Global Punjabi singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh has shared a mischievous childhood memory of the first — and perhaps shortest — time he tried to run away from home. He was just eight, and the reason, he recalled with a smile, was a school crush.Speaking on a podcast, Diljit said the trouble began when some senior students asked him which girl in school he liked.After he pointed towards one girl, the seniors jokingly told him that he would have to marry her.“Done,” Diljit recalled, saying he then went to the girl and told her that they would get married because he liked her.But the proposal did not go quite as planned.To his surprise, the girl went and told the teacher. The next thing Diljit knew, he had been asked to bring his parents to school.“I felt, ‘Ab duniya khatam, ab to gaya. Ab main gaya,’” Diljit said, recalling the panic he felt as a child.Determined to avoid the inevitable meeting, the eight-year-old quietly picked up two bananas and some fruit from the refrigerator, took his bicycle and left home without telling anyone.It was the first time, he said, that he had gone out alone without permission.Diljit had cycled for barely five minutes towards the fields when a man from his village spotted him.“Kithe tura phirda tu? Chal wapis murh ja,” the villager told him, asking the young boy where he was going and telling him to return home.Diljit said the incident reminded him of a time when village communities in Punjab were more closely involved in one another’s lives.“Pehle aisa hota tha ki gaon ke sab apne hote the, lekin ab shehron mein koi kisi ke bachchon ko kuch nahin bol sakta,” he said.He recalled that earlier, even if an elder scolded or slapped a child in the village, families generally did not turn it into a confrontation. Today, he said, parents and children can take offence when someone else questions a child’s behaviour.After the villager sent him back, Diljit returned home but kept the school summons to himself. He then avoided going to school for the next two days, making excuses that he had a stomach ache.For one of Punjab’s biggest global stars, the story offers a rare and endearing glimpse of an ordinary childhood — complete with a first crush, a daring escape plan and a village elder who made sure the adventure ended just five minutes down the road.Diljit Dosanjh would perform live in Chandigarh on December 12, as part of his RuPay Aura India Tour.