I grew up in Mumbai, a bustling metropolis of 15 million people, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I played cricket in parking lots, earned accolades for both academic and extra-curricular activities, and finally left the city in 1998 and have only returned to it sporadically ever since. After spending two very formative years in Rishi Valley (a residential school), I went to Chennai for my undergraduate studies. I spent 5 years there, slowly discovering how much I liked to learn Math, and finished with a Masters in Mathematics from IIT Madras (receiving a medal for the highest GPA of my graduating class). I then went to Purdue for my PhD. This was the first time I had lived outside my country and I learnt a great deal both about myself and about the world around me in that time.

I have now moved back to India, and joined IISER Bhopal. I am also happily married, have a young child, and am trying hard to balance work with my personal life. I teach, I learn, and I do mathematics at every chance that I get. I am also very invested in what the IISERs are trying to achieve, and I put in a great deal of effort to improve the systems we have here at IISER-B.

Outside of Mathematics and Teaching, my interests include

Board and Card Games

I grew up playing card games like Twenty-Eight, Judgement, and its variants, and a variety of board games like Clue, Scotland Yard and many others. Nowadays, I am largely restricted to playing three games: Settlers of Catan, Dominion, and Magic: The Gathering.

Cricket

I follow cricket with a passion. I used to play the game for many years, but time constraints have ensured that I must only follow the game at a distance now. The way the Indian cricket team plays on a given day is often reflected in my mood, and I spend way too much time debating inane aspects of the game with my friends.

History

I am trying to learn some History/Archaeology from the books of Stephen Shennan, David Anthony, David Reich and others. I am also interested in Paleontology (thanks to Thomas Halliday, Stephen Brusatte, etc) and Language evolution (thanks to Nicholas Ostler, Peggy Mohan and Guy Deutscher). I have recently started using Goodreads to track my learning.

Music

I listen to music voraciously, and I am always interested in finding new artists and sounds. My default jam is bad '80s pop, although I am currently listening to Cinder Well (Cadence), The Arcs (Electrophonic Chronic) and Tinariwen (Amatssou).