Growing up in the U.S., I'd siloed off my identities. While I was an Indian at home, I was an American at school. I have now embraced both the identities.

Growing up, everyone dreams of certain things, and they map out a direction that their life would take. Working with A. R. Rahman sir is one of my dreams, if not the biggest dream, realised.

Being an Indian in the U.S. and growing up in the suburbs were the two things that really shaped my outlook.

Growing up, any time I would sit down with my grandfather to learn or talk about Carnatic music, he would bring up G. N. Balasubramaniam. Listening to the recordings he would play me, I was dazzled by GNB's voice and how he was able to execute ideas that I could barely wrap my head around.

When I look back at my career and my life and how much I have learnt, I feel blessed with what I have. I have stopped fighting with myself.

The problem with people who are afraid of imagination, of fantasy, is that their world becomes so narrow that I don't see how they can imagine beyond what their senses can verify. We know from science that there are entire worlds that our senses can't verify.

Music has always played a big part in my life and, believe it or not, in my soap opera career.

I started as a writer. I didn't play music until late in life.