Studies were a passion. He first completed his bachelor's degree in divinity from a university in Boston and then reached Athens from where he took a double masters in theology and philosophy from the Greek Orthodox Seminary.

He was busy studying even when he became the parish vicar of the St Gregorious Orthodox Church in Washington - a position in which he has served for the past 18 years.

'Then I finished my MBA in finance and completed the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) course. I completed my fellow programme from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors,' said Kurien.

Kurien is currently on a two-year sabbatical and wears the cassock only when conducting mass or important church functions.

In 1999, he was inducted into the US State Department as an international planning consultant.

This year, after the Obama administration took over, he became the first person of Indian origin to sit in the chair of director of strategic planning in the department.

But his passion for studies is yet to stop as he is currently doing a part-time master's course in strategic planning at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

While he is busy globetrotting, his wife Ajitha Kurien who holds a double masters is busy at home looking after their three children.

Having helped set up so many US consulates across the world, Kurien has a dream - to see a consulate office opening in his home state.

(Sanu George can be contacted at sanu.g@ians.in)