Whenever I came across something that influenced me, I wanted to be that. So it varied from an astronaut, airhostess, army girl, to truck driver. Once, I wanted to be a nun - my mother wanted me to change schools after that...

In fact, the Veksi resolutely ignore visitors from other planes, considering them to be the impotent and evil-smelling ghosts of dead enemies who will go away if no attention at all is paid to them. This has generally proved to be true.

Padma Lakshmi - Host/Judge

Definitely, it's a happy feeling for me. I hope the school will help in nurturing a host of young talents who will be able to represent the country in the long run.

There was a girl called Nanibala... ...used to live in a ladies' hostel. The whole day... sitting by the window... ...she used to bite her nails! I will never forget Nanibala.

She felt this thing that she called life terrible, hostile, and quick to pounce on you if you gave it a chance. There were the eternal problems: suffering; death; the poor. There was always a woman dying of cancer even here. And yet she had said to all these children, You shall go through with it.

Like a flame in the night
Like a ghost in the dark
There's a ray, there's a light
There's a hope, there's a spark

I will take it all: tongs, molten lead, prongs, garrotes, all that burns, all that tears, I want to truly suffer. Better one hundred bites, better the whip, vitriol, than this suffering in the head, this ghost of suffering which grazes and caresses and never hurts enough.