As I mentioned earlier, I would always tend to be a bit different from others. As I grew up, I asked for a motorcycle but my father refused, arguing that motorcycles kill people. "You won't get a motorcycle," he firmly told me. 

I insisted I wouldn't. I wasn't willing to budge. I didn't want to have a two wheeler as that wouldn't have made me look different. 

Eventually, we settled for a scooter, which was very girlish compared to a motorcycle. But I put a condition that the colour would be of my liking. So, I went for an orange colour. Can you imagine a young boy driving an orange scooter? That was me. 

Those days, Vijay Super scooters had just entered the market. It was bigger than those manufactured by Bajaj. I opted for Vijay Super that was bigger than the rest. It wasn't Lambretta. So, my father bought me a Vijay Super scooter and I really enjoyed it. A lot of my friends also loved it. Probably, they drove it more than I did. 

I would go to the medical college on that scooter whenever I decided not to take the water (river) route. But one thing invariably happened with me. Whenever I went to the medical college on my scooter, I would always miss the first class. That has stayed with me ever since and this is something I have been able to overcome my entire life.

My personal battle of trying to do things early in the morning started very early. And I must admit here that I didn't try as much to address this issue because I started developing a belief that it is fine to start late if I am willing to end late. It's alright. It was more in consonance with who I am as a person. I was never a morning person. There is a bio clock. Things change from morning to evening. A lot of things do - temperature changes, body temperature changes, your metabolism changes. Lots of cycles stay with you which I realise now as a doctor. So, I always remained a night person.

To be continued....