Yes Sir!!! That is good ole Samir at your service. I guess it would be prudent to indulge in a short description of myself so the unknown may form some notions about the person behind this page.

The story of this specific individual started off in 1984, in a small town called Dehradun nestled in the Himalayas. Like many other kids around him, he grew up with the usual aspirations of wanting to be a space explorer who would be wont to shuffle from one galaxy to another at the bat of an eyelid. Many a science fiction book and a strong dose of reality later, the realization that reality has a pesky habit of taking its time to embrace science fiction did leave him a little disconcerted. But as our protagonist realized that for the time being he must relegate his inter-galactic travails to the realm of his imagination, he moved on to a set of slightly more realistic pursuits (Read: The great Indian engineering rat race!). Grinding through the terribly competitive engineering entrance examinations that every Indian kid has to pass to "make something of their life" as they traditionally call it here, the little boy realized that there was another fantastic world that was as interesting as outer space and yet could fit within a small box on his table.

The world of computers, I realized, had ample scope for personal expression and intellectual fulfillment. Coupled with an active imagination and a near chimerical set of ideas, I decided to plunge into this new obsession of mine. And sure enough, yours truly ended up at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad pursuing a Bachelors in Technology with a major in Information Technology. Life at university threw one challenge at me after another, all of which have left me with a better understanding of how the this microcosm works.

I graduated with honors and a job offer from Microsoft, and ended up spending the next seven months of my life as a Software Design Engineer at Microsoft India R&D. My stint with the software industry was interrupted by an invitation to the Masters program in Computer Science at Stanford University and that is exactly where I am right now, a student again and I wouldn't have it any other way! :-)

A lot has changed over the past and more shall change in the future. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said "Nothing is permanent but change" and I couldn't agree more.

I shall now stop and leave the rest for you to figure out on your own. A thank you seems to be in order for anyone who has managed to get through this not so short "Personal" section so please do accept one from me. Should you wish to do so, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Cheers!