Americans are not used to being bombed in their beds, but if you come from anywhere outside America, it's not highly unusual.

What is really important to me is a sense of humour and a mischief about life. Life is just too boring otherwise.

I know what it's like to be in one place and dream of another. I also know what it's like to feel that nostalgia is a fairly useless thing because it is stasis.

We all know the power of film; we all know there's almost nothing more powerful than to see people on film that look and talk like you, like we do.

You know, the sad thing of post-9/11, which was of course horrific, was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades, suddenly people like us - brown people - were looked at as the 'Others.'

I am still attracted to stories about people who are considered to be on the outside of society. I still seek inspiration from those stories.

It took me three years to learn to dress in the American way, especially in winter. That was just like me. I barely wear socks even now.