Sourabh (whose name is pronounced "Soar-AB Mange-rek-ar") now lives with Carl and John Behr and soon will live with Tom and Marilyn Neuville.

He comes from Bombay or (as the city is now called)Mumbai. His parents both hold Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the University of Bombay. His mother teaches at that university while his father runs his own business. His father is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute and a Rotarian. In fact, he visited the Northfield Rotary Club recently. Sourabh's sister attends the university, studying chemical engineering.

Even though he is only 16 years old, Sourabh appeared in four plays in India. His dramatic activity in Northfield began when he was cast in a biggish role as a doctor in the school production of Gogol's "Government Inspector." Acting and making friends during that production have been some of the most rewarding things that he has experienced here.

His dramatic career will continue when he appears soon in the Northfield Arts Guild production "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." He plays a fireman.

Sourabh wanted to become a Rotary Youth Exchange student to explore new cultures and to meet people from around the world. If you make enough friends from all over, he said, you will not have to stay in hotels!

He very much wants to tell people about India. Visitors will feel immediately at home in large cities like Mumbai, for India has changed a great deal in recent years. Castes have been abolished, and everyone is equal. The past has its treasures, however. Sourabh especially hopes visitors can experience the different kinds of exquisite Indian architecture:Mogul mosques and tombs like the Taj Mahal in the north, Hindu structures decorated with Gods and Goddesses in the south.

Sourabh speaks not only English, but Hindi and Marathi. He can understand Gujrati and studies German at Northfield High School. There he also studies behavioral science, Advanced Placement Chemistry, pre-calculus and discreet math, physics, and dramatic arts. He will soon study college-preparatory writing.

He misses Indian food but likes the cooking at Chapati very much and appreciates the Indian food his host father, Carl Behr, cooks for him.

Even though at the time he was interviewed, he had never seen snow (he has seen ice), he was looking forward to Nordic track skiing. He plays cricket in India so he wants to try his hand at baseball this spring. He reports that he has played baseball in India -- once.

He has traveled with his host family to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, and he will make an east coast trip with other Rotary Exchange students this spring. Sourabh is one of about 7,000 young men and women between the ages of 16 and 19 who study in foreign countries sponsored by the Rotary Youth Exchange program each year.

Next year, he hopes to study chemical engineering either at the University of Bombay or at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana.

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