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But because he had played Jinnah in Attenborough’s Gandhi. I had seen it when I was younger, and the film had a profound impact on me.So now I was going to lunch with him and his two daughters, Raëll and Shazahn.

I did my homework. Aside from being an absolute living legend in theatre, advertising and social work, he also had this multi-talented family of ex-wives and children who were all making waves in their respective fields.

And countless protégés. From Shiamak Davar to Dalip Tahil to Kabir Bedi to Sabira Merchant to Ronnie Screwvala. He made India proud—on a global stage.

So, as you can imagine, I was intrigued to meet the man who had been an inspiration and guide to all of these icons. From my work on mindset, I knew how heavily your family members influence you, much more so than you consciously realize.

I got there early, and Kiki was fussing over last-minute arrangements. I then heard a bellowing voice. ‘Kiki Watsa, my darling, how are you, you old chestnut? Have you been a good girl? I bloody well hope not!’ Followed by a hearty laugh.

I was in shock. No one I know had the courage to talk to Kiki that way. But she giggled like a schoolgirl and gave him a bear hug. The closeness and warmth of this fraternity was something to be marvelled at.

I have to say that even though I have met royalty and many other celebrities on countless occasions, this man had an inexorable charm about him. Whether it was his voice or grand gestures, I was immediately curious to know more about the way his mind worked.

When we finally sat down at the table, he looked at me and said, ‘So, Madam Vandana, tell me about yourself.’

I told him about my youth in the UK, becoming a chartered accountant instead of a DJ, my ten years in Eastern Europe with a start-up, selling out to a listed company and the past decade in India in the business world. I told him about my love of bringing people and organizations together, with my work at Common Purpose, the UK–India Business Council and the Institute of Chartered Accountants. And I told him about my unquenchable thirst for understanding why people are the way they are, networking dynamics and how they can make big changes happen that benefit the masses. He wanted to know everything, especially about my children, Jai and Zara. Years later, he told me that he felt he had been a neglectful father and never once failed to ask me how my children were doing in our meetings or calls.

But the thing that bonded us was when I told him about the series of visionary novels that I was writing. They include other worlds, where men were not the decision makers. He was particularly taken aback when I told him of a female-centric planet I had developed, where women are the dominant force.

He laughed a deep, hearty laugh as I described how it worked— very different from our planet. ‘I like your thinking. I like that you have challenged something that is taken as gospel. Turned the world on its head. My, my, I would never have taken you for a chartered accountant. You should have been in advertising. Tell me more . . .’

And there began a beautiful friendship.

At the end of the lunch, he asked me to come to Mumbai to visit him to chat about life, the universe and everything. I agreed.

A few weeks later, I turned up at Christmas Eve, Alyque’s home in Breach Candy. The amazing Ida, his housekeeper, had cooked us a wonderful lunch. And we just talked. We talked of politics, both Indian and global, his time in the UK, his children, his love for theatre, for social causes and his passion for advertising. He had a refreshing view on life and wasn’t afraid to ‘tell it how it is’. And he thought so differently about everything. We talked about 3D printing of body parts and brain transplants, about how life would have been if dinosaurs had still been around, the confusion of love and lust and how the world could be changed for the most downtrodden of global society. How offices should be run like extended families and how children could be encouraged to learn the most boring of topics in a way that they would enjoy.

I was fully charged—like a bolt of electricity had hit me. He had that effect on most people!

I really wanted to ‘mine his mind’ and understand why he thought like that—what and who had inspired his thinking. So, he graciously told me about his childhood, his influences from marching ants to Einstein, and of course his education (and hatred for the current system). He raved about his protégés who had become global stars and the others who had made their mark in India.

I visited him a few times over the next months, and the discussion was always scintillating. Anyone who has ever met AP will tell you that he tickles the mind, then wholeheartedly ignites it.

At one of our lunches, he said to me, ‘You know Vandana, I wrote a book years ago. Well, I didn’t write it, I had a collaborator Arun Prabhu who finally got it down. But that was years ago—it became a must-read at MBA schools. I think I have a book in me now. But I don’t know how to get it out. I am a visual person and very good at talking, but I don’t know what the hell this book is going to be about.’

‘How about . . .’ I said gingerly, ‘I record our conversations over the next few times, and we see what themes come out?’

Over the next two to three years, I visited Alyque every few weeks. We talked and talked. We talked about his life, his regrets and his high points. He would send me notes through his secretary Anne Sequeira. He allowed me unfettered access to all his old speeches and all of his contacts, and I went with him to several of his speaking engagements and theatre readings. There I would see how loved he was, by all age groups. He really was a living legend in every sense of the word. Everywhere I went, I would take copious notes and recordings with different people, to find out what the elusive theme was to his life—the one he was looking for that would make the meat of this book.

Alyque would often phone me up with a crazy idea that we would argue about for sixty minutes and then agree to discuss later. Then we would do our recorded sessions, where I would poke him on everything he said. I would challenge him on something he said or ask him why he thought the way he did on various topics from the state of education to religion. I was always in a complete spin by the time I left, and his family told me that he was too. Somehow, we had this ability to push each other into reflecting on why we are the way we are at the deepest level.

The trouble was that there were so many themes! And I was getting mired in all the chaos that was Alyque Padamsee’s brain. So, one day, Glenda and I got a big whiteboard and took down all the areas we had discussed over the years, the hundreds of pages of notes, to look for commonalities.

There it was.

He had a way of hijacking your mind.

He had this enviable gift of showing a completely different perspective on anything and everything, so you would expand your thinking and see new views of an old problem. And he saw all of them in glorious, technicolour detail. He also had a host of techniques to try to solve problems.

Alyque passed away before we could finish the book. But there was enough there on paper that he was happy with. We finalized all the chapter headings and the major parts of the content. He was absolutely insistent that this must be an uncomplicated short book that was written very simply and would be accessible to people all around the world, of any age. He knew his immediate fraternity would be aware of many of the ideas in this book, but he wanted it to reach a larger audience across the globe—especially the younger generation. He believes we have failed them, and their only hope for success is to get out of the thinking that has been handed down to them.

And the book you are reading is what he wanted to say to the world.

Human beings are fundamentally unhappy, within society, across the world. And that is because we have been conditioned into thinking that the rules that we have been brought up with are right.

And it is time to hijack our minds.

Any mistakes or errors in this book are entirely mine. I am grateful to the whole Padamsee family for giving me the opportunity to share this with you and I hope it does make you think differently. Because if we all did, we could change the world into a more equitable and inclusive place.

Alyque, I hope you are up there amongst the stars, partying away and putting on plays for the powers that be. And I hope I have done you justice.