People think that because I write about India I must be trying to portray India in a way.

The book begins and ends with the visits to give the impression of a tunnel into their ancestors and family history. I believe in going backwards into the past - I felt I was digging a tunnel back to the past.

Someone who wants to write should make an effort to write a little something every day. Writing in this sense is the same as athletes who practice a sport every day to keep their skills honed.

Do you know anyone who would - secretly, sincerely, in his innermost self - really prefer to return to childhood?

India is a curious place that still preserves the past, religions, and its history. No matter how modern India becomes, it is still very much an old country.

Isn't it strange how life won't flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forwards in a kind of flood?

When I was very young, I used to share much of what I wrote with my family, but as I got older and more self-conscious, it became a much more private process.