India, July 25 -- Some people need an app to find their way around Delhi, but TV actor Deepika Singh remembers every turn. On a recent visit to the Capital to meet family, the actor found herself correcting her own car's GPS in real time. "I know the roads better than Google," she laughs, pointing out that after nearly fifteen years of living in Mumbai, Delhi, clearly, never left her system.

That instinct traces back to Paharganj, where Deepika grew up long before the world knew her as Sandhya. Her path from an Air Force school student to a bank employee to, quite unexpectedly, a ramp model plays out like a script no one wrote on purpose. "There was one contestant short, and the money being offered was good. I was very adventurous and co...