They're the problems of poverty, of the rights of the individual, of the changes brought about by technology. They're the ones that count, more than religion!

I don't know how to put on an act; I always show myself for what I am, in whatever mood I'm in.

The fact that I have an ideology, however, doesn't mean I'm indoctrinated.

All of a sudden inscriptions appeared on walls. Signs appeared. And that 'no' exploded all over India, in an act of pride that surprised even me. Then even the political parties, all of them, even the deputies in Parliament, said no: it's better to die of hunger than be taken for a nation of beggars.

I always stayed married to my husband! Always, until the day he died! It's not true that we were separated!

You've never been very generous, you Westerners, toward us Indians. You should have seen that things were changing, albeit slowly. You should have seen that something was happening. Not much, but something.

I began to associate with Mahatma Gandhi when he came and went in our house - together with my father and mother he was on the executive committee. After independence I worked with him a lot - in the period when there were the troubles between Hindus and Muslims, he assigned me to take care of the Muslims. To protect them.