Sriram Ramakrishnan

Chennai To Chicago Sriram Ramakrishnan

Is there anything permanent at all? Anything that I can lean on to in this world? What is life? What am I doing here? Growing up in the '90s in India, hearing people going to "States" as software engineers, I wondered why people were so crazy about America. Without the internet or the zillion TV channels we have today, I had my own fantasies on "States". Thanks to a Doordarshan Tamil serial in the '90s, "Marriage in Washington", I remember as a teenager sitting in front of the television religiously every week with a yearning in my throat, "I should go to America someday". I didn't know how that would happen, I had not even traveled in an Air-Conditioned compartment on a train. But I knew, someday, I will go to America. And that someday arrived in the form of an admit in a US university with 100% scholarship and a monthly stipend. That began my wonderful "coming of age" experiences in the next 10 years of my life, with numerous travels, tribulations, and life-changing experiences.