I was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu - a city of about 1 million, on the 3rd of May,1974. I did my higher schooling at the Bhavan's Gandhi Vidyashram, Kodaikanal, a quaint school in a quaint town 7000 feet (2200 mts) above sea level. After I fiished with that, I managed to slime an admission into IIT Delhi, which was a childhood goal for a lot of us then. I had a good time there overall, and it was a nice experience staying in a place so far away from home and living in a totally different cultural setting. The amount of academic value addition I got from studying there, however, is not something I'd prefer to dwell upon! Once there, I was toying with the idea of doing an MBA abroad for a while, but I thought I might take a shot at CAT (which is the qualifying exam for the IIMs) and see what turned up. The net result - here I am, at IIM Bangalore.

Reading : I used to be a big fan of thriller and adventure novels, from Secret Seven and Famous Five, when I was about 10, then The Hardy Boys (at 12), Alistair Maclean and Perry Mason (at 14), Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth, Sidney Sheldon, Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, et al. (15 to more or less the present). I used to like Agatha Christie too, but I found that her novels got pretty predictable after the first couple of dozen or so. My current interests are mainly humor-related stuff like Douglas Adams and P.G.Wodehouse. Wodehouse is, of course, known to be a great humour writer, but I actually believe that he's one of the greatest love story writers as well! I also loved the Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister Books, and of course, who can forget Erich Segal, and esp. his Love Story, which is probably my all-time favorite book. Besides these, I love comix - Calvin, Peanuts, Archie, et.al.

Music : I listen to all kinds of music - pop, rock, dance, techno, instrumental, etc. but I really don't dig anything too heavy, and I still haven't developed a taste for classical music. My fav. group is Pink Floyd, no question there. The link here is to one of the best Pink Floyd sites I've seen on the web (and believe me, there is no shortage of those!). I also like The Cranberries, Phil Collins, Dire Straits, Guns N Roses, etc. And there's this vague band called Phish, whom I haven't heard all that much of, but i'm pretty kicked about anyway! Also new here is a set of senti lyrics (locally stored)

Movies : I've always been a movie buff, but somehow I don't seem to be getting the time or opportunity to watch them as often as I'd like to here. I don't have a fixed taste in movies either - I like comedies, romances, thrillers, just about any good movie. I even like the occasional Rajinikanth or Govinda movie! And I love James Bond movies too! Some great English movies I watched recently include When Harry Met Sally, Mississippi Burning, English August, Seven and Apollo 13. My favorite actors right now are Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman and Tom Hanks. Favorite Actresses - Sonali Bendre, Meg Ryan, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts. For a great site for stuff on Indian movie stars and models, click here.

Other Hobbies : I love visiting places, meeting people, making friends, etc. Then of course, there's the mandatory liking for the opposite sex. Speaking of which, you may like to visit the official site of the biggest event in celebrating woman, YES, I mean the Miss World '96 Contest, which was held in our very own Bangalore!! I was also majorly into chatting on the net, and it took a while before I realised that I was spending altogether too much time there. Check out my favorite chat site, and be warned, this gets addictive pretty fast! I tried dabbling with astrology and stuff for a while, but gave it up soon after. BTW, to check out your HOROSCOPE for the month, click here. I'm a big cricket fan like most Indians. Click here for the latest news on happenings in the cricketing world, and live scorecards if there's an international match on. I also love tennis, and Monica Seles, and this has often caused a lot of contsternation when Steffi-Monica matches were on as I was inevitably the only guy supporting Seles. I'm periodically fascinated by scientific stuff, especially things relating to very large (astronomy) and very small spaces (quantum mechanics and such things). Two great writers in this area are Stephen Hawking (who is of course one of the greatest living minds too), and John Gribbin whose In Search of Schrodinger's Cat is a wonderful and almost haunting book.