BBT - Raj Traditional Cache

Rajesh is Howard Wolowitz's best friend. He works as an astrophysicist in the Physics Department at Caltech. His principal characteristic is a case of selective mutism which does not allow him to talk to women outside of his family or while not under the influence of alcohol, or believing that he consumed alcohol.

Rajesh, who is normally called Raj or by his surname Koothrappali by Sheldon Cooper, is from New Delhi, India. However, he despises Indian food, and his knowledge regarding Indian culture and Hinduism is often disputed by Sheldon Cooper. He was born into a wealthy family and has five siblings, one of whom, Priya, is a previous girlfriend of Leonard's. Raj is normally seen wearing a layered combination of a shirt and a vest, khakis, and a jacket.

All of the guys enjoy playing Halo every Wednesday at Sheldon and Leonard's apartment and occasionally at Koothrappali's apartment. They also play Age of Conan excessively, with Raj stating he has experienced gaming addiction.

In general terms, Raj is more patient with Sheldon than Leonard, Howard, or Penny; however, Sheldon is oblivious to this as he once cut him off as a friend.

Raj has a "nervous bladder", meaning he gets an urge to relieve himself when under stress. This was shown when Penny got angry at him, and when he accompanied Leonard to confront Kurt over some money Kurt owed Penny.

One of Raj's primary personality quirks is his tendency to act or speak inappropriately according to the situation, especially when it is not called for, often earning him glares and negative remarks from his friends.

When hanging out with the guys, despite his particular Indian accent, Raj is noted for using slang ("fo' shizzle") and excessively using the word "dude". While he seems to speak fluent Hindi, his mother tongue is English.

Raj's principal characteristic is his shyness and inability to speak around women, which is a recognized medical condition known as selective mutism. Raj is able to speak in the presence of women only when they are part of a crowd, unless he has been drinking alcohol (or thinks he has been). However, he has no problem speaking to his mother or sisters, or any female relatives.

Raj regularly communicates with his parents, Dr. and Mrs. V.M. Koothrappali back in India via webcam. When they become meddling or judgmental, he "brings his parents" into Leonard and Sheldon's apartment via his laptop. In the Season 2 finale, Mrs. Koothrappali and Mrs. Wolowitz have an argument because the latter doesn't believe that there isn't a single Outback Steakhouse restaurant in India.

A running gag is Raj portraying himself as having come from humble origins and growing up in poverty in India, only for his friends to remind him that his father is a gynaecologist, drives a Bentley (which he protests was a "lease"), and had servants growing up. Sheldon, reveals that Raj's family is a lot wealthier than he lets on (he says that they are "Richie Rich rich", which he explains as being "halfway between Bruce Wayne and Scrooge McDuck").

Raj's cousin, Sanjay (or, as he says his friends know him, "Dave from AT&T Customer Service") works in a call centre. Once, Raj was seen trying to avoid going back to India for his cousin's wedding, since Raj's parents had once more arranged a date for him.

Another of Raj's cousins, named Venkatesh, is a lawyer who has poor negotiation skills, even admitting that he himself is useless.

Raj has three brothers and two sisters.

Raj is an astrophysicist in the Physics Department at Caltech, being known for a noted publication on Kuiper belt object size distribution.

For his discovery of a planetary object beyond the Kuiper belt, 2008 NQ17, which he named "Planet Bollywood", Raj was included in People magazine's "30 (Visionaries) Under 30 (Years of Age) to Watch", received a larger office, and became a celebrity of sorts, drawing the envy of his friends.

After six months of failed research on the composition of trans-Neptunian objects, Raj feared the prospect of being deported back to India (at which point, he describes spending his time at work as "mostly checking e-mail and messing up Wikipedia entries"). To stay in the country, he sought out a research position in stellar evolution with Professor Laughlin; the job proposition failed as the research team included an attractive female, and Raj accidentally drank a little too much and made a sexually explicit comment. Raj ended up working alongside Sheldon, (or "for" him as Sheldon insists), "exploring the string theory implications of gamma rays from dark matter annihilations". Ironically, he noted once before wanting to be the "Indira Gandhi of particle astrophysics".