I grew up in a family that put a great emphasis on protecting and preserving our environment and natural surroundings. As a child I would accompany my grandfather to meetings and activities conducted by "Friends of the Doon" - a pressure group against illegal mining and felling, it provided a platform for voicing the public grievances and to preserve and regenerate the environment of the Doon valley. It was in these early years that ingrained in me the love for our natural surroundings and the need to protect the same. My father who worked with the Indian Railways, had a transferable job and it is with him that I traveled and saw India. Whenever he could take out time he would take us to national parks, dams, beaches, rivers and forests in the vicinity. He was also the one who introduced me to wildlife photography while he was posted in Africa. It was here that I knew that wildlife photography was gonna become my passion for a long long time.