Nara's Biography
Fourth among five children, hailing from a middle class family in Trichy. Father was a school teacher. Simple but high quality life.
Front view of House (front door closed)↴
Places lived/connected
New Zealand's first Governor, William Hobson, established Auckland as the colony's capital in 1841 on land offered by Ngāti Whātua. Named after Lord Auckland, Governor-General of India between 1836 and 1842.
New Zealand comes from the Dutch 'Nieuw Zeeland', the name first given to us by a Dutch mapmaker. New Zealand was named after Zeeland by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. New Zealand was first spotted on December 13, 1642 by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman and explored by Captain James Cook in 1769. Aotearoa (Land of the long white cloud) is the Maori name for New Zealand, though it may have been used for the North Island only. North Island was Te Ika a Maui – the fish of Maui. Polynesias arrived around 1200-1300 AD. Speculative theories of previous Moriori people, southeast Asias, South American, and Phoenician/Celtic etc before Maoris.
A 14th century Sumatran prince Sang Nila Utama spotted a beast upon landing on the island (Temasek) after a thunderstorm. The name Singapore comes from the Malay words Singa for lion or beast and Pura for city. Sir Stamford Raffles set up a British trading town in 1819, modern Singapore.
Bangalore evolved over time from benda-kaal-uru (literally, "town of boiled beans"). Bengaluru got its name after an old woman served cooked pulses to a lost and hungry Hoysala king.
The name Madras was Derived from Madrasan a fisherman head who lived in coastal area of Madras. Chennai or Chennapatnam named by Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka in honour in honour of his father, Damarla Chennappa Nayakudu.
Tiruchirappalli derives its name from the three-headed demon Trishira, who meditated on the Hindu god Shiva near the present-day city to obtain favours from the god. Tiruchirappalli also means "town of the respected Chira (name of a Jain or ajvika monk)".
Career Education
1) 17 years of school/college study
2) 33.5 years of career /service with out any break (14 years with 40% free time for self research etc)
3) Currently 10.5 years of 15% part time service
Primary Schooling
Most simple school and best teacher, self proclaimed "Velan - Muruga", taught lot of Hindu devotional songs, slokas, stories. Rich konwledge of Hindu/Indian culture. But near zero instruction on English, science or other subjects
Front view of Primary school taken after 30 years
Schooling
Moved from thatched roof school to school with proper building. Small group of friends and nothing great. Learnt a lot on history, religion and languages. Protected environment and sort of weakling. Not much of physical activities. Above average in studies and managed to get over 87% in SSLC and national Merit scholarship for higher studies..
SSLC Class friends - 1971↴
Front view of school/college building↴
IIT - Chennai 1972 -77
- Got admission to IIT Mechanical branch, with fairly a good rank. First time traveled alone from Trichy to Chennai, and attended interview and other formalities. For joining also, went alone with friends.
- Initial IIT life was not smooth. Lean and, not used to physical activities, Workshop and NCC was challenging. Have to understand realities of IIT life.
- Second year, was better moved from old group to new group and hostel. Motivation from NCC trainer, that I have good stamina and I got “B” certificate in NCC.
- Third year, motivated by a studious fellow, to get overall distinction with low starting grades in first 2 years. Managed overall distinction, with 87%, in final year. Got invitation from IIT to do direct Ph.D and recognition. Got dozen job offers and have to join job just 2 days after final year project viva.
Final year, learnt swimming very well.
Campus & Hostel↴
1977 B.Tech batch after 25 years in 2002↴
Working at Bangalore
- Completed viva on May 27th and left for Bangalore to join Larsen and Toubro on 29th. Joined L&T Bangalore works on 1st June. Learnt a lot from practical experts, like a technician who can talk with engines and workmen who can assemble machines with ease.
- Worked at Larsen and Toubro in various capacities. Friends at Larsen and Toubro were very nice and ready to help in all times of need.
Factory visit after leaving Larsen and Toubro↴
Venture Outside India Program
- Venture Outside India Program planned. Applied for US masters in March. Obtained Passport with help of elderly well wisher.
