Everyone thinks their Mom is the best Mom in the whole world. They can't all be right - only me !

My mother is the most versatile person I've known. She majored in English Literature and is knowledgable on a variety of subjects. She has taught me all of the math I learned in high school. I am also proud that the basis of my own culinary skills come from watching my Mom whipping up delicious dishes from basic ingredients and to borrow a line from my mother-in-law -- "creating something [quite awesome] out of nothing!"

My father is a mechanical engineer who is a poet and philosopher at heart! He is the most charming personality I know and was a great hit with us when we were kids, and continues to be so. Dinner-table discussions with him in my earlier years have inspired my interests in fundamental questions about existence, consciousness, and the human mind.