From Information Theory to Quantum Mechanics

The first 20 years of my life were spent in the intensely religious and ritualistic atmosphere of a south Indian Brahmin family confined to the towns of Thanjavur and Madras and the paddy fields of the village of Thalanayar in Thanjavur district. Emphasis was laid at home on the philosophy and teachings of the Vaishnavite saints Ramanuja and Desika, the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, the devotional songs of Tamil saints known as the Alwars and finally the Bhagavad Gita. To this day, I believe in their basic idea that personal and global peace are possible only through renunciation and action with detachment.