So, I was 13 when Mrs Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency. June 25, 1975 it was. The memory is hazy, but all I know is that it was my birthday - June 24. The next day I woke up to this changed India. Habeas Corpus was suspended, freedom of speech was curtailed. I was told, opposition leaders had been jailed. For a year-and-half, this 'black period' in our history lasted.

And then a coalition was formed. I knew of this political co-existence because my maternal grandfather was a part of it. HM Patel was his name and he went on to become Finance Minister in PM Morarji Desai's Janata Government.