After leaving IIMA in April 1976, I returned to Delhi, where my parents lived. I had not taken a job through the institute placement service, and in Delhi I looked around for something to do. 

 

I ended up joining the Management Development Institute (MDI) which in those days was a small set up, located in Vasant Vihar, South Delhi. 

 

Later that year (1976), I stumbled upon a book by J Krishnamurti and was immediately caught by what was being said. I started to study the teachings over late 1976 and early 1977. 

 

In May 1977 I happened to meet a visiting professor from the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and as a result of that encounter, I ended up in UTD, doing a PhD in the mathematics of operations research. It was a wonderful and memorable experience, and I learnt a great deal during my stay there which spanned about three and a half years. 

 

At the end of that period, I crossed the border into Canada and joined the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, which is located at the eastern end of that country. 

 

This is a tiny, rather rural city; one can explore the whole downtown in 15 minutes! I still remember the glorious forests around and the walks I would take in the hills, crossing streams and fallen trees. 

 

While I was there, I established postal contact with the then Principal of Rishi Valley School in southern India. This is one of the first schools established by Krishnamurti; it dates back to 1931. 

 

I returned to India in early 1983, and joined Rishi Valley in June that same year. A striking memory I have of that journey to the school is that it was the day that India won the ICC World Cup. 

 

Joining the school and being with several people of similar age who were engaged equally in intense inquiry was a tremendous experience, and I learnt a great deal in those early years. 

 

I met my to-be wife Padmapriya in the school and, memorably, the wedding took place in the school campus, under an ancient Banyan tree! 

 

We have a daughter, Karunya, who is now preparing to start her PhD in physics. I spent very many wonderful years there. Located in a semi-desert in the southern end of Andhra Pradesh, with an ever present threat of drought, the school is surrounded by some of the most ancient hills in the country, with the most astonishing granite formations. 

 

Alongside my study of Krishnamurti’s teachings, my study of Mathematics also deepened while I was there, and I ended up learning numerous branches of the field which I had not studied earlier. 

 

(One reason for this is that my undergraduate degree was in physics, so I do not have a conventional education in mathematics.) Along the way, I learned about the International Mathematical Olympiads (IMO). 

 

Over the years 1988 and 1989, I got closely involved with a group of mathematicians who were keen on training students to take part in the IMO. That initial encounter resulted in my extremely close involvement with the IMO movement in the country. 

 

I accompanied the very first team from India which took part in an IMO (it was held in West Germany in July 1989; the Berlin Wall had not yet fallen). 

 

This contact continued for the next 15 years. I learnt an immense amount of mathematics as a result, participating in summer camps every summer and taking teams on numerous occasions out to different countries, all across the world. 

 

In the late 1990s I began to write on a regular basis – not textbooks but books aimed at students and teachers who had a deep interest in the subject and who were keen to learn about aspects of mathematics which never featured in the “syllabus”. 

 

Over the years 1996 to 2015, I served on the editorial board of the undergraduate science magazine Resonance (published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore). 

 

In 2011, I proposed to Azim Premji University (Bangalore) that it should start publishing a high quality magazine in mathematics, aimed at high school students and teachers. 

 

The magazine At Right Angles was born as a result of this proposal; I serve as its Chief Editor. By and by, it is beginning to draw attention from across the country and overseas. 

 

In 2012 I moved from Rishi Valley to a sister KFI school, Sahyadri School, located 70 km north of Pune. I serve as its Director. I continue to study the teachings of Krishnamurti and wonder what one can do about our education system and our society.