Family

Pictures @ http://www.rajkumarmohanram.com/family_images.htm

Early Stages

I was born on the 23^rd of May 1978 in Bombay, Maharashtra, India. But I have lived all my life in Madras (now Chennai). I was brought up in a joint family environment. Today my family consists of my wife, my son, my parents, my brother and my sister. My wife is my strength, my weakness, my support, my inspiration and my love. We have been married for the past 5+ years. We have had our share of issues and fights like any other couple in this world. But we just love each other as wildly as we did when we courted and got married. To commemorate and celebrate our 5th anniversary we co-created Rahul (my son) in Nov 2005. That is what make this relationship special and I am sure it will remain this way forever. I love both my parents and respect them and adore them very much. I share a special bond with my sister, Usha which cannot be explained in words. She is now happily married and has a daughter Tarika. She married my high school junior Vijayaraj in Dec 2003. My younger brother Sankar is still a kid to me and all at home. He moved here to Los Angeles to do his Masters in Computer Science at the University of Southern California in 2004. He married Vijayadevi (sister of Vijayaraj) in summer 2005. My parents mean the world to me, though I may not say this to them everyday. My grandfather is my role model in life. I am still amazed at all that he achieved in life - name, fame, status and respect. And to know that he started out with a few pennies in his pocket and earned all that with just faith and hard work! I would be happy even if I achieve half of what he did. It was my parents who pushed me every day and goaded me towards new goals each day during my younger days. They pushed me towards a new beginning every time I gave up. If it were not for them I will not be where I am today. My wife & son just make my small world feel complete.

Schooling & College

I completed my schooling at St.Bedes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Santhome, Chennai, India. My interest for Computers landed me at Anna University , a premier educational institution in India. My interest for Computer Networks at Anna university and zeal for Research landed me at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in USA. The Department of Computer Science there is currently ranked fifth in the world by US-News and World Report. I did my M.S. in Computer Science there and graduated in Jan 2001. I was also a teaching assistant for CS125 - Introduction to Computer Science using Java during my graduate program. I was also awarded the Excellent Teaching Assistant award in Spring 2000.

Friends

I love my friends very much. My closest friends are Bharath, Ritesh, Ashish, Roopesh and Revati. I came across Bharath, Roopesh and Revati at Anna University. I met Ritesh & Ashish at University of Illinois. They are one of the best things to have happened to me. My other friends in college include Rajalakshmi, Gayathri, Lalitha, Muralidharan and Gopinathan. I am very close to my aunt Anu Radha ( Hey! wait a sec ! she is just a couple of years older than me ! She has been more of a friend than an aunt ) , my cousin Indu and Seethu too. They are the ones who put me in my place and taught me a thing or two. My cousin sisters Soni, Raji and Priya also hold a special place in my heart. My other friends from UIUC are Niti Yadav, Ekta Manaktala and Aishwarya Ramaswamy. They were my source of inspiration and my companions at UIUC. Shradha is another good friend and sister I came across at the University of Illinois. She is a very sweet and loving person who helped me a lot there in UIUC. She completed her PhD in Social work and moved to the University of California in Modesto a year before I graduated. I would have been lost in UIUC without all these friends.

Extra-curricular

I am a Gemini and my behavior symbolizes one. I always put my mind and heart into everything I do. I would never give up till I succeed. I idolize my grandfather. I like him have always believed in hard work. I also believe in "Do unto others if you wish them to do unto you". This is what made me take up social work at an early age. I have been an active scout since the age of 10. An interesting fact is that my scout master was also the scout master for my Dad when he was in school. I have also served as a volunteer of the National Service Scheme (NSS) in India doing social work for 5 years. I was awarded the "Rajya Puraskar" from the Governor of Tamil Nadu, India for excellence as a scout.

