Background — The Anthology of Balaji

I grew up on Long Island in New York. Both of my parents were physicians. They were immigrants from India, in a time and culture where long-distance calls were expensive and mail was slow. They were cut off from their home culture. Their cultural conventions worked for 1950s India, completely different from 1980s New York. My parents were working all the time, you know. We had sick relatives, so a lot of time and money went to them. My parents were focused on their challenges. I escaped into an inner world of fiction and reading, flying through books. That was my life for many, many years. I was born with certain advantages. My grandfather taught me a lot of math early on, before he passed away. I learned to read at a young age. But the good comes with the bad. The first thirteen years of my conscious life, school was a prison-like environment. You must go there every day; you cannot leave. You have no control over your environment. You cannot avoid other kids in school, and I was simp

I grew up on Long Island in New York. Both of my parents were physicians. They were immigrants from India, in a time and culture where long-distance calls were expensive and mail was slow. They were cut off from their home culture. Their cultural conventions worked for 1950s India, completely different from 1980s New York. My parents were working all the time, you know. We had sick relatives, so a lot of time and money went to them. My parents were focused on their challenges. I escaped into an inner world of fiction and reading, flying through books. That was my life for many, many years. I w