New Delhi, June 25 -- I grew up in Calcutta in the 2000s. Raised by a single mother, our home was full of activity. My mother carried extraordinary strength into the corporate world. She gave me a linear path as her supportive son: do your homework on time, aim for excellence-but ultimately, pursue what you truly want.

Graduate studies took me abroad. In multicultural Britain, London offered an open society that was welcoming across ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. When I returned to India to work in the field of policy and communications, my work-day was intense: I had deadlines to meet, promotions to secure, expectations to fulfil.

Now on the other side of my thirties, I ask whether the childhood targets and aspirations I onc...