Personal Information:

I was born in England, the middle child (three girls) of recently emigrated Muslim parents from the Indian subcontinent. My formal academic education all took place in England, but looking back my real education began when I left University. I worked in the "Rat Race"( killer of many souls) for a year and when the financial investment company I was employed with went bankrupt in the early 90's, I decided to quit England for a while, before I was completely consumed by mediocrity. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. I left on a cold grey day in Nov '91 with some savings, a backpack, and an offer of a job on a travelling market fair in Hamburg, and returned in January 1994 having travelled and worked my way across much of Europe, the US and Asia. Since that time I have never been able to totally shake the feeling of being displaced, which I experienced on my return.

After working in the voluntary sector and studying for my qualification in social work, I was offered a job with The London Borough of Croydon's, Social Services department in the summer of '95 and that's where I stayed for the next six years--the longest I had lived in one place since leaving home at age 19. I worked in a variety of different disciplines during that time, but mental health is probably my specialty (if indeed such a thing exists).

I met my husband while on holiday in the Bay Area in 1999, our connection was immediate and intense, we married on August 10, 2001 and I arrived in San Jose, a newlywed, on the 23rd of August. Two weeks later, I watched the collapse of the towers on TV with horror and regret but no shock. I first heard about Peak Oil on KPFA's "Gun's and Butter" in 2002--a recorded speech by Michael Ruppert at the Commonwealth Club. Thence began "The Grand Education" as I like to call it.

I think growing up in a minority group, always gave me a natural suspicion of "the status quo" as well as having a geo-chemist father who was fascinated by deep radical politics and the emerging world order. I have been involved in political activism, of one flavour or another since the age of 16. Currently I go to the Santa Clara County Post Carbon group meetings, although I have in the past attended San Francisco Post Carbon and East Bay Peak Oil meetings. Our group has just drafted an initial version of what will hopefully become a Peak Oil Resolution for San Jose City Council (November 2006). We have been asked to do this by a council member and we are due to meet him on the 30th of November.

On a personal level, we compost, consume much less than before, walk more, buy used goods whenever we can, and we are trying to sell our house as it is the only remaining debt we have, and are hoping to use some of the money we make to re-educate ourselves for the future. We have two children and have considered eco-villages as a future option, but are under no illusions that this will save us from any and all consequences of the terrible crisis that stands before us. My position is that we need to stop deluding ourselves about what is possible and what is probable, and concentrate on the realities of the hand we have been dealt. A kind of hope for the best, expect the worst and accept what comes attitude because it's surely on the way.