Hello, My Name is Ananda Padmanabhan. Born and brought up in Trivandrum, studied in Chennai, currently working in Bangalore. After 10th, I took computer science stream and studied in 11th and 12thB. Scored 1097 in 12th Public exams, got 250 cut off and was ranked 7595 in engineering counselling. There was no clarity on what to take up those days. Since most of my school friends were taking mechanical and also since I didn't like/understood electronics or computer at that time, I also took up mechanical engg at Sathyabama. A very forgettable College Life except that during weekends I could play cricket with my school friends (YGCC). Also, During exams, all the school friends used to study together at my home. Those are the best memories. Around the 3rd year, because my friends were trying to study Masters in US, I also did the same. Gave my GRE and got 2049. Wrote TOEFL and scored 247. For TOEFL exam myself, Suresh and Elumalai(joined NP in 11th) went to Delhi as the slots were not available in Chennai. After we returned from Delhi, within 5 days 9/11 happened..I applied for universities in US and got admission in 4 of them(Arizona State University, Tucson or Clemson University, Wayne State University, Rutgers University and University of Nebraska Lincoln). Three days before the last exam of my 8th semester, Father had an attack and he was hospitalised for 2.5 months before he passed away. Then decided to stay in India and not to pursue my Masters abroad. First one year was jobless and most of the offers were in BPO sector, which I was not interested. Even during those jobless days, playing cricket used to happen on regular basis. Then, Raja, B.Babu and myself decided to take tuitions for school children. This went on for a year. Then in 2004, I got a offer in TVS Sundaram Motors Mercedes Benz workshop. Vehicles with high-end electronics were alien for many mechanics at that time and Mercedes Benz was looking for engineering graduates to work on diagnostics. On this basis, I got a one year training at the Pune plant conducted by a German trainer. This was the life changing experience for me as the training focused more on self learning than spoon feeding. Also I got to stay for one year in a hostel along with participants from all parts of India(Punjabi, Mumbaikar, Punekar, Bengali, Mallu, Mangalorean etc). Also there was a participant from Bangladesh. After the one year training, in 2005, I was posted in TVS Coimbatore as a diagnostic engineer. During that stint, I was mostly going on breakdown visits to customer locations along with another technician. I was frequently travelling to Karur, Conoor, Ooty etc). Also, I had already decided around second half of 2005 that I wanted to work in Robert Bosch India. For that reason, I learnt German and completed my A1 certification. So, while I was in Coimbatore, Rajagopalan also got an offer and we both were staying together in Singanallur. Later, in 2006, got an offer in Toyota and Mico, but rejected that for the offer in Bosch. After joining Bosch, immediately got packed off to Stuttgart, Germany for a three months onboarding. Entire 2007, for work reasons, travelled to China(Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing), Japan(Tokyo), NZ(Auckland, Hamilton). This continued in 2008 until June after which I got engaged and later got married to Padmini on 1st September 2008. Then shifted project and stayed India while visiting Germany once a year for meetings and workshops. In 2009, purchased my first four wheeler,a Maruti Wagon R. In 2010, we had our first child Maalolan. In 2012, purchased a house in Bangalore and shifted there. Around this time, started my work on connected vehicles (from 2006-12, it was in vehicle diagnostics). Around Mid of 2015, got an offer to work in Germany. From October 2015 until December 2016, was in Germany working on connected vehicles topic. Unfortunately, the duration was never finalized and therefore could bring My family to Germany only for three months. I returned back to India end of 2016. Before going to Germany, I had started my Part time dual degree sponsored by Bosch(Mtech from Amrita University and MS from State University of New York at Buffalo). Completed this on my return in 2017. After returning from Germany, I started working in Indian projects for our Market and that's what I am continuing until now. In 2020,we welcomed our second child Maithreyi.
The most notable places that I visited during trips in 2007-08 were Great Wall of China, Pudong pearl tower, Tiananmen Square in China and Mount Fujiyama, Kamakura Buddha in Japan. Also had an opportunity to meet Gopi at Shenzhen were we visited the theme park Window of the world. During my stay in Germany over the years, I have had the opportunity to visit Switzerland twice (Bern, Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken, engelsberg), Amsterdam with my family, Paris, Road trip around Iceland,a bit of Austria. One of the visit to Switzerland was in car driven by me.. Driving through rural roads and passing through the country side was a blissful experience. The most memorable trip was the one to Iceland with my colleague. We went on a week long road trip staying in tents and sometimes sleeping inside car. Made a complete round trip around Iceland in a Volkswagen Polo. Saw close to 15-20 waterfalls(the famous ones like Skogafoss, Dettifoss,Seljalandfoss, Glymur, Gulfoss etc), Hot springs(Geysir), Volcanic region (Myvatn), Glacier lake (Jokulsarlon) and many more places...In Germany, I have been to Stuttgart (base), Munich, Frankfurt, Ulm(birthplace of Einstein), Black forest etc. In Germany, I have cycled a lot and have covered most of Stuttgart on pedals. Also have done a 367 Kms of cycling starting from the source of a river called Neckar until the final destination .
Regarding Hobbies, reading and social media is where I spend sometime. I was learning Keyboard (completed Trinity level 4) until I had the second child...Now it's on hold as I don't have time to practice... Regarding books, I read both fiction and Non-fiction. Would prefer to read History related books in Non fiction(e.g Lost River, The Wonder that was India, Sapiens) and in fiction my favourite genre is historical fiction (e.g. ponniyin Selvan, Sivagamiyin Sabadham, Krishna Key, Immortals of Meluha)
