Minakshi Jain begins the conversation by mapping her childhood . Born in 1943, she was the second among five sisters. Her father was a lawyer while her  mother, a social activist, was a BA graduate, which  was an admirable feat for women at the time. Graduating herself in 1964 from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda  with an architecture degree, she recalls how her studies led to a deep and lasting appreciation of Indian art and heritage.  While talking about her time at the National Institute of Design (NID) – she mentions meeting several notable personalities whose work she went on to admire. She talks about the exposure that her master’s gave her, and reminisces her experiences during the Master’s programme in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) in 1966. 

On coming back to India in 1970, she was offered her first job by B V Doshi, and subsequently, she gave birth to her two daughters in 1971 and 1973. Together with her husband and conservation architect Kulbhushan Jain, she set up her own practice in 1970. Prompted by a question on the architects who influenced her and her education experience, she remarks on the education standards and structures and her experience of being one among five girls in their entire class. Moving on to talking about her time at NID, she recalls her role and the activities she took up at the institute, starting as a trainee. While concluding, she goes into detail about the many eminent practitioners that she met there and had the chance to work with .