Sunday, March 13, 2011

My Indian Wedding - About the Groom

Here is a text that Anil wrote about himself for our wedding website:


My parents got married on XXX and the world-altering event of my birth occurred on XXX. My childhood was spent mostly in India, on the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where my dad used to teach. Most of my childhood involved playing evening cricket with other kids from the neighborhood, climbing mango trees in our backyard, biking around campus, and keeping busy with homework. Fortunately, then as now, I never developed a habit of watching any TV as reality was more interesting! Growing up on the college campus was an idyllic, sheltered, and slow paced life. There was an abundance of wildlife: cows, parrots, monkeys, peacocks, migrating cranes, hornbills, hyenas, and a whole assortment of snakes, including cobras!

Apart from a few years in Columbus, Ohio, Rio De Janeiro, and Bombay, I spent most of my childhood and teen years in IIT Kanpur till I graduated from my Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering at IITK. I got hooked on playing tennis and became good enough at the game to be on the college team. I love the sport and I always enjoy getting on the tennis court, although the knees are not what they used to be!

On XXX I set out to the US for grad school in Atlanta. Fortunately I had my brother to show me the ropes as I settled into a new country and figured things out. I stayed in Atlanta for a couple of years, finished my Master’s degree, dropped out of my PhD, and was excited to get my first job in San Diego in XXX doing chip design. I have been geeking out ever since and moved around quite a bit and lived in a number of places: Atlanta, San Diego, Philadelphia, Boston, and India, till I finally moved to and got thoroughly hooked on the Bay Area.

I moved here on 14 February 2003 and have been here ever since. I’ve been working on my company, with my brother, for the past couple of years and getting a chance to geek out even more. I enjoy being in the Bay Area as this is where I met Monika in August 2007 and this is the place I think of as home. I love the Bay Area for its climate, natural beauty, proximity to beautiful nature, great food, and many fond memories.

Anil during our wedding ceremony: