These aren’t things I’ve done, since there’s barely any worth mentioning, but simply significant points in my life. 1 . At age 8, contemplated suicide. Didn’t have the gall to pull it off. Decided instead to live to 90+. I suspect there were a few years between these two, but memory fails. 2. Also at age 8, learnt a new word in English class: ‘vow’. The chapter was on Sarojini Naidu taking a vow in the years leading to India’s independence. Fascinated, decided to test drive one. Vowed against cruelty to animals, where the definition of ‘animal’ extended to anything living and not a plant. Spent several years rescuing ants from the toilet bowl before realising that perfect compliance was impossible. Have never squashed a cockroach. 3. Somewhere in the middle of a lonely childhood, one Diwali, on the terrace, some kids remarked that it would be funny if a sparkler fell on the kid below, and I promptly threw mine. I missed, but the horror lasted years. 4. In the same period, was struck by...