I try to trace the connection between the characters and that way a story or plot emerges.

What a sense of possession, of confidence, it gave one to have pockets, to shove one's fists into them, as if in simply owning pockets one owned riches, owned independence.

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.

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.

My style of writing is to allow the story to unfold on its own. I try not to structure my work too rigidly.

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

...the moon that hung over the garden like some great priceless pearl, flawed and blemished with grey shadowy ridges as only a very great beauty can risk being.