He is the son of a fisherman in Pengastulan Village, Buleleng Regency, Bali. Three decades ago, he left his hometown. "I was only going along with a friend to register for the screening admission exam for a university in Malang," said I Gede Wenten. Unexpectedly, thanks to this registration form paid by his friend's parents, he was accepted to study Chemical Engineering at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in 1982. This was the turning point