My political consciousness comes from my parents but also from other extraordinary people in both families. From people who spent their entire lives for serving India and Indians. My great aunt Anasuya Sarabhai, Lakshmi masi (Col Lakshmi Sahgal) of the INA, my aunt Mridula who stood by Sheikh Abdullah, and many more.

I was 12 and wrongly blamed for inciting two older boys in school to fight over me. Papa was called in, and found it amusing that a 12-year-old was already causing a ‘situation' inadvertently. He sat me down and told me that there were two kinds of people in the world. Those who followed rules set by society—right or wrong—and those who questioned and decided for themselves what was right and wrong. The latter kind followed their own conscience rather than the rules laid down by society.