Just got my Badge couple of days back, no gun though, but I'll manage with my sword. If nothing else I will increase the average age of the moderator team.
Among the moderators, I must be the one who is least knowledgeable about automobiles. I know I wasn't picked for that. May be it is the sword in my avatar, probably indicates cutting (offending posts) abilities, law/rule enforcement skills, etc.
Alright, something about myself. Born near Mangalore, grew up all over south Karnataka in various small towns. My Dad was a bank manager, therefore we kept moving places until we finally settled in Bangalore. I have been in Bangalore since 1982 except the 9 years in New Jersey between 1993-2004.
I am a late bloomer when it comes to cars since my parents never had a car. My first scooter was my dad's 1970 Lambretta which I drove since 16 until I was 22 when I got my Kinetic Honda Dx. The first motorcycle I drove at 17 and often later was my uncle's 1978 Bullet which recently made it to Khardungla Pass driven by my cousin. First own ride was Hero cycle, and I was cycling until 19, even to engineering college, I know it is hard to believe these days...
My first car was a 1985 Toyota Corolla, bought in 1993. That was followed by Maruti Omni, Mecury Sable, Maruti 800, Chevy Malibu, Acura 3.2 TL, Santro Xing AT and finally Baleno Lxi. Here is an interesting factoid, in all my 100,000+ miles driving in USA, I have never been ticketed or even pulled over by cops, not even once. That pretty much explains my driving style.
On the job front I am in software product development, academic qualification wise I have a BE in Electronics & Communications from Bangalore University and a MBA from Edinburgh Business School. I did put in time in some of the top companies in the world, but found myself a misfit in corporate heirarchy. After nearly 8 years of that, I quit and joined a tiny company. Two years back came back to India and started the Indian branch of the US company. Still love programming after 16 years of it.
On the family front, I have a wife who loves long drives in passenger seat and two sons. In fact, all of our family travel and weekend drives are researched and schemed by my wife. In 2005 we even trekked the
Himalayas in Sikkim (Few days close to Heaven: The Dzongri Trek) to nearly 15,000ft altitude thanks to her.