I spent most of my life before college in Bangalore, India, with a few years in Gulbarga in northern Karnataka. I moved around various schools in Bangalore until my undergrad at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. After that, went to New York City for my studies at Columbia University. In all, I spent 9 years in the United States-four of them in Manhattan, and the rest in New Jersey, within 50 miles of New York city-before returning to Madras, now Chennai.
My interests have varied over the years. Through my high school and undergrad, I was into Amateur radio and building electronic circuits. That is how I developed an interest in the profession that I am in today, that of an analog circuit designer. Recently, I was asked to deliver a lecture at Shaastra 2007 on building radios. I decided to do some fiddling before I spoke, and converted a 10 band broadcast AM/FM radio to 40m amateur band. Some details of that are in the lecture that I delivered. In 2010, I again gave a lecture on hobby electronics at Shaastra.
I like to read, and gravitate towards non-fiction. After a mostly sedentary life through my undergraduation, I developed a taste for the outdoors after coming to the US. I like to go on occasional hikes or other outdoor activities. I also like to travel, and have been on short visits to Europe and Canada. I greatly enjoyed a 2500mi. drive in Southern California and Arizona and would like to drive across the United States some day. For the last couple of years of my stay in the US, my hobby was to learn languages via audio courses on CDs while driving. While in the US, I also spent a part of my free time with Asha for Education, a non profit organization that works for the benefit of underprivileged children in India.
Currently I live on the beautiful campus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, teaching and researching analog and mixed signal circuit design. I had not travelled much in India before, but, after returning here as faculty, I have been to Uttaranchal and Sikkim during the summer. Both are spectacular places and there seems be an endless list of must-see places in India. Thanks to the internet and telephone connectivity, Indian railways, and the advent of budget airlines, it is easy to plan a tour in advance from your armchair and I hope to do a lot more travelling in the coming years.
In 2002, the NYC/NJ chapter of Asha started a program in which people are provided training, travel, and accommodation for a marathon. I took part in it twice---only times in my life when I subjected myself to regular physical activity!. I ran the Richmond Marathon on 9th Nov. 2002 in 4:04:42, and the New York City marathon on 2th Nov. 2003 in 3:58:34. You can read my account of running the NYC marathon and check out the pictures from the Richmond Marathon and the NYC Marathon. Running a marathon and fundraising for Asha were highly satisfying experiences, and not at all difficult. I recommend it to everyone regardless of their perceived physical fitness and ability to raise money.