Both Babuji and I were born in Nagpur, which is a Marathi-speaking area and now in Maharashtra. I never stayed for long in any one place while growing up because of Babuji’s frequent relocations. Back to Nagpur for high school (1953–1957), in Indore for B.Sc. (1957–1961), in Delhi (1961–1964) for M.Sc., and one year of research before coming to Chicago. Never spent much time in Bhopal, where Babuji built a house after retirement from police.
As a police officer, Babuji’s career took him to (starting from) Raipur, Betul, back to Raipur (as Superintendent Police or SP incharge of a district equivalent to a county), to Nagpur and Bhopal as AIG or Deputy Director, to Indore and Gwalior as Deputy Inspector General of DIG, in charge of several districts, and then to Delhi as Director General in charge of Indian border security forces. He retired from the police force in Delhi, and was Vice Chancellor of Ravi Shankar University in Raipur (1973–1978), a post he was awarded based on the strength of his previous academic background. He had taught physics at Nagpur and Amravati (1942–1947) and continued with some literary activity even while in the police. His autobiography was published originally in Hindi and later translated it into English.
