It gave me a lot of pleasure and pride that 90 percent of the crew for 'Monsoon Wedding,' and most of my film, are women. We get the work done, you know, much lesser play of ego... And I really believe in harmony, I believe in working in a spirit of egolessness and that the film is bigger than all of us.

Post 9/11, so much has changed in New York that it does not give you that homely feeling which it did before.

I grew up in a very small town which is remote even by Indian standards. I always dreamed of the world.

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.

Humility is not a trait I often associate with America.

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.

My family is almost exactly like the one in 'Monsoon Wedding'. We are very open, fairly liberal, loud people.