I come from Thrissilery, a small village in the Wayanad district of Kerala, India, located about 8 km from the nearest town, Mananthavady. Located near the Karnataka (neighbouring state) border, the region is sparsely populated and shares both its geography and cultural influences with its neighboring state.  Covered with the Western Ghats and I can not say the exact altitude, but perhaps above 1000m? While Malayalam is the primary language, the local dialect blends Malayalam, Kannada, and several lesser-known tongues. Thrissilery is also known for its vibrant tribal heritage, home to at least five distinct tribal communities that have lived there for centuries—communities I grew up alongside and learned from. People of my parents and grandparents generation were mostly farmers, and the region is (or was) rich in coffee, tea, rice, and areca palm, along with mangoes, jackfruit, guava, honey, and local vegetables. 

To advertise our local school, I studied at Government higher secondary school, Thrissilery which is about a 40 minute walk from our house. Then I continued my schooling in St. Joseph's higher secondary school, Kallody about 20 km from my house (no need to say was indeed a tough time commuting every single day). We had no collages providing Bachelor degree in Physics (why Physics? that is a separate story), and I chose Government Collage Madappally, Vadakara, Kerala for my degree: the course was fully covered by the government and was about 80 km from my home. Depending which part of the world you lived in, you can associate any number of hours to cover this distance, for us it is something like four to five hours!