Data and supply chain by trade, which mostly means systems, people, and the gap
between what a number says and what anyone actually does about it.
Outside that I cook, I train, I mentor people making the move from academia into
industry, and I read more mythology than is strictly reasonable. The same
thinking applies more often than you would expect — most problems come down to
clarity, process, and knowing where to intervene.
The professional version is over here.
The shop
I grew up in my family's optical shop, among frames and lenses. The free specs were a perk. The better part was absorbing how a small business actually works without noticing I was learning anything.
School
Somewhere in there I talked my way into an inventory project — clearing out stock that was not moving to make room for a new range. That was optimisation, though nobody called it that and I would not have known the word.
Pune
Engineering followed, and a student motorsport team. Running it taught me more about people than about cars, which was not the lesson I had signed up for.
Texas
Then a master's, and a year of teaching alongside it. The teaching turned out to be the useful part: the fastest way to find out whether you understand something is to try explaining it to someone who does not already care.
Into industry
Procurement first, then analytics. What I did not expect is how little of it is the analysis. Most of what looks like a technical problem turns out to be a disagreement nobody has written down.
Now
Back in India, leading a team spread across a few countries. Cooking more, training more, reading more mythology than is strictly reasonable. And writing here, mostly to work out what I think.