My true interest has always been sports, so here's the logo of the best, on top (for those Liverpool fans). I play all kinds of sports, basketball, handball, volleyball, but my favorite has always been soccer. Actually, "on the other half of the world", from where I come from, we call it the British way, that is Football. I have been playing soccer ever since I was a kid and this has been my primary hobby that would keep me away from studies. In my family, it has been like a tradition, to grow up, learn to play soccer and try to beat the elders (i.e. my uncles, and cousins) on the soccer field. We have a soccer field in our yard, so this has been a weekly practice since the very beginning. Of course, just like any other Mauritian guys, my whole family is divided into "soccer clans" with their respective favorites English soccer team as determinant. As for me, the best team in England is Liverpool football club. And just like it is and has to be all over the world, there are other members of my family who like the arch rivals of Liverpool, the Manchester United fans. So, everytime there is a Liverpool v/s Manchester game on television, you can imagine the tension in the room when everyone is cheering for their team.

I have been the captain of my high school soccer team for four consecutive years, and let me tell you, the Saint Esprit college soccer team, was one of the most feared in high school soccer all over Mauritius. Our education at my high school was based around sports activities, and Saint Esprit was the intercollege athletic champions for thirty consecutive years, until that competition was abolished. I was also in the volleyball, handball and basketball team.

Technology has always been the topic of "intellectual" conversations with friends. I agree... it sounds geeky, but I have to admit it, I've always been amused by new technology and small gadgets that make my life more interesting. In a sense, that is why I was thrilled to go to Carnegie Mellon University, which is a top university in the technology field. Here, I'm able to realized my dreams, work with smart people, sharing common interests, participate in research, or even hopefully make a major breakthrough in a particular field.

[+View my recent projects at Carnegie Mellon+]

Having a Palm, laptop or any 'new' gadgets certainly makes life easier, at least for me, and I really believe that the future is within technology. I was just watching a television program on the Discovery Channel, Walking with the Cavemen, and they said that we come from the generations of 'Tool-Makers' and the 'Thinkers'. Making tools to better our life has been here since the beginning of time, and I believe that we should keep on thinking and making better tools, to continue in our evolution, and technology is the way to go.

My Bachlor degree at Carnegie Mellon University is in Electrical and Computer Engineering. In ECE, we have the opportunity to have a quick peak, or not even, at image processing in the form of signal processing in Signals and Systems class (18396, for those who know). However, it was more like playing with mathematical formula that can deal with signals and learn how to interpret them and use them to 'play' around with them. It's only in the summer of 2003, that I really got the chance to work with a pioneer in the domain of Computer Vision, Dr. Takeo Kanade, at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon. Dr. Kanade, as you may know, if you're in the field of Computer Vision, has tons and tons of research projects, papers, journals, and many other achievements under his belt. He took me in as a research assistant and gave me the chance to work on one of his projects that involved human shape detection using surveillance camera. (See the project). He introduced me to the world of Computer Vision, and I got really fascinated with what I was discovering. I saw so many different applications of Computer Vision in the fields of robotics, surveillance, bio-imaging, medical, automobile, military, and many others. I realized how many things you can do with those 'crazy' algorithms that are at the same time simple to use, but so complex to derive and understand them. Since that summer, I've been taking classes from the RI department focussing mainly on the different aspects of computer vision. I took many grad courses in Computer Vision, Advanced Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition Theory, and next semester will be in Advanced Bio-imaging and Group Theory and its applications in Computer Vision.

Another one of my research interests is Embedded Systems and Mobile devices. My interest in designing products started way back in high school, but at that time it was more in the designing field. My concentration in High School was in Design and Technology, at A-Level, under Cambridge University curriculum. I was doing like a small major in Industrial Design, but at high school level. Drawing and designing new products, was my main interest for a long time, and I was always fascinated by product designs. Making them small and sleek was my primary goal. But at that time I had no background in ECE. Now, after taking classes in the Computer Engineering department, namely Embedded Real-time Systems, Computer Architecture, or even Advanced Digital Design, I was really interested in working on small mobile devices or embedded systems. Also, I think being able to combine the latter with Computer Vision would be an interesting mix, as most computer vision applications are built in on mobile devices or even embedde systems.

