of the Campus) for my absence. The advantage of being a localite was that I could escape the hostel food!

After my MTech, I worked for six months as a research assistant at IITB. Applied for my doctoral studies in the USA (some would say the final destination of IITians!), and here I am - at the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, in the Mechanical Engineering Department.

More about Matunga (the area of Bombay where I lived), Mumbai/Bombay and India, will be in another section of this website.... and if you look around (and I get round to it!), there will also be some photographs, and (maybe!) the ubiquitous resume!

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