I grew up in Calcutta and because I was eight years younger than my sister, I was pampered a lot. My father’s elder brother did not have any children of his own and so he and his wife lavished all their attention on me. If my mother ever got angry, I would instantly run to Bari-ma and she would take care of the rest.

I was always very creative and was fascinated by clothes. I would sulk if I didn’t have nice outfits even when I was just three years old! My mother owned a boutique and one of my favourite pastimes was sitting on the floor, playing with colourful scraps of clothing.

My family was strictly vegetarian, my mother the strictest of them all. But my father loved non-vegetarian food just as much as we did. Once, when my mother had gone out to shop for groceries, my father found an old little stove and fried eggs for us — in the bathroom, so that my mom wouldn’t know! My cousins and I dug in with pleasure. This became a regular affair and for the next few weeks we would eagerly anticipate my mom’s visit to the grocer. Our luck, however, ran out one day and my mom found out what was going on. I’m sure you can imagine what followed.

Sundays were fun days at home. Since our entire family stayed together, we had a great time doing everything together, including travelling. Once, when we were returning from Kharagpur, our car broke down. We had to spend the night at a shady-looking hotel and didn’t like it one bit. But since my cousins were around, we ended up having a good time. I still remember one incident when we had gone to Jaipur. My cousin and I were playing near a big pond, when I suddenly pushed him in. Luckily, the gardener was around and he jumped in to save him.

I was always inclined towards art, even in school I loved art classes. I studied in Don Bosco and belonged to the pack of good sheep, always well-behaved and staying out of trouble. We had a huge group of friends and would always hang out together. In fact, the last few years in school were even more precious. We went on a trip to Kathmandu after our ICSE and I still cherish the time we spent together.