Nikhil was born in Madison, Wisconsin where he was immediately incorporated into the Green Bay Packers fan club and made to memorize the phrase "There's always next year". After a blur of public education and a brief stint at a private university, Nikhil found himself at the University of Virginia majoring in math and physics. As fascinating as these subjects are, Nikhil decided he had had enough school and went to work as a java programmer for two years before making the logical career transition to an elementary and middle school math teacher in Nepal. After two years muddling through the bureaucracy of Peace Corps, Nikhil worked for a carpet factory in Kathmandu, hitchhiked on a cargo boat through Laos, and moved to southern India to teach physics and computer science. Returning to the states, Nikhil realized he could no longer stomach an office job (nor did he have any marketable skills) and enrolled at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies where he studied international economics and international development. He has officially sold his soul to the government and is preparing to begin training as a USAID foreign service officer in 2005.