My life began on July 6, 1997 in the sunny city of Austin, Texas. As the daughter of two Indian immigrants, I grew up in an American household filled with the flavors of Indian culture. My mom often braided my hair and adorned it with strings of jasmine flowers, a practice common in South India. I sometimes woke up on weekend mornings to my dad listening to Carnatic music, an ancient classical South Indian art form. Every few years, I traveled to the city of Chennai (pronounced Chen-nay) in the Indian state Tamil Nadu (pronounced Thuh-mil Nah-doo) with my parents and brother during my summer vacation to visit relatives in India.
My childhood was also consumed by a fascination with nature. I collected spiders around the house, raised caterpillars, hunted for grasshoppers and stalked snakes. I took delight in the smelly dissections of fish and cats, and I enjoyed school field trips to the zoo or ocean. The beauty of the living systems I encountered struck me deeply. When I was five, I started keeping a notebook called “Nature Spy” and as I have grown up, I have continued with my quest to learn all I can about nature.
At around the same age, I began playing the violin.
