Growing up in the U.S., I'd siloed off my identities. While I was an Indian at home, I was an American at school. I have now embraced both the identities.

Growing up, everyone dreams of certain things, and they map out a direction that their life would take. Working with A. R. Rahman sir is one of my dreams, if not the biggest dream, realised.

Being an Indian in the U.S. and growing up in the suburbs were the two things that really shaped my outlook.

Growing up, any time I would sit down with my grandfather to learn or talk about Carnatic music, he would bring up G. N. Balasubramaniam. Listening to the recordings he would play me, I was dazzled by GNB's voice and how he was able to execute ideas that I could barely wrap my head around.

My mother recognized my artistic talent and looked for someone to teach me to grow my abilities. She found an artist on the street who sent his daughter, Umba, over to begin teaching me when I was only three years of age.

Whether you lead a nation, an enterprise, a community, or a family, we are all in the communication business.

It is time for us to focus on the issues that bring us together as a nation. Supporting parents' capacity to raise their children with the love and resources they need is simply the right thing to do.

One of the jokes among our family was that whenever Dad went to the movies, he insisted on getting his senior citizen's discount. It was laughable to view him as a traditional senior citizen; he was one of the most robust people I ever knew. Until, very suddenly, he wasn't.