 As Sikhs, they chose to leave what was to become Pakistan and move to India, where they ended up in refugee camps.Later they moved to England, where his father was employed sweeping factory floors, before eventually starting his own grocery store.Kumar attended Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith, and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he gained a Master of Engineering degree and a Master of Arts degree and won the Mobil Prize, Metal Box Prize, and Hughes Prize.