Sharing stories of our childhood is our favourite pastime, isn’t it? It always leaves us nostalgic about the years gone by. On Day 2, November 19, of the English Sahitya Aaj Tak 2022 held in Delhi, Deepti Naval was invited as a speaker for a session titled A Country Called Childhood. During the session, Deepti, who was born in 1952 in Amritsar, talked about how she spent the early years of her life and how she ran away from home at the age of 13 to go to Kashmir. Sharing stories of our childhood is our favourite pastime, isn’t it? It always leaves us nostalgic about the years gone by. On Day 2, November 19, of the English Sahitya Aaj Tak 2022 held in Delhi, Deepti Naval was invited as a speaker for a session titled A Country Called Childhood. During the session, Deepti, who was born in 1952 in Amritsar, talked about how she spent the early years of her life and how she ran away from home at the age of 13 to go to Kashmir. When Deepti Naval ran away from home — Deepti Naval recalled running away to Kashmir at the age of 13. She said, “I was 13, actually. You can’t keep a track on where your thoughts go. I had seen a lot of movies that time whose songs were all picturised in Kashmir. It used to be so dream-like. We used to stay in Amritsar in a walled city and I used to keep dreaming about going to the mountains. So, I decided one day to take off, leave home and live in Kashmir. I took a train to Pathankot, and then I was going to take a bus to Jammu, and then another bus to Srinagar. But I got caught at Pathankot only. The police brought me back to my parents. A complaint was also lodged back in Amritsar.” Deepti added, “I was so embarassed talking about this chapter in my book but Gulzar saab encouraged me. So finally I decided to write. Now I feel freer because I have said it.” Deepti also talked about how things have changed now. She said, “At that time, I did not even think if it was safe or not. I just walked out of the house and took a train to the mountains. But times were different then. India was not the same country where a girl can sit in the train by herself and land on a platform that is completely deserted. Obviously, in today’s time, it is not possible to do a thing like that. There is so much crime. India is just not safe for women anymore. I have taken a lot of chances in my life. I came back home unscathed because times were more innocent. People were more protective about you. Times are different now. There are lots of crimes against women, you can’t be adventurous anymore.” More about Deepti Naval — Deepti Naval made her debut in 1978 with Shyam Benegal’s film Junoon. Two years later, she played a lead role in Ek Baar Phir. Starting with Chashme Buddoor in 1981, Deepti was often cast with Farooq Sheikh and they became an iconic on-screen couple of the early 1980s, with films such as Chashme Buddoor, Saath Saath, Kissi Se Na Kehna, Katha, Rang Birangi and Faasle. Three decades later, they reunited in Tell Me O Kkhuda. Their last film together was Listen… Amaya which was released in 2013, the year Shaikh died. In 2019, Deepti Naval appeared in an episode of Made in Heaven, a web series on Amazon Prime directed by Zoya Akhtar.