 I'm here with Amalinder Krishna from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India. He's a 2015 winner of the Ramanujan Prize. I have a few questions for you. So how and why did you get interested in mathematics? Maybe take one at a time. I was in my school and I used to like mathematics. So, and basically the liking grew up and then I went to Indian Statistical Institute. My professors basically they were so good in math that I thought this is what I should do. But this is Statistical Institute is at secondary level? No, this is at the undergraduate level. Before undergraduate level I had not really learned mathematics. I was more into different things. Like what? Basically I used to study statistics and some languages like Sanskrit. Those kind of things I used to do more. I did not have much exposure to pure mathematics until I went to Indian Statistical Institute. So you would say your teachers were the biggest? Yeah, although I went there to study statistics but I had some teachers in mathematics. They taught me so well that I thought I should go into mathematics other than statistics. And did you know you could make a living as a mathematician? No, at that time not much. I think I thought that I will do my undergraduate at Indian Statistical Institute and then I will go abroad for my PhD. That was what most of my seniors used to do there. So I thought oh maybe this is what I am also supposed to do. Did your parents agree with this plan? No, actually the problem was that actually to go to the US at that time you had to apply for like several things, several schools and it was financially quite challenging for me. So I thought that I should not try this. So then my teacher ISI told me that ISI, Indian Statistical Institute in India is famously known as ISI. So the math professor told me that the Institute called Tata Institute maybe I should apply for PhD program and I applied there and then they called me for the program and that's how I did it. So you did your PhD at the Tata Institute of which now you are a professor? Yes. And was it you would say hard for you to follow a career mathematics in India? You mean study mathematics? Yeah, it was challenging. Was it something difficult to find the right spots to continue? Yeah, that's right. Basically I am from a province or state in India which is one of the like in terms of education is one of the lower level of the state. So the academic atmosphere particularly at the time when I was a student, I was in schools or high schools or intermediate college I think it was quite poor the exposure to higher education and nobody was really talking about going into research or going into even like good colleges. Most of the people were thinking of going into bureaucracy or going into some other jobs. Somehow my state has been like historically, politically very active. It's one of the states which have been very deeply involved in Indian freedom struggle and all sorts of things and it continues to be in the limelight. So most of the people there want to be you know like going into this kind of government jobs become like bureaucrats work in some with some ministers and all sorts of things. But this kind of this side of education namely the higher education in science was really like not that much like heard of. So and when I was in intermediate college I also had this difficulty I did not know what I am supposed to do. I liked mathematics and so but I used to do mathematics. My father was engineer so he liked mathematics so he used to support me but I didn't know what I have to do. So it was those few years are pretty challenging for me because I had no idea what I am supposed to do. But then you know one of those softs stationary softs they used they were like hanging some application forms for various jobs and various admission to various colleges and then I saw something called Indian Statistical Institute admission form. I was in mathematics in a statistic. I found it fairly like interesting so I went there and took the form and just submit applied for the admission and I got into it and then when I went there it was the situation was completely different because everybody was into mathematics statistics academia trying to learn something. So it was very difficult for me I thought that is very difficult for me to really stay here because I had never seen this kind of atmosphere. But my teachers were like very good and so I also showed some interest so they supported me and that's how I basically got into this channel of doing mathematics and went to TIFR and Tata Institute yes and I did PhD there. Then luckily I am I applied for postdoc and I got postdoc from UCLA so that was good and that's how I think it will. UCLA and California yes yes. So in summary India lost probably good politician but won a very good mathematician is that it? I don't know good politician I think I'm very bad at it yeah. Well a smart one anyway yeah maybe. So if you were to give some advice to someone in particularly from the developing world some young person that has an interest in mathematics but doesn't quite know how to go about it or what to do what would you recommend? Well I think from my experience what I found is that if you have interest in anything be it mathematics or any any subject you want to excel in I think if you are really interested in it and you want to do something if you keep looking for the opportunities there are opportunity at various places and if you keep looking and keep persisting on it then at somewhere you will see some some avenue to go into that and do well in this. So I think I would suggest to all the students to persist with what they want to do and I think that's the way I think to go that's what I think. And so you've been someone who comes from India went to the US as a postdoc but went back to India. Yes. How does that work out? Actually when I finished my postdoc UCLA then I had a position for one year in Institute of Advanced Studies in US and then by that title I almost four or five years of my stay in US and my father was already very bored of it. So he was not so happy that I continue being abroad for so long. So I had some job offers from various places in UK and many other places but my father was not so keen that I should continue. If I get a permanent job that means I will not I will not go back to India. So he was not so keen on that so he told me that I should apply somewhere in India. So by that time some faculty members from TIFR wrote to me that if I am interested I said okay I will I will anyway I will apply and then they gave me the offer and I went back to India. Of course the Tata Institute is a very well-known place of very high level so you went to a very good place as well. That's right. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Now that was my idea that well if I have to go back to India if I get job in Tata Institute I will go back otherwise I will not. So but luckily I got the offer there and so I went back. Very good. And what would you say are your goals for for the future? What's your ambition? A few years down the line. Yeah my goal is basically whatever I am doing, whatever research I am involved in I want to sort of continue doing that and make it make it better and hope that I do I do basically my aim is to do some work which can be satisfying academically. That's what I always aim to do that. So that's all. I want to continue working hard and so that whatever I do I feel that it is worth doing. And you've been forming students as well at Tata and so also you see a continuity to the work you do. Yeah. Yes. There are some students there and some of them are working with me so I hope that they do something along those lines. Very good. Thank you very much. Thank you.