Hi Everyone, Feels great to join Silklist. Looking at the kind of conversations happening here I seem to be in the midst of intellectually very sharp people with a wide range of interests. I will strive to live up to that.
A brief intro about myself: My name is Raja Venkataraman. Grew up in Chennai for the first part of my life until school ended and joined a fairly small college in Bangalore for my B.Sc in Biosciences. After this I studied Biotechnology at the Madurai Kamaraj University. Left for the US in 1997 as many others did to pursue a Ph.D in Miami, FL. Changed courses somewhere along the way and instead of one Ph.D I ended up with two separate Masters degrees in Molecular biology and Computer information systems. Continued to work in Miami till last year when I decided to return to India after 11 long years. I have been back here around 8 months and I feel much like a space traveller who returns to his home planet after a long time. Many things have changed and even more things have NOT. Of the significant things that have changed are my friends circle that remained back in India. Almost all are married *some even divorced* with children (unlike myself) who don't have time anymore for a nice conversation or traveling. They all seem consumed by their jobs and family committments. So far I have found it hard to find myself and maintain an intellectual mileu of peers and complete the settling down process in India. This is when one of my friends (Dinesh Venkateshwaran) introduced me to Silklist. I am hoping to get introduced to like minded individuals and participate in many activities and stimulating conversations for a long time to come. I hope I have covered enough in terms of an introduction. Please feel free to ask if there is anything else you would like me to add about myself. Thanks for including me on the list. Cheers, Raja.
