I Want to Learn More

April, 1985 and we were driving away from civilization towards the untamed, natural and beautiful; wearied of chaos, dangers and blood-spills of our own rioted country – an aftermath of post Indira Gandhi era. My father was driving his 1969 model Fiat until we were right in the middle of an Adivasi congregation, wondering to see what this four wheeled object was. I was in class two then. Initially I was ashamed to watch the near naked fellow boys, only to grow-up and be a little shyer to watch near – naked adults too. Leaving Calcutta, then, was the key leading me into this real world and marks the beginning of my career itself.

I was put into a local school run by Christian Missionaries, on UNESCO aids & grants from various local mining organizations, a network socially so active there, without which probably I would not have been what I am today. In the next ten years I grew up with my bones & muscles toned up really very strong, correlating to the wild surroundings cast upon me. Incredibly close to my Adivasi friends, along with some well-off children of other educated families in our cluster, I completed my schooling from the Orissa Mining & Metallurgical zone and much to the astonishment of my father; I turned out to be really ambitious by adolescence. I appeared for the Joint Entrance Exam of India, a gateway into the most prestigious & powerful engineering schools in our country – The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).

IIT was the next best thing that happened to me. Out of the literally wild & just manageable lifestyle, I bumped straight into the most cutting & extremely technological frontier of our country – a college deemed as Institute of National Importance. Of course the rigor of the competition tested every nerve in me and also set a bridge for me to adjust into my new surroundings having all kinds of boys & girls – really smart - from various parts of India and quite many Non Resident Indians also. The four graduating years at IIT were, by far, the most grueling & influencing years of my life. Being pitted against the best of the nation, especially from cities & far-flung countries exposed even the most deeply hidden of my qualities right in front of me – not just academics but also extra curricular swung open like the gates el dorado.