Basically a mechanical engineer from CET, Trivandrum, he did PGDM and doctorate in management from XLRI Jamshedpur. His doctoral research was under the guidance of Prof. Russell Belk, York University, Canada, one of the ‘gurus’ of Consumer Culture Theory / Consumer Behaviour and an ardent practitioner of qualitative methods. It was Dr. Belk who initiated him into ‘qualitative research methods’ during the long doctoral journey.