I have also been an active and dynamic leader during most part of my schooling. Though I was the class leader from 10th grade to all of high school, I had to turn down the School Pupil Leader (highest title in high school) to focus on my education. I was also the Joint General Secretary of the National Service Scheme of Anna University for 2 consecutive years. I had a good artistic ability and have won many painting competitions. But its been ages since I touched the brush now. I have also won many oratory and quiz competitions and participated in many cultural and technological symposiums.

Jobs

I received an appointment for the post of a software engineer at SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd. - a subsidiary of SAP - AG, Waldorf, Germany, which I had to turn down in order to pursue my graduate studies. I then took up my Masters in Computers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During my masters program I did my summer internship at Sun Microsystems. This was a very special period of my life. It was a great experience. Six of us from UIUC ( Me, Ashish, Ritesh, Rajiv, Srinivas and Chandana (Yeah ! She is a girl ) stayed together in one 3 bedroom apartment and worked in different companies. We had a ball together. The petty fights and pillow fights between Chandana & Srinivas everyday was fun to watch. After my graduation from UIUC in Jan 2001, I joined Microsoft. It has always been my dream company. I always wanted to work there. Now that dream turned into reality. I worked for a year and half at Microsoft's TV group in the System Software team as a software design engineer in the Bay Area, CA. This was also the first few years of my married life. I had married Sweethaa just months before I joined Microsoft. Most of my friends from UIUC too joined me here in the Bay Area after they graduated. So I was back with Ritesh, Ashish, Srinivas, Aishwarya, Rajiv & Sirisha. It is here that Sirisha, Aish & all my other friends from UIUC became very close to Sweethaa. I also met my friend Bharath from undergrad here. He had graduated from Ohio State and joined Altera Corp in the Bay Area. Bharath became very close to both me & Sweetha during this period. He was almost always around us or at my place everyday evening. I later had to move to the Windows Core Security - Authentication & Authorization Team in Redmond, WA. I felt really sad to have to leave the Bay Area. But some things in life happen for a reason. Now here I am in Redmond, WA and I now have another set of friends around me - my friends from Anna University Roopesh, Gopi and Gayathru and my classmates from UIUC - Ekta , Sarosh & Mathew are all here working at Microsoft. After a year here I bought a house in Sep 2004 and I also became a Lead at the same time. Now I have my own team and we own the Windows Core OS Authentication infrastructure. See, I told you, God always shows you another door when one of them closes.

Interests & Likes

I love animals. I have a pet dog called Caesar at home. I love Indian music and Indian food. I read a lot of fiction - mostly crime and mystery. My last read was Colin Forbes. I am always reading something or the other. But recently I have been reading more and more about Technology news, Investing, Stock markets, Taxes, Insurance etc. I have not found time for fiction. I guess I am getting old. I think this is what they call growing up. I also watch a lot of films - Indian ( Hindi & Tamil) and English.

Ambition

Computers - I live and breathe them. I can't live without. I have almost 5 computers at home - a PC, a TiVo, a MCE, a laptop and a Smartphone. I dream of being an architect of great ideas and inventions. My thirst for knowledge and love for change has helped me in achieving all that I have and inspires me to aim for more. The desire to excel is the only thing which fascinates me.

Future

I am now settled here near Seattle, Washington; pursuing my dream of being a an integral part of new ideas and inventions which change the life of billions of people across the globe who use a PC or some form of Software. It is a slow and long process. It has all been a dream come true. My journey till here has been hard but a wonderful learning experience. My thirst for knowledge & desire to excel still remains.

A new life ... A new beginning .... Sweethaa ... and now Rahul

I am now married to Sweethaa. We've been married for 5+ years. She is the best thing to have happened in my life. Her love is something that gives my life a new meaning. What I share with her is very special and cannot be expressed in words on this webpage. All I want to say about her can be said in 4 words. "I Love You" Sweetha ! We celebrated our 5th anniversary by bringing into the world our son Rahul M. Rajkumar. He has turned into the lord, the king and the supreme master of our collective worlds and we as willing slaves continue to serve him 24/7.

Favorites Links :

                                   Rediff
                                   TiVo
                                   Microsoft