Namit Arora is the founder of Shunya (his former nom de plume, Shunya, gave this site its name). Namit is a travel photographer, prose writer, and Internet technologist. He has lived in four countries, visited dozens, and now divides his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and New Delhi. Over the years he has created what is perhaps the most extensive photojournal on India, focusing on portraits, wildlife, archaeology, culture, and nature. His essays, fiction, and book reviews have appeared in several publications. He is currently at work on his first novel and blogs at Shunya's Notes.
"Shunya" means "zero" as well as a metaphysical "void". Zero and our decimal system arose in India some 1500 years ago, reaching the West via the Arabs and so came to be called Arabic Numerals. The city of Gwalior, in its Bhojadeva inscriptions, has the earliest known epigraphic evidence of zero in India. So for all practical purposes, Gwalior may be regarded as the birthplace of zero. It also happens to be the city where Namit was raised and he surely stands to gain a measure of pride from this association.
