FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

We decided to commemorate our magazine’s 45th anniversary by getting 45 national icons to introspect on their “life-changing moments”. Since I asked others to disclose the turning points in their lives, I thought it only fair that I reveal mine. I don’t believe in destiny, or that everything is preordained. Full of twists and turns, many of them unexpected, life is rarely a straight line. In fact, it is a series of accidents, happenstance and, quite often, dumb luck. At least, that’s the way it was for me. I wasn’t one of those kids who knew early in life what they wanted to be. I was hopeless in the sciences, so being an engineer or a doctor, the professions in vogue those days, was out of the question. I also came from a generation that listened to their parents, especially if you didn’t have any specific ambition.

In the