I was born in Jamshedpur where I spent my childhood and most of my school years. I later moved to Pune
for my high school and junior college.

My parents were simple people who were very particular about the way they brought up my sister and me. Some of our uncles and aunts were in Jamshedpur too and we had lots of cousins there. We would make frequent trips to Calcutta to visit our other aunts.

While my mum was the dutiful wife and mother, she was also very strict. My father, on the other hand, was very liberal. I was very close to my dad and he pampered me no end.

I went to DBMS, a co-educational school and one of the best in Jamshedpur. My mother was very particular about our grades. I stood 1st in class for 10 consecutive years and topped my school in ICSE.

Although I was rather introverted as a child, I became more confident later on. During the last few years in school, I was a regular at debates, poetry writing competitions, dance, music and fashion shows.

The biology lab fascinated me. They had all sorts of creatures stored in preservatives there. I lived in constant fear that some day one of the skeletons would come alive and walk into one of the classrooms.

Like most Bengali girls in Jamshedpur, I was sent to the Tagore Society for lessons in dance, music and fine arts. I trained in classical music and dance as well.

As a child my ambitions changed every fortnight, depending on what caught my fancy. I wanted to become a neuro-surgeon for a while as I liked the important-sounding name. And then I saw some Discovery channel shows and wanted to become a space scientist. But one day I saw the Miss India contest — by then I had realised that I didn’t like science very much — and things changed forever. Years later, when I was still in college, I took part in the pageant and won it!

My parents have supported me through thick and thin. Once, when I was new in Mumbai and was bitterly disappointed at losing the Miss Universe contest, my parents came to visit me. While leaving, my dad told me something I shall always remember: ‘‘You’re a fighter. We will always be behind you as your army.’’