Reading
I have been an ardent reader since I joined a local library at age 6. Fantasy, especially the high fantasy sub-genre, and science fiction are what I love reading the most. Most of my time is spent on reading series which span multiple books, as I enjoy the freedom that it provides with respect to world-building and character development. My favourite series, in no particular order, include The Wheel of Time, The Stormlight Archives (and the entire Cosmere books), The Lord of the Rings and the rest of Tolkien’s work (obviously), the Earthsea series, the Dune series and of course all of Isaac Asimov’s books (especially the Foundation series). Asimov's work, in particular, was a strong influence in my decision to follow a career in research.
Board Games
I enjoy playing a wide variety of board games, especially of the eurogames variety, with worker placement and resource collection mechanisms. Complex games like Through the Ages, with multiple viable strategies to achieve victory, are something I'm very enthusiastic about playing. My interest mostly stems from a childhood spent playing strategy video games like Age of Empires II, and more recently Crusader Kings 2. I can be usually found playing either Puerto Rico or Dominion with my friends or playing a whole bunch of games online at boardgamearena.com (you can find my profile here).
Photography
I enjoy photography, primarily macro and street photography. I mainly use my Nikon D5300 along with a 35mm Prime lens for capturing scenes that stand out to me on trips and events. For my daily use, I rely on my Oneplus 7T along with a Google Camera port. The process of finding a new and slightly abstract perspective on a common scene is extremely satisfying to me. All the photographs in this web site were taken by me. You can find some more of my images on DeviantArt!
Coding and Data Analysis
Over the course of my Ph.D., I have also developed a strong interest in coding and data analysis.
Although I have largely worked in R, recently I have started learning other programming languages, including Python and JavaScript.
I enjoy applying my coding skills to different datasets and thinking up of new ways to visualise and analyse patterns in these datasets.
During my stay at NCBS, Bangalore, I have helped numerous colleagues with their data analysis and visualization
(check out some examples here,
here and here).
I have also learnt HTML5 and CSS3, and I made this entire website by myself using the Bootstrap framework (check the credits for more information on how I put the website together).
You can check out some of the fantastic resources that I use in the resources page.
Illustrations
Another interest that stemmed from my Ph.D. days is graphical illustrations. I realized while making my presentations and posters that most of the illustrations that I could access from the internet did not fit very well with my idea of how the presentation or the poster should look like. I then started using design software to produce schematics and illustrations that better suited my own story telling style. With my rudimentary expertise in Photoshop, Illustrator and more recently Inkscape and GIMP, I have started producing illustrations for use in my own work. All the illustrations in this website, including the stylized honey bees on the home page were made by myself. I have also designed a poster and a t-shirt for the in-house ecology and evolution symposium at NCBS, "Tangled Bank".
Prose and Poetry
I have enjoyed writing prose and poetry from childhood. Although my attempts can be described as amateurish at best, writing, especially poetry, is something I find useful as a medium to express ideas and thoughts. During my undergraduate studies, I was part of the editorial team of our college newsletter. I enjoyed writing and curating articles during this time and have continued writing poetry during my graduate studies also. You can read some of my writings on Medium!