By Nilanjana Nag (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 11, 2010)

In India, what water is to milk, women are to Arjun Rampal. Now don’t draw your own inferences; it’s just that the two blend well. Having had his fair share of relationships with women, this National Award winner has managed to stay friends with a lot of his exes (Freud must be turning in his grave).

“Back in school, I used to think girls are the enemies,” says Arjun, “Always out to harm you. Until in eighth standard, my mother decided to shift me to the Kodaikanal International School. Ours was a typical lower middle class family in a small town called Jabalpur. So my mother took up a teaching job in the same school; or else funding my education would’ve been impossible. Suddenly, I was exposed to a new world of ideas, opportunities. This proved to be a turning point of sorts that changed my outlook towards women and men and most importantly, my relationships with them.”

Class difference

The Kodai School transfer was more of an eye-opener for Arjun and the timid, quiet, insecure boy in him started opening up to others around him. “This school had no uniforms,” says Arjun, “So the students wore what they wanted. I would turn up in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.” Didn’t the clothes make class distinctions more apparent amongst students? Arjun disagrees, “It just made us more comfortable with ourselves because our backgrounds didn’t matter. Each of us now had a locker to keep his things More >