As a child I lived in Krishnagar. My childhood was all fun and mischief. Textbooks never interested me. I felt that there were better things to do.

One day my father, Mohit Kumar Chattopadhyay, had come to my school (CMS St John’s School). I was in Class II or III then. Our principal, Ms McArthur, brought him to our class only to find me standing on my bench — punished. My father was not at all surprised. But Ms McArthur was very embarrassed.

I used to wake up very early — when it was still dark. I would go to the shed with my brother Sambit where they milked cows straight into our glasses. It was warm, frothy milk. Nowadays you would shun that milk for fear of infection. By 6 ’clock, we set out for school. If there had been a kalboisakhi the previous day, our pockets would be full of mangoes picked on the way.

In winter, after exams, classes were usually suspended. We would go to the river Jalangi, steal a boat and row over to the other bank. Once there, we invaded the lush green fields of pea, kalai, gram. And the farmers would invariably chase us. Before they could come anywhere near, we would jump into the boat and row across.

Though I did not touch school books, I was a voracious reader. I read anything I could lay my hands on. The atmosphere in our home was largely responsible for my love of literature, theatre and even sports. My father taught me to recite. My mother used to read out poems from Tagore’s Sishu. One way to quieten me was to provide me with books. The children of our family would often get together to stage plays. I acted in plays in school too. When I was in Class V or VI, we had staged The Sleeping Princess. I was the prince. Once Ms McArthur had got a British gentleman to teach us acting. He asked a boy to beg for rice. That was the first time when I became aware of the complementary nature of action and speech.

I also loved watching films. My parents escorted us to the movies. I remember, in Tarzan when there was a kissing scene they tried their best to distract me so that I would look away. This was the usual custom. But we also went to the movies on our own, even in class IV. We watched even the so-called adult films. And sometimes when the elders were discussing such a film, I would inadvertently chip in with my views and the cat was out of the bag. You can guess what happened after that.

My father had a transferable job. We had to move frequently from one place to another. When he was in Darjeeling, I would go around with him the entire day. The beauty of the place enchanted me.