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I come from a small town in India called Karad in the the state of Maharashtra. (Karad now has a website!). Karad is a typical small, crowded Indian town lying at the confluence of two major rivers. I grew up as a normal, happy (and very geeky child) with my loving parents, both doctors, and an elder brother, Siddharth. My mother is a very accomplished woman - she is now a professor and head of department of anesthesia in a medical institute - and is also a very sweet, strong, level-headed person. I take all my personality traits, good as well as not-so-good, from her.
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During those early years, I never really had concrete ideas about what I wanted to do - rather, I just thought that I wanted to be a scientist, perhaps because I was quite good at academics. I guess I never grew out of it. I went to the local science college and would probably have ended in medical school, like my brother. Instead, I heard of this place called IIT, and decided that it would be my road to science and research, so I wanted to go there. After a lot of hard work and much tribulation (long story short - IIT is one of the hardest academic institutions in the world to get into), I was there. I was very interested in Physics at that point, and I went to Mumbai to do my undergraduate in Engineering Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Engineering Physics is a good program, with a blend of Physics and Electrical Engineering. Going to IIT remains my biggest achievement and was the biggest change in my life. Coming from my roots as a small-town boy, I now learnt all about the world and made lifelong friends there. Also, working with children through an NGO, I discovered another cause close to my heart, one with a social dimension, which (despite the little I have done), I still have to act upon with any earnestness.
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During my IIT days, a course in Molecular Cell Biology, sparked my interest in Biology, and I dabbled a little in genetics, and spent a summer at TIFR. However, I soon got introduced to Neuroscience, and was fascinated by the prospect of studying the functioning of the brain. A summer in CSHL in New York followed, and after much soul-searching, I decided Neuroscience it is. I spent a year in National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, getting better acquainted with the field. After considering various places, I moved to UCSD for my graduate studies.
UCSD and Salk Institute form one of the best places for Neuroscience with a great program and I had a good time there. After 4 years in San Diego, I moved with my lab to UC Berkeley. Without describing 5 years of graduate school, let me just say that I went through all the joys and pains of a science PhD. I learnt to do research from scratch, and having worked on a major research problem for a 2-3 years to finally make an important breakthrough, have also experienced the value of patience and perseverance.
On the personal front, I am married to Uttara, and I have wonderful parents, an elder brother- Siddharth and sister-in-law Snehal.
Me and Uttara
Me with my parents
Siddharth and Snehal
Updated: 18 Apr 2010