I grew up on American pop culture so everything that I fantasized about to get out of this sort of humdrum world of Bradford was about America. So when we decided to move there I was on the plane.

I was born in India - but never really lived there.

Actually I'm more culturally Muslim than religiously but being Muslim is an important part of my identity. As Muslim, I feel it's important to counter any form of bigotry, be it anti-Semitism, homophobia, racism, etc. These forms of hate share a common denominator of misinformation and intentional fear mongering.

So I had this completely unrealistic idea of what America was — but I wanted to be there.

In America, people think being South Asian is still kind of exotic. When you go outside New York and Chicago and L.A., there are people who have never tried Indian food... they've never even tasted it!

I've always said I'm the worst representative of Muslim-Americans that's ever existed, because I've been inside more bars than mosques.

If you choose to be a Muslim then you believe that it is on some level wrong to show the image of the Prophet Muhammad.