But big people’s illnesses are always made to sound big. The simple shutting and opening of the royal arse-hole was made to sound as if the world was coming to an end.

Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians—or the Pakistanis.

No one has invented a condom for the pen yet. My pen is still sexy.

I discovered that a diplomat's life is largely entertaining and meeting people. At the end of the day there's nothing. So I gave up.

Your principle should be to see everything and say nothing. The world changes so rapidly that if you want to get on you cannot afford to align yourself with any person or point of view.

I turned to the Partition experiences, which were churning in my mind. Then came my first novel Train to Pakistan.

I did subscribe to the freedom movement and I was much closer to the Congress than to the Akali party. It is a communal party.