My Story
Early Mathematical Journey
My earliest memory of Math, which I have never admitted to anyone before is struggling miserably to do subtraction in second grade. It was a light bulb glowing moment when my mother intuitively explained concept of subtraction to me and I finally got it. There was no looking back till my undergraduate linear algebra course, where I got the same miserable feeling.
Now I think about it, I feel that at the time, I did not “get it” and teacher’s style of teaching did not help it. Together it made my interest in the subject decrease dramatically very quickly. This is precisely what I am trying to address, for students not to lose interest in Mathematics as they are not understanding the concepts and their application.
Academic Journey
After acing every single test in elementary and middle school, I suddenly realized in high school that there are smarter kids than me. I figured a way to ride the waves with these smart kids and ended up getting rank 211 in IIT JEE and 1st rank in Karnataka Common Entrance Test in 1998.
Upon entering IIT Madras, it dawned upon me even more clearly that I am just an average guy. I was surrounded by folks who were extremely good in not only academics but in a lot of different ways. I got out of IIT Madras unscathed, inspired, and humble, with a B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering.
I worked for 2 years at Analog devices as an analog design engineer. During this time, I got a Master’s degree in English Literature from University of Mysore.
Chess and Puzzles
I have played competitive chess from an early age representing my state at under-10, under-12 events. You can still find me playing, mostly online at chess.com.
I have loved doing puzzles all my life, enjoying all kinds of puzzles like Cryptic crosswords in the Hindu and New York times, Sudoku, 1000-piece jig saw puzzles and many more. My love for puzzles drew me towards puzzle championships. I was crowned the Indian National Puzzle Champion in 2001 and 2003. I represented India at the World Puzzle Championship in Stamford, USA, in 2001, Papendal, Netherlands, in 2003, and Eger, Hungary, in 2004.
Indian National Puzzle Champion (2001, 2003)
World Puzzle Championship Representative (USA - 2001, Netherlands - 2003, Hungary - 2004)
Professional Life & Beyond
In 2004, I came to the United States, to do a PhD from North Carolina State University. During my time at NCSU, I started Two Cents of Hope, a non-profit organization aimed to promote education to the deserving but underprivileged students in India. I am proud of the fact that as students ourselves, we were able to make a difference in lives of 100s of students and their families.
After graduating from NCSU, I worked at Maxlinear, starting out as a design engineer in a start-up in 2010 and quitting as a senior manager of a mid-size public company in 2022. I have 7 patents awarded in my name.
In 2022, I decided to get out of the corporate rat race to do things that I really enjoy, care about, and make a difference to the world outside my immediate family.
I have been learning and practicing Traditional Energy Medicine, that can be understood as a combination of Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. I diagnose issues and provide holistic treatment that is aimed at complete cure rather than relief.
Teaching Journey
My math teaching journey started with trying to get my son to experience math in the way I did. He is not allowed to use pen and paper to solve any math problems. He needs to think it out.
I started training my kids and their elementary school classmates for Math Kangaroo competition every year. We were able to get 100+ students enrolled for the Math Kangaroo tests from 2023 to 2025. My son’s school Cherrywood Elementary School had 14 students in the top 20 in 2023, 10 students in 2024 and 17 students in 2025.
Currently I train students for math competitions at all levels across the globe.