From India to Monterey—and Back Again

Vinod’s recently published novel Blue Jeans and Olive Greens (Pentagon Press, 2014) is a humorous fictional account of a young man’s journey from a comfort­able upbringing to the harsh reality of training at the Indian Military Academy. This first book in a planned fictional tril­ogy based on his own life experiences has already received critical acclaim in India. Vinod said he is about halfway through writing the second volume, Olive Greens and Disruptive Patterns, about the life of a young officer.

Explaining the title, he shared that ol­ive green is the color of the Indian Army’s uniform, and “disruptive patterns” is the official term for camouflage. The third installment will focus on Vinod’s time in the U.S., including numerous stories con­nected to the Institute. “I will of course change all the names,” he said with his characteristic mischievous grin.

Vinod came to the Institute mid-ca­reer after the school was highly recom­mended by his friend Kalyan Kemburi MAIPS ’11. Vinod and his family have “fan­tastic memories” of MIIS and Monterey, where they “never felt like outsiders.” Vi­nod said he especially enjoyed the classes he took with professors Sharad Joshi and Moyara Ruehsen. “Coming from the rig­id system that we follow here” in India, he said, “it was a very refreshing change.”

“Whenever Vinod is near, there is generally also a lot of laughter,” said Pro­fessor Joshi of his former student. Not surprising for a man who said he lives by the motto “life is too long to take se­riously,” Vinod made “hundreds” of friends while in Monterey, and he and his wife, Suhashini, and their two sons truly relished their time here.

“My younger son now has ambitions to break our long family line of army offi­cers,” he said, jokingly lamenting that his son wants to attend Harvard. He shared that the time spent in the U.S. helped his older son deal with a learning disability, and that his wife now applies the lessons she learned as a special-education teacher in India.

After graduating from the Institute, Vinod returned to the Indian Army, where he has had several rewarding posts. From 2009 to 2012, he oversaw the training of young cadets in the North Eastern state of Meghalaya. Today he is the head of security at a defense ministry ordinance factory and he and his family live in a beautiful part of South India in a rambling house with Benny the choco­late Labrador, Biscuit the German shep­herd, and cats Jinx and Cleo. They have generously extended an open invitation to any member of the MIIS community to come and stay with them, a stay that would no doubt be filled with tales of Vinod’s life journey—so far.