In the 1970's, she set out to become a brew master just as her father had been. She left India to train in Australia, then returned home to find that daughters were not welcome in India's breweries.

That door closing for her opened another one for India. Unemployed, she followed a love of biology and a chance referral to an Irish biotechnology company. At 25, she started their Indian operation from her garage, successfully extracting from papaya an enzyme used to tenderize meat, among other things, and from the swim bladders of tropical fish a collagen that helps clear beer.