Dehradun, Nov. 10 -- Mohtshim Khan

Lord Karan Bilimoria's Journey: From Cantonment Lanes to the House of Lords

It is a magical Doon evening - the kind where the air still carries a hint of pine from Mussoorie and the mellow warmth of the plains below. In a quiet home tucked away in the heart of Dehradun, Lord Karan Bilimoria - founder of Cobra Beer, former Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, and now a crossbench Lord in the Upper House of the British Parliament - sits across the table with the easy grace of a man at home. He is here for a few days, visiting his mother - returning, as he put it, "to the city that shaped our family and my earliest sense of belonging".

I am there to interview him. It was a difficult interview to d...