* Why do you feel that your life doesn’t deserve a biography?
Because I have led a very ordinary life. You write biographies of men who have achieved extraordinary things...

* You are being modest.
I’m not being modest. In my life, I have always tried to treat people fairly. That’s the only rule I have followed and that very fact seems to have won me many well-wishers.

* Tell us about your association with Albert Einstein.
In my Oxford days, we used to live in the same apartment block. He used to play the violin in his free time, and I used play the piano. He heard me play, and asked me if I would be interested in a duet performance. I agreed, and thereafter we played together quite a few times.

* Was he the most influential person in your life?
Not really. JRD Tata, my mentor, is definitely the most incredible person I have ever met. He was a man who had no qualms to owning up to his mistakes. That’s most definitely the mark of a great man.

* You are one of Kolkata’s most prominent citizens.
I visited the city for the first time in 1939. The city charmed me then, and still charms me now. I love everything about Kolkata.