I was a tomboy growing up. Even after I started modeling at thirteen, I didn't learn how to do my makeup.

The fashion industry, like others, is constantly changing.

I like a shoot when I feel strong and sexy, a little hard, with a darker edge. That's what I do best. I like giving a photographer what they want, working with the art director. And modeling is all I've ever known.

I grew up as a tomboy. I hated posing and things like that.

My husband knows who I am. My friends, my family - they know I would never lie.

I was six when the war started. It was terrible. My house was destroyed, so we went to live with my grandparents. The whole family was there, maybe 15 people all staying in an apartment about 35m square. It was very hard.

My family always encouraged my drawing ability. Kids in school who teased me about my reading would get out of their seats and stand behind my desk as I worked and go, 'Wow, you can really draw.' Later, I earned a degree in Fine Art and got a Ph.D. in Art History.

I know, it sounds generic and is a cliche, but coming from a middle class family in Kanpur, it was always the neighbourhood opinions which mattered.