Though I was born in Mumbai, my dad, who had a government job, was transferred to Delhi soon afterwards. After three or four years we returned to Mumbai. I went to B.P.M. High School, Khar, Mumbai.

Though I talked a lot, I never spoke much to strangers, especially girls. I always ran away from studies and this was duly reflected in my report cards, which had plenty of red marks in them. However, I would hang around with the studious set in class and never got into trouble with the teachers. Luckily for me, these kids weren’t nerds and so we had our share of fun.

Once a notebook brand was offering free toothpaste with each of its products. So we got about 10 notebooks and had 10 tubes of toothpaste for free, which we began smearing on each other’s faces. When it was nearly time for the teacher to turn up, we suddenly panicked and tried to wash our faces with water. This worsened matters as the toothpaste started to foam and there were suds everywhere. Then our teacher came in and looked at our faces. And sure enough, we were punished.

When I was in Class VIII, my dad was transferred to Hyderabad. It was a little difficult to adjust to the new city. In fact, not liking the city much we came back to Mumbai in a few months’ time.

I have an elder sister and an elder brother. Being the youngest in the family, I was allowed certain privileges. Whenever my parents scolded me, my siblings came to my rescue. But I was jealous of my sister. She used to get everything she asked for while we had to wait for our turn.

Even though my results were miserable, my dad never thrashed me for poor marks. However, I received innumerable blows from my mom’s belan (rolling pin) for all the naughty things I did.

I always knew that I would not opt for a nine-to-five job. I loved cricket and dreamt of becoming a cricketer. I went to Shivaji Park for cricket classes too.

As told to Devlina Ganguly