Most of what I read is for reviewing purposes or related to something I want to write about. It's slightly utilitarian. I definitely miss that sense of being a disinterested reader who's reading purely for the pleasure of imagining his way into emotional situations and vividly realized scenes in nineteenth-century France or late nineteenth-century Russia.
Pankaj MishraI found it really disturbing to see a novelist writing a diatribe about Islam and Muslim radical extremists, blurring the distinction between the two.
Pankaj MishraI think the reporter or journalist is well served by having a responsibility to the powerless, to use a much-abused clichรฉ. The voice of the powerless is in some danger of not being heard in the elite discourses we now have in the mainstream media.
Pankaj MishraI meditate at airports because those are the places where Iโm extremely tense, and I often meditate while Iโm walking down the street. I have a thought and become aware of that thought and thereby create another level of awareness.
Pankaj MishraMost books germinate within you for a long time before they are ready to come out. I wrote several drafts of the novel over many years and when I finally got to the last one, it didn't take much time.
Pankaj Mishra