When people ask me what club I supported growing up, I didn't really watch club soccer. The only channels I got had World Cups and the Copa America, so I gravitated toward the Latin American, South American style of game.

I remember, growing up, losing a sister, and - life is short. Make the most of your opportunities.

As I've become a professional, I just feel more pressure to produce, to score goals and get assists. I know I'm a good player, but it gives evidence of how good you are if you're able to look at how many passes you've made in a game or how many chances you create. It's in the books. It's become more about stats as I've become a professional.

I loved playing with friends and talking trash over 'FIFA' and 'Mario Kart.' Then, in the early stages of my professional career, I got into 'Assassin's Creed' and 'The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.'

My parents were no ordinary people. My mother turned Gandhian, and my father was a staunch communist. They named me after the great saint as a symbol of communal harmony.

I finally said, 'I don't care if you're the first person in your family to be a lawyer.' Everybody thought what I was doing was really exciting, but it was not moving me one bit. And that's when I decided to join city government in Chicago, and that changed my life.

The credit of my good upbringing goes to my mother, who's not only been a single parent to my brother and I, but she's also been 'our' manager for the longest time. Our father, on the other hand, remained elusive and away from the family for most part of our lives, which left a certain void but also made us creative and reflective.

It means everything to be a father. I had a father growing up, so I wanted my kids to have a father as well.