I think that Indian writing in English is a really peculiar beast. I can't think of any literature - perhaps Russian literature in the nineteenth century comes close - so exclusively produced by and closely identified with a tiny but powerful ruling elite, the upper-caste, Anglophone upper middle class, and dependent for so long on book buyers and readers elsewhere.
Pankaj MishraI wrote for many years without showing my writing to anyone, because I was constantly comparing it to what I was reading. You have to compare yourself to the best and feel totally inadequate.
Pankaj MishraI meditate at airports because those are the places where Iām extremely tense, and I often meditate while Iām walking down the street. I have a thought and become aware of that thought and thereby create another level of awareness.
Pankaj MishraWhen I moved to London in the 1990s, it had changed a great deal. Racism had become deeply uncool. But there has been a return of racism in the guise of "antiterrorism." People who look like myself are immediately suspect. I've become extremely self-conscious about going into crowded public places.
Pankaj MishraMost writers have very little that's important or valuable to offer; most of them are just repeating each other.
Pankaj Mishra