Building, learning, and growing across more than one dimension

I was born and raised in Kolkata, India, in a family that valued education, independence, and strong opinions even when resources were limited. My parents worked in the legal field, and although we lived simply, I grew up surrounded by books, debate, and the belief that learning could change the course of a life.

My schooling exposed me to very different worlds early on — a Catholic all-girls school, a diverse neighborhood, and a home where ideas mattered more than comfort. I was always drawn to understanding how things worked, whether it was math, people, or systems, and that curiosity has stayed with me ever since.

I initially thought I would work in public policy or economics. I studied economics, mathematics, and statistics in Kolkata, continued graduate work at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai, and later came to the United States for my PhD at UC Irvine, where I also completed a master's degree in statistics.

During those years, I discovered not only a love for analytical work, but also for leadership and building communities. Through student leadership roles, I realized how much I enjoyed working at the intersection of people, ideas, and systems.

My career moved into data science and AI almost by accident. An opportunity at Genpact introduced me to applied analytics in a business setting, and I found that I loved working on problems where theory had to meet real-world constraints. From there, I went on to lead data science and AI teams across multiple industries, including retail and consumer businesses, working on problems that required both technical depth and practical judgment. I never followed a straight path, but I kept being drawn toward roles where I could build teams, design systems, and see real impact.

Over time, I realized that what motivated me most was not titles, but the chance to create things that actually worked and to help people grow along the way. After many years in enterprise leadership, I chose to step away from the corporate track and start building something of my own. That decision eventually led to founding Toutami.

Like many immigrant paths, my career has not been linear. I have moved across countries, changed fields, dealt with visa constraints, and had moments where I had to start over without a clear next step.

At the time, those choices didn't feel strategic. They were simply the decisions in front of me. Each one forced me to become more independent, more comfortable with uncertainty, and more willing to take risks without knowing exactly how things would turn out.

I've never been very good at staying on a path just because it looks stable. If something stopped feeling real, I was willing to change direction and figure the rest out later.

At Toutami, I'm building AI systems designed for real decision workflows.

Most software, including much of today's AI, is built around isolated interactions — a query, a response, a result.

Real life doesn't work that way.

Decisions evolve. Context changes. Constraints shift. What you choose at one step affects what's possible next.

The systems I'm interested in building are designed for that.

Systems that:

• carry context forward
• adapt as situations change
• integrate across multiple steps and tools
• hold together over time

Our first product, Voyami, focuses on travel.

Planning a trip looks simple, but in practice it's a sequence of interdependent decisions — where to go, when, how long, what to prioritize — all of which change as new information comes in.

It's a useful starting point for a broader class of problems that share the same structure.

From there, it extends into other domains where the same pattern plays out — homes, finance, and everyday life.

I care about building things that actually work.

That means paying attention to what doesn't show up in demos — how systems behave across multiple steps, how they handle change, and whether people trust them enough to use them.

I've always been drawn to the part of the process where things are still being figured out.

Building from scratch.
Working through constraints.
Designing systems that hold in real conditions.

I also care deeply about people.

Building strong teams.
Helping others grow.
Creating environments where good work can happen.

That's something I valued in my earlier roles, and something I continue to think about as I build.

My life has never been one-dimensional.

I care deeply about family, education, and raising children who are curious, independent, and thoughtful.

Becoming a parent changed how I think about time, ambition, and what it means to build something that lasts.

It didn't reduce ambition.

It made it more intentional.

I don't separate career, family, learning, and curiosity into different boxes.

The goal, for me, has always been to build a life where all of those can exist at the same time — not perfectly, but in a way that feels real.

This site is where I write about what I'm building and what I'm learning along the way.

Some of it is about AI systems and decision-making.

Some of it is about leadership, careers, and how people grow.

Some of it is about life outside of work.

It's not a finished point of view.

It's a way to think in public — and to document how that thinking evolves over time.