My father was posted in the small town of Bhavnagar, Gujarat, when I was born. I was there till I was four years old. Our landlords, who used to live on the ground floor, were extraordinarily kind and indulged me a lot, to the point that I would have my…
I recently met a hostelmate from my undergrad. He had gone to pursue a PhD from IIT Bombay. He mentioned the confidence that undergrads from IIT Bombay carried. According to him, this confidence took them far. Cracking the JEE at eighteen gave them the confidence to be the best in…
I had started preparing for JEE in eleventh grade. I had done pretty well in the tenth standard, exceeding even my own expectations. So when I came in eleventh, I expected myself to do similarly well. I was completely wrong. The thing was that by the end of the tenth…
My younger daughter asked me the other day to put the do du dudu song. While I was searching for the song on YouTube, she was trying to sing it and was miming the actions—Daddy shak do du dudu, Mommy shak do dudu. I was amazed that a child who…
I was recently covered in the alumni spotlight for my undergrad institution. It is a great honour, and I should be proud that the institute chose to feature me. But I do not feel any pride. Instead, I feel a thousand eyes judging me. Why was I featured when many…