Website design is a new hobby for me. Well, new in the sense that I've only been doing it for about 3 years now, and I have designed quite a few out there. I think that website design is really important as it gives anyone the chance to tap into the powerful tool that is free to all of us, that is, the Internet. We are in the digital age, with the world shrinking more and more. We are reducing the distances between all of us across the world, via multiple means of communication and definitely the Internet is part of that bunch. Whenever I design a website I do it because it gives me the chance to learn something new, and also to be able to reach out to people. For instance, if you're reading what I'm writing here already makes me happy. I can freely express myself to so many people out there, and share 'stuff' with them. I'm always trying to create my website in such a way that they are as interactive as possible, and that you don't really feel bored by just reading a bunch of text. I'm also not into really fancy, 'crazy' designs, as I like to keep the site simple, professional and sleek. I have couple of them that I maintain right now, and this one is one of them. I also work as the webmaster for Engineering Public Policy department at Carnegie Mellon University, and I completely redesigned the whole website during summer 2004. Here's a list of websites that I own, and you can check them out.

Arena Private Club: http://www.arena-club.com
Ocean Restaurant : http://www.oceanrestaurant.com
Engineeering Public Policy: http://www.epp.cmu.edu
CMU Pi Delta Psi: http://www.cmupdpsi.com
Strategix Analysis: http://www.strategixanalysis.com
Lily Cho: http://www.lilycho.com

One of my favorite hobbies, when I'm not playing soccer of course, is watching movies. I like watching of all kinds, even some chick flicks sometimes, I mean who doesn't. Coming from Mauritius (click to find more about the place), which is a tiny little island in the middle of nowhere, I needed something to give me an insight on other cultures, especially the western culture. I know movies are not a perfect representation of the western culture, and I realized it when I got here in my freshman year, but still it gave me something to think of, something to dream of. I don't watch Hollywood movies as an educational tool. I like watching movies as entertainment, but mainly to play with my imagination. Also, another reason that got me really hooked up on movies, is the fact that I hate reading books. I know it helps stimulate your imagination when reading books, but come on, movies are so much better. Even the goofiest ones can turn out to be amusing, for instance, Napoleon Dynamite. I think it is so stupid and weird that it got to a point where I thought it was funny. Well, it's just me, and many other million people who loved it too!!! 'Freeaaaakin IdiOOOT' - Napoleon Dynamite.

Again, being brought up on a tiny tropical island, the only thing there is to do during the day is to go to the beach, diving, fishing and definitely getting tanned. But how about during the night. What is there do to??? In Mauritius, we don't have any major movie theatres, and the only bowling alley that we had, closed down couple of years ago. So, the only thing you can do is participate in the night life of Mauritius. That's the only thing that's awesome enough to do in Mauritius at night. I love going to clubs, and the legal age to get into clubs in Mauritius is at 18, and not 21 like in the States. However, let's just say that not many people respect that rule. So, I've been checking out the Mauritian club for a little while now, and loved all of them, even the ones that are not that great. It all depends on who you go with and what you end up doing there. I like it so much, that my family decided that we needed our own night club, and that's what we did in 2002 where we opened our own private club, the Arena Private Club. Ever since that time, Arena has exploded on the scenes of Mauritius and we're one of the top 3 on the island, regularly featuring international DJ's. Our most successful nites are when we get Nick Bridges from Ministry of Sound, London, to come and have a house music showdown. Other DJ's from London, South Africa, France, Australia spin it at our club for the enjoyment of my fellow Mauritians. Go check out some pics at the website and you'll see for yourself.