I've never liked air-conditioners. I don't like how "A/C cold" feels on my skin, though I've learnt to enjoy the cold at the Berlin Film Festival, when I go on assignment each February. Till date, I don't have an A/C at home, just fans—I'm trying to live lightly on earth. Only when I invite guests, I'm mildly embarrassed and offer them cotton wads dipped in refreshing, cold rosewater, to dab their faces—like those "refreshing towels" we were once offered in planes. I trust the conversation, beer, khana and song to carry the evening, rather than the temperature.

One of my early assignments, way back in 1999, was interviewing Munda tribals in the forests of Ranchi, Bihar, that I enjoyed so intensely, it has set me off on a parallel career in developmental issues—gender, water, health, education—for the last 20 years. The Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) had sent me to write about their work there, which was excellent. I was then at the Times of India, and happily moonshined (moonshone?) on weekends or on leave, working on development issues, as that was so much more satisfying than journalism.