I had a very happy childhood. Being the only child of my parents was an advantage. I went to school in Delhi initially and when I was around 10 years old, my parents sent me to Mayo College in Ajmer, an all-boys boarding school. I was not happy there for the first few days, but soon I simply fell in love with the boarding school lifestyle.

I was only five when I first appeared on stage and I played Yankee Doodle. I went on to do a lot of theatre at Mayo. It was the most enjoyable part of my school experience. That love for the stage continues to this day. Although I was an active member of the dramatic society at Mayo, my studies didn’t suffer. I did fairly well on that front too. So my parents never stopped me from pursuing theatre.

I wasn’t a very easy child in school. While some teachers liked me, others didn’t think very highly of me.

Our boarding school campus was spread over 225 acres and it had very well maintained gardens and lush green spaces. We students had a great time. But we could never slip out of the campus because of the strict discipline.

I was active in sports and I enjoyed playing cricket, hockey and carrom.

I had a great set of friends in the hostel, and the camaraderie was wonderful. My only regret was that it wasn’t a co-ed school. It was a major event for us whenever there were girls from other schools on our campus.

I spent most of my holidays in Delhi and Lucknow. We had a huge haveli in Lucknow and it was a big family gathering whenever we went there. I had a wonderful time during my summer holidays. I can recall the aroma of food in Lucknow to this day.