Beyond Work
🎾 Tennis
I picked up tennis again during the summer of 2020, when everything moved online and I needed to get out of the house. I was debating whether to buy a PlayStation 5 but decided instead that I needed a break from screens. I found a nearby park with a tennis wall and began practicing by watching YouTube tutorials. Before long, a few players noticed me hitting and invited me to join their games—and I’ve been hooked ever since. I now play intermediate-level tennis four to five times a week and enjoy rallying with friends at local meetups. Tennis is an energetic and intense sport that pushes me to stay fit, both on and off the court, and it’s become one of my favorite ways to recharge outside research.🧘 Yoga & Meditation
During the summer of 2019, after finishing my first year of the Data Science master’s program at Duke, I stayed on campus for an internship while all of my friends left town. I was mentally exhausted from a nonstop year and decided to use the university recreation center to decompress. I thought yoga would be the easiest group fitness class to start with—but I was completely wrong! Within minutes of my first class, I realized how challenging it was, yet I stayed until the end. I pushed myself to keep going, and by the end of the summer, I had practiced yoga almost every single day, including weekends. Each instructor had a unique style, but I was drawn most to Hatha yoga, which gives time to hold each pose and be fully present in the moment. That experience changed me—not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. Yoga has helped me stay centered and resilient during stressful times, especially in the early stages of my PhD. I still swear by it and keep returning to the mat, whether for a personal practice or in a class setting. Alongside yoga, I explore meditation traditions such as Buddhist Vipassana, Sahaja Yoga, and Mindfulness Breath Awareness, using them to reset focus and cultivate calm attention.🏋️♂️ Gym
During my time at UNC Chapel Hill as an AI researcher, my supervisor was very dedicated to weight training. Curious, I asked him to recommend a good trainer, and he referred me to his own coach. Before that, I had only been an occasional gym-goer because of a minor back issue from my undergrad days, so I was a bit skeptical. Still, I decided to give it a try. I trained with the coach three times a week and sometimes added extra sessions on my own depending on my schedule. It was a game-changing experience—I became stronger and more confident, and this physical progress reflected positively in other areas of my life. My willpower and discipline improved, I became more mindful of my nutrition, and I even participated in a weight-loss program at UNC that helped me build healthier habits. Strength training and HIIT have since become an integral part of my routine, reinforcing both physical and mental resilience.💃 Dance
I had never danced before until I took a ballroom dance course at ASU in Spring 2025—and it quickly became one of my favorite activities. The experience sparked a genuine interest in movement and rhythm, so this semester (Fall 2025) I’m continuing with Afro-Latin Salsa. I have started attending local dance socials, which are a fun way to relax, recharge, and meet new, interesting people. I enjoy ballroom and Latin styles—especially Salsa and Bachata - which combine rhythm, coordination, and creative expression. Dancing helps me unwind and connect with movement in a joyful way.👨🍳 Cooking
I’ve always enjoyed cooking, especially since I was raised vegetarian and never developed a taste for meat. When I first moved to the U.S., eating out was both limited and expensive, so I cooked Indian food almost every day. During my second year at Duke, I discovered that the university offered free weekly cooking classes—and they filled up within minutes of registration. The classes were held in a beautiful, MasterChef-style kitchen above the undergraduate dining hall and taught by a local chef whose husband was a professor at Duke Divinity School. She wanted students living away from home for the first time to learn how to cook for themselves.I was the only vegetarian in the class, and she always brought extra ingredients just for me, which meant a lot. Each recipe taught a new culinary skill—poaching eggs for hollandaise, baking red velvet cake, or learning knife skills for stir-fry. For the final session, we all cooked a large meal together, and the experience was both educational and joyful. I learned so much that I took the advanced version of the class the following semester. Those classes opened my eyes to countless vegetarian dishes beyond Indian cuisine, and I’ve been experimenting ever since. Now, I try new recipes almost every weekend and explore vegan restaurants whenever I can. Cooking has become a way for me to explore creativity, culture, and mindfulness beyond research.
🇫🇷 Learning French
Last December (2025), while visiting India, I found myself bored and glued to my phone—scrolling endlessly and watching shows on repeat. Wanting to do something completely different, I downloaded Duolingo and decided to learn French. I had tried it before half-heartedly, so I wasn’t very hopeful. But this time, I kept at it—one short lesson every day.A month later, I was meeting friends at a café in Khan Market, New Delhi—Pret A Manger—and my brain instantly recognized it meant “Ready to Eat”. That tiny realization made me so ecstatic that it reignited my curiosity. I began to see language as a gateway to understanding food and culture, which beautifully complements my love for cooking.
Since then, I’ve built a 300-plus-day streak on Duolingo, completed Level A2, and am now working on Level B1. I watch Netflix series dubbed in French with dual subtitles to improve both listening and reading comprehension and attend French meetups to practice conversation. At first I couldn’t understand a word, but now I can follow the context and even hold short exchanges.
As an AI researcher, I’m fascinated by how learning a new language feels like training a new neural network—transfer learning for the brain. During my MBA exchange program years ago, I visited Paris without knowing a single French phrase; now I hope to return—perhaps as a PhD exchange student or during a summer internship—and be able to converse confidently in French.