Even though I hated doing farming and wanted to just get out of the village, I would work from 5 in the morning till 5 in the evening.

The village I come from is the most ruthless, lawless land one can encounter.

When I had no money, I would find out which friend had work and money at that point in time and would go and stay with him for a week. All of us theatre guys did that.

Muzaffarnagar is 40 kilometers from my village. So I used to see films if I was able to save money and on special occasions like Eid, Diwali.

There was electricity in our village only for 2-3 hours a day, so all my life, I studied under a lamp.

I found the brick-making process fascinating - how, after being burnt, the brick would come out strong. I liked to sit on the stack of bricks and look as far as I could. I'd do the same at a hillock near my school - just sit on top at leisure and enjoy the feeling of being on top of the world.