Jayanthi Subramaniam begins by talking about her and her sister, architect Revathi Kamath’s small and sheltered ‘Tam-Bram’ family. She draws on the similarities between them and yet how far apart they were in almost all aspects. She grew up undertaking hotel management while Revathi pursued architecture. They come from a line of engineers from both parental sides, of whom members have contributed to instrumental state structures like the Hirakud Dam in Odisha). While their mother lived many years there, her sister spent her elementary years in Bhubaneswar surrounded by engineers, being exposed to concepts of construction and working with mud. Revathi, born in 1955 at home in Bhubaneswar, was six years older than Jayanthi. Revathi was brought up by her grandparents for two years around the time she was four. Growing up in Delhi after moving in 1967, Revathi was an instrumental part of theatre plays in school and she was rigidly conscious of the choices she made while never failing to question things along the way. 

She enrolled in architecture in 1974 after ranking well in the entrance exams. Jayanthi acknowledges that Revathi perhaps made ecologically conscious decisions in her designs 45 years before it became a fad. When she lost her husband, Vasant Kamath, whom she relied upon for much support, she could only find solace in her work. Jayanthi presumes that their mother (who had an eye for beauty with functionality) must have greatly inspired Revathi’s artistic pursuits. Jayanthi goes on to expand on instances from Revathi’s college years (during which their mother was diagnosed with cancer), which formed early proof of her dedication to architecture. Soon she began focusing on her M.Arch in Urban Planning.