- June 84, got involved in “Self Help - Right to livelihood” project led by retired official from Asian Development bank. Nice to work with 3 men and a woman team for 3 to 4 months to help deserving under class (especially destitutes). The project was a success, but abandoned because many volunteers left.
- July 84, at IITM, got a message from ex teacher that my ex Prof. at National University of Singapore was looking for researcher. Details were mailed to him
- Aug 84, applied for Masters at Asian Institute of Management and attended interview with IIM for fellow/PhD. Did not proceed with the process after some time, because of research job offer from Singapore University in Sep 84.
- 15 Aug 84, surprise birthday party from young well wisher and friend with a movie, special lunch and all for wrong date of birth.
- Sep 84, 2 day motorbike travel from Bina (near Bhopal) to Delhi, en route seeing places like Gwalior, Agra and Madhura.
- June – Oct 84, lot of local travels visiting many holy places for 60 days.
- Left India for Singapore on Nov 1984.
National University of Singapore
- Entered computer centre, with near zero knowledge. Got a crash course on using computer systems/programming, from fellow researcher, who learnt strength of materials and stress analysis from me.
- Published good number of research papers in journals and conferences and started giving course on engineering computing
- Projects went very well, but recession started, problem in getting work visa and so on. Funding for new proposals rejected.
- Gave some Tamil tuition to survive recession. Three months break in India and waste of efforts to find new avenues. Got offers from Indian start ups, may be would have become billionaire, if taken those offers.
Nice swimming facilities at NUS↴
International Refugee
- Quit National University of Singapore for next refugee status – started in April 1987.
- Trip to Australia New Zealand for 3 months, survive with initial 1000$ and a return ticket. Tried few types of assignments and finally decided to become software developer. Worked for a short while with 3 days off per week. Helped a smart person in programming apple for accounting purposes. Got paid double the amount with complements, “What would have taken weeks by me, was done in hours by you”.
- Got a good Australian job, but have to get PR, which will take time. Got Australian PR at last in 1989, when we do not want it
- After submitting Masters thesis in July/August 1987, trip to Thailand-China for job and misc work for a month.
- Lot of travel cum work for 4 months. Lot of places seen and experience gained. Met a variety of people.
- Got permanent position in National Computer Board in September 1987, just next building to National University of Singapore, after traveling thousands of km and continents.
Singapore National Computer Board
After looking for promised land, Joined National Computer Board from 1987 to 1996. Lot of things learnt. Temporarily permanent life, with a decent income, house and so on. Two boys in local school and they had opportunity to study mother tongue Tamil language and learn music.
At office just after joining↴
Sailing at high seas↴
Director cum actor at cultural show↴
At national day parade↴
Homefront
New Phase in life↴
Young Kids↴
Group act↴
Musical Performance↴
Ritual at Ganges river at Kasi↴
Amma at Ganges river at Kasi↴
Amma & geeta at Ganges river at Kasi↴
At Gaya for enlightenment↴
Service with Japanese
From 1996 till 2010, I was working as an external Consultant for Japanese organization, CICC/JETRO at Singapore, on Open Source, IT infrastructural projects and APEC Science & Technology database.
Project at Japan↴
APEC Vegetarian team↴
Climbing Mt.Fuji↴
At last at top of Mt.Fuji↴
Open Source program bridging Digital Divide
Opportunity to work with and help many developing countries on human resources development and setting up technology resource centres. Good Teach and Learn opportunities. Students are best teachers.
AOSS event at Lanka↴
AOSS event at Nepal↴
AOSS management team at Singapore↴
My Journey so far in brief:
(1) Trichy Josephs (65-72), IIT Madras(72-77), L&T Bangalore(77-85).
(2) Singapore University(85-87), Singapore Govt R&D (87-96) Japanese ThinkTank (96-2010)
(3) Now in Auckland New Zealand as citizen researcher/scientist, since 2010
More to come
