Hi was born in a middle-class Anglo-Indian family living in Podanur near Coimbatore. I was a normal child who loved to play with friends and listen to my grandma's bedtime stories. As I progressed at school I earned a name as a bright student, brilliant artist and able team leader. My creativity as an artist and childhood interest in watching planes landing or taking off from the Peelamedu airport took me to aero-modelling when I was still in school. When I joined college my passion to paint and create models of aircraft continued. I was a meritorious NCC cadet too. But I discovered my real passion in life -- writing -- only after joining a master degree course in journalism at PSG College, Coimbatore. The world of colours and planes started to fade out. I began to look at the life around me critically and with empathy. Francis the journalist was thus born.