I am Alok Bhatnagar and I presently stay in New Delhi, India's capital, with my wife Madhu. My elder daughter Sonal is now married. Gazal was our younger child.

Like my wife, I was also born and brought up in New Delhi. I had my schooling in Harcourt Butler School here and later I earned my Bachelor of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi (IITD).My father was in Indian Civil Services and I followed his footsteps. In fact, Gazal also had the dream of ultimately joining the Civil Services.

I joined the Indian Railways Accounts Service in 1975. India is a large country and Indian Railways are spread throughout the length and breadth of India. As such, I have been posted at various places all over India during my career. I retired from service in 2008 and keep myself occupied with various assignments, particularly those involving some work on the computer. Sonal was born in New Delhi and Gazal was born in Bhusawal.

Madhu had her schooling in St.Thomas School in New Delhi and later did her graduation in Arts from Miranda College, Delhi University. Having a creative bent of mind from the beginning, she had just started a career in Textile Designing when she got married to me in 1978. She put her career on hold to look after, first her husband, and then our young daughters. Later, the vagaries of my postings(particularly to small towns), ensured that she could not resume her work.

Sonal had her schooling initially in St.Aloysius School, Bhusawal, and later in Convent of Jesus of Mary, Fort, Bombay(popularly known as Fort Convent). She has also graduated in Commerce from H.R.College of Commerce,Bombay University. After passing the Foundation examination of the Chartered Accountancy(C.A.) course and completing the articleship in Mumbai, she switched over to the Advertising field. She and her husband Hemanshu are settled in Dubai, along with their 3-year-old son, our loving grandson Ayaan.

Though Gazal was born in Bhusawal,she started her schooling when we shifted to Mumbai in 1986. Like her sister, she also joined Fort Convent and was in the Ninth Grade there when she passed away.

India is a land of many religions. We practise Hinduism. However, both Madhu and I find organised religion too confining for our thinking and generally restrict ourselves to abiding by the broad principles.

We speak Hindi at home(our mother tongue). Though a large number of languages are spoken in India, Hindi is the language most widely spoken.

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