PhD scholar Aparajitha Allamraju’s adventurous lifestyle is something most of us wished we had the guts to emulate! Backpacking to Machu Pichu and Petra, a Masters in computer science from USC, a sweet role at Apple, Cupertino and finally sampling campus life at IIIT-H. This is her unusual story.
Aparajitha Allamraju is a nuanced representation of work-life balance for the modern soul. What makes her the face-in-the-crowd are her effortless choices in aligning career trajectory, with mindful living and slow travel goals.
A fourth year PhD student in computational linguistics at IIIT-Hyderabad’s Language Technologies Research Centre (LTRC), her doctoral research lies in large document processing & NLP for Indian languages. With a Masters in computer science from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and internships at Mathworks and Symantec, she joined her dream job at Apple, Cupertino.
Five years into leading technical projects and data analytics teams, the painter-writer found herself embedded in a routine of technical development and documentation. Working in cross-functional teams in hardware design was exciting, but the call of the wild beckoned. Aparajitha took a year-long hiatus to see the world. In 2018, she returned to India, to be close to her parents.
Aparajitha (Apa for short), began her exploration of life that would culminate in rediscovering purpose with NLP research, at IIIT-Hyderabad.
Walking with Apa
Aparajitha’s favorite hiking stories come from Peru and the Inca Trail in 2017. “Our four-day hike ended at Machu Picchu. It was brilliant because it took us through wilderness and sites, accessible only from those trails”. In terms of archaeological significance, the multiple architectural styles and the colors of Petra in Jordan were magnificent. Backpacking trips to Kaymakli and Istanbul in Turkiye were soul-stirring. The European sojourn covered Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, and Netherlands, recalls Aparajitha who returned to India, refreshed, to become an independent consultant.
“The plan was always to consult for most of the year and take a few months off to travel the world, solo, with parents, and friends. But it just so happened that my skill set was in demand”, smiles Aparajitha who cut down on travel to immerse herself in AI-driven solutions and architectural requirements of startups and small to mid-sized companies.
The next set of travels would take her to off-beat locales in the Southeast Asian theatre. A solo trip to Japan was interspersed with memorable trips to Laos, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. A cross-border bus journey from Vietnam to Cambodia unraveled the mystical beauty of Angkor Vat and other archeological sites of the two countries. “I have traveled extensively in India as well”, she adds. Belur, Halebedu and the Dholavira ruins, top her must-see list of archeological wonders. Her adventures are systematically captured on camera and faithfully logged in travel journals by the avid landscape and wildlife photographer.
NGO startup and new direction
The pandemic lockdowns allowed Aparajitha to consolidate her consultancy services. It also provided a guilt-free opportunity to channel her creativity into cataloguing thousands of photographs and journals, to set up her long-pending travel blog.
She points out that her foray into NLP Research was actually a happy accident. “I founded VConnects, an NGO aggregator startup that was designed to connect volunteers with CSR initiatives. We soon realized that resources were being provided in English, for problems presented by non-English speakers who couldn’t execute the prescribed solutions”. The NLP researcher recognized the inadequate advancement of Indian languages in the digital space.
Researching labs in India that worked in solving Indian language problems with natural language processing brought IIIT-H’s LTRC on her radar. “A homely campus environment, a great lab and a renewed sense of purpose” transformed the world traveler into a committed PhD researcher. “Both my parents hold PhDs. The urge to not lag was a strong incentive”, she grins.
Student life experienced through backpacker’s lens
Aparajitha’s current focus with her advisor Dr. Manish Shrivastava, is on legal, scientific and financial documents in English, specifically large-scale large document reasoning. “The Indian legal system is multilingual in nature. We began with document understanding in domains with millions of documents, in English and Indian languages like Marathi and Hindi.
Understanding the intricacies and reasoning behind citation in the legal and scientific space and suggesting areas of improvement is one area. “We simplify the technical jargon in legal documents. The larger intention is for the average citizen to understand case proceedings and judgment in their own language. For instance, a resident of Telangana should have access to understanding a case in a Maharashtra court, in Telugu”, explains Aparajitha who elaborated this concept in her paper on Indian Judgement Citation Network and Precedent Prediction, presented at the 19th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law 2023.
Among current projects is a DST-funded multilingual proposal to digitalize legal data of a district and an industry collaboration with Dr. Manish to build a benchmark dataset for legal case classification.
Getting into the student mindset proved an initial challenge for the scholar who had not written an exam in over ten years. Today, a good campus routine keeps her grounded, while hobbies spark her creativity. As TA, she takes courses on Introduction to NLP, Advanced NLP and computer scripting. Sketching and painting are digital detox secrets indulged in to stay mentally agile on stressful work days.
“The scenic beauty of the campus with its tree-lined avenues, the chirping birds, flexible timings of the labs and interacting with younger minds is what I enjoy the most. Staying up late while painting a wall for Felicity, games of badminton and walks on campus are happy moments that I cherish”, says Aparajitha, a judge on hackathons and co-organizer of the two-day Research Fest.
Changing latitudes and attitudes
In the course of her PhD tenure, Aparajitha has embarked on thrilling getaways to Scotland, London, China, along with aurora-chasing in Iceland and capturing New Zealand’s raw beauty for her next blog post.
“I learn the language of the countries I visit”, notes the polyglot who picked up basic Spanish and Japanese from library books. Her Spanish speaking skills paid off in Central and South America and funnily enough, on hiking trails in Jordan and Vietnam that has a large Argentinian tourist presence. Apart from fluency in Telugu and Hindi, she has limited proficiency in Tamil, Marathi and Sanskrit.
Aparajitha pegs herself as a slow traveler who does not rush things. Checklists and touristy stuff is generally avoided. Her idea of a holiday is to immerse herself for at least a week in a little known village. “I try to make at least one trip a year. If its international, a two-week holiday is recommended to reset your sleep schedule and lower stress levels. Long weekends are ideal for impromptu trips to local wildlife sanctuaries and historical sites”.
A section of her travel is dedicated to her role as managing trustee of Allamraju Charitable Trust. The organisation provides free laboratory space, equipment and volunteer teachers for school students in two villages in East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Strong genepool of writers
A fifth generation writer in her family, Aparajitha has written articles for popular magazines and won a national award for a short story in her youth. Her father, a retired central banker, wrote books on finance while her mother published Ayurveda textbooks. Ashtavadhanam poetry in Telugu by her paternal great-grandfather, spiritual commentaries on the puranas and epics by her maternal grandfather under the pseudonym ‘Ushasri’ presents a strong genepool of erudition. “Dinner table conversations were the best part of my childhood”, she claims. Topics jumped from science, history, to the next travel, last book read or next book on the list.
Boardrooms, brainstorms & boarding passes
Manga and anime has given way to light reading in physics, history and archaeology. Puzzles, brain teasers, football and badminton were early recreational diversions. Biking, kickboxing and strength training define her fitness regimen today. Yoga and meditation are daily tools that keep her calm and helps maintain a disciplined lifestyle.
For Aparajitha, the road ahead is a seamless blend of academics, art, literature, and travel.
“Academia gives you flexibility and the freedom to live a richer life. I look forward to being connected to the Institute even after my thesis”, summarizes the PhD scholar with wanderlust.
Deepa Shailendra is a freelance writer for interior design publications; an irreverent blogger, consultant editor and author of two coffee table books. A social entrepreneur who believes that we are the harbingers of the transformation and can bring the change to better our world.