Sandip's dad on Sandip wen he was a kid

MY CHILD

'He jumped off the roof imitating Hanuman'

Vijay Kumar Acharya tells Zinia Sen that as a child, Sandeep would often tear the pages of his text books

• Who named your son?
We have Surya pujan after a child is born in the family. It's during this puja that the priest suggests with which letter the child's name should begin. Sandeep's name was suggested by my father after we were told that the name should begin with 'S'.

• Does he have a nickname?
We call him Chintoo.

• Was he a naughty child?
When he was a kid, Ramayana would be aired on telly. Once he jumped off from the roof of our three-storey building screaming 'Jai Bajrangbali'. Had he not got stuck in the ropes that were tied across the ground floor for drying clothes and landed in the bucket that was kept below, Sandeep would have died that day. He also used to throw away pages of textbooks after having finished reading them.

• How early did you recognise his talent?
In 1992, when Sandeep was around eight years old we visited Nepal, where my in-laws live. Udit Narayan had also come around that time to Nepal, which was in close proximity to where we stayed. I took Sandeep to meet Narayan. From then onwards, Sandeep started taking interest in music. He joined the music school run by Pt Hari Mohan Bhatt. At the age of 20, he won a competition where 18,000 students had participated from across Rajasthan. This gave me hope that Sandeep will make it big someday.

• Was he fussy about anything?
Sandeep is fussy about food. Every 10 minutes he goes into the kitchen to check out what's cooking and would come out munching something or the other. If he doesn't like a dish, no one can force him to eat it.

• Did he fight with his siblings?
Sandeep has an elder brother and two elder sisters. I've never seen them fight.

• Does he discuss relationship problems with you?
Sandeep is closer to his mom and shares all his secrets with her.