I was born and raised in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. I'm always amused whenever people react with, "But where in Brazil?" when I tell them that I come from Brasília. I would repeat my answer but of no avail. "Mmm, yeah, but where in Brazil?". To avoid the confusion, I nowadays give the complete information the very first time: "I'm from Brasilia, the capital of Brazil".
Surprisingly, some people are familiar with the exquisite architecture of Brasília. It is a planned city, quite recent (inaugurated in 1960), with its central part designed to be in the shape of an airplane. We call it Plano Piloto in portuguese. Despite being considered a boring city by most Brazilians, I am in love with its symmetry and its "artificial" feel, most probably because it is where I spent most of my life.
People often get confused about my origin. I guess I could look Latin American, but people can tell there is something Asian in me (starting with the name). That is explained by the fact that my family is originally from Kerala, which in my biased opinion, is the most beautiful state in India. So I'm ethnically, completely Indian. Kerala means "land of coconuts", which is exactly what you see when you go there, and Malayalam is the language spoken. I'm quite proud of this mix of nationalities to which I've been exposed, and I believe they have contributed to my appearance, personality and accent(!).
I came to Ithaca in 2003, for my Ph.D. studies. I am also in love with this place and could not think of a better place to live during my grad studies. Grad school is a unique experience; I've learned so much about such different things. And most important, I absolutely **adore** the diverse set of friends I've made at Cornell. They come from all corners in the world, with the most varied perspectives on life, and yet it seems so easy to understand each other and relate in several ways. Thanks to them, I've also been lucky to travel a lot since I joined grad school (and would recommend other graduate students to do the same).