Almost immediately after graduating from IIMA, I married Gopal Menon and joined Hindustan Petroleum, but Gopal, with Citibank, was going to Greece for a few months on training, so I left and went with him to explore Greece and Europe. 

 

Between 1976 and 1980, I worked in Advertising and Market Research, moving from Calcutta to New Delhi, then back to Calcutta. 

 

Our daughter, Ayesha, was born in 1980, followed by our son Arjun in 1981. In 1982, we emigrated to the US and Gopal started working at Bankers Trust in New York City, while I spent the next 2 years raising our two little children. 

 

In 1984, I went back to work in advertising with a NY firm and they were the most fast paced years of my life with an exacting job and 2 still very young children to take care of. 

 

Then, in 1986 Gopal got transferred to London, and we all moved there for what we thought was a 2-year stint. Not quite….we ended up there for the next 19 years. 

 

Our kids did all their formal schooling at the American School in London, while I lived the life of an Expat, took classes in anything that interested me, got very involved in the PTO, had a terrific social life, travelled widely!! 

 

The kids left for US Universities, she to Princeton, he to Brown, and Gopal and I bought an apartment in Manhattan, NYC, so we could have a second home nearer them while we continued to live in London, but by 2005, with both kids working in 

 

Manhattan, we sold our London house, and moved back to NYC, where we continue to live today.

 

Our children are now married: 

Ayesha met Rob, her husband, at Stanford University’s MBA program and they have a daughter, Sahana, They live and work in New York, close to us. 

 

Arjun married Lily Yang who he met through work, in Hong Kong, where he has been living since 2006.

 

Gopal and I continue to travel a lot, particularly for wildlife and other adventures, and have been to all 7 continents (my favorite being Antarctica). 

 

We have, over the years, had many IIM friends visit us both in London, and NY, and we hope this will continue. We are both very active in many spheres and life is always busy…not least when our toddler grand daughter comes to visit!!

 

We have an apartment in Bangalore, which gives us a base in India to keep returning to and meeting family and friends. Several IIM friends have visited us there too!!

 

All in all, I think I have been granted a wonderful life, great friends, children I adore, and a husband who made so much of it possible by being a superb breadwinner while I focused on raising the kids, maintaining strong social and family ties, and navigating the life of a family that uprooted itself from India, then the US, then England, and back to the US. 

 

Life is a great adventure and we live it as such!!