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Sunalini Menon INSPIRING INDIA'S COFFEE CULTURE By Kenneth R. Olson MASTER AS A CHILD IN SOUTHERN INDIA, Sunalini Menon had no idea how far and wide her profes- sional life would take her. Like many, she landed in the coffee world by happenstance. However, she's quick to point out that her journey there was not brought about by luck, but rather preparation. "Education was literally the foundation and main- stay of our home," she says. "My grandfather was of the belief that each and every child should be well educated, irrespective of their gender," which was unusual at the time, Sunalini explains. Her grandfather set the example for the family when he and his wife sold everything they owned in Madras (now called Chennai) to journey to Oxford, England, for him to earn his master's degree. Sunalini and her sister, now a doctor and "bril- liant to the core," Sunalini says proudly, excelled in school, though Sunalini was not a particularly good pupil at the start. "I was only interested in playing," she says. Still, in time she devoted herself to her studies, and ended up completing a master's degree with honors in food technology at the Women's Christian College in Madras. Sunalini still fi nds herself a bit in awe when she refl ects on where she started and where she stands now. "I remember my fi rst visit outside India," she says. "I had no knowledge of air travel and was extremely frightened, consid- ering the very sheltered life that I had lived in my hometown of Madras. But the words of my grandfather, 'We should be bold, we should take each step in a measured way, we should deal with challenges, and we should pursue our dreams to its fulfi llment,' came to my rescue." 123 www.baristamagazine.com