Personal

I am from Orissa in eastern India. We have one son, aged 11.

I am very interested in anthropology, evolutionary linguistics, evolutionary psychology, politics and current affairs, south Asian archaeology, and physics & cosmology. I am an avid reader of non-fiction books and some of my favorite authors are Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Naom Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Stephen Hawking, Jared Diamond, and Richard Dawkins. Someday, I hope to write my own books too.

Politically, I take a very left-liberal stance on various issues, such as human rights, the environment, animal rights, capitalism, and neo-imperialism. I am also an avowed atheist and a rationalist. My views on social phenomena are consistent with scientific reductionism.

Indian classical music is one of my other passions. I enjoy the ancient Dhrupad style of composition, especially renditions of the Dagars - the senior Dagar brothers, Z. M. Dagar's veena, and even the young Wasifuddin Dagar, but also others, such as Dr. Ritwik Sanyal. Occasionally I listen to light classical music, by Bhimsen Joshi, Vilayat Khan, and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. I also like very old Oriya bhajans of Balakrushna Dash and some Western classical music, particularly Bach and Beethoven.

I also enjoy ethnic cuisine. I've cooked Cajun, Italian, Persian, Mexican, Indonesian, Thai, and Japanese recipes. I like to watch Hollywood action movies and read Asterix comics.