India, Oct. 22 -- Dear Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay,

I am writing this letter as a Tamilian who was born and raised in Kanyakumari, educated in schools in Kanyakumari, Vellore, and Chennai, and had the privilege of studying at Loyola College, Madras. Later, I pursued my higher studies at the University of Delhi, University of Oxford, Harvard University and the University of Hong Kong. I left the city of Chennai more than 30 years ago for various educational and professional pursuits in India and around the world.

Despite that, wherever I have lived and worked, I have always nurtured the hopes of Tamil Nadu and its people and society deep within me: The faith and emphasis on education, the historical commitment to contributing to human ...