The wheel turns and turns and turns: it never stops and stands still.

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

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

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.

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.

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.