I remember when I was young, many cities in the Muslim world were cosmopolitan cities with a lot of culture.

To respect Louis Farrakhan, we must understand, is simply to agree with him... If dissent is now also to be thought of as a form of 'dissing,' then we have indeed succumbed to the thought police.

I want more than what I want. (Vina Apsara)

It's always been colossally important to me that my books should be well received in India. It's where I come from.

There are two things in Indian history - one is the incredible optimism and potential of the place, and the other is the betrayal of that potential - for example, corruption. Those two strands intertwine through the whole of Indian history, and maybe not just Indian history.

Shame is like everything else; live with it for long enough and it becomes part of the furniture.

I grew up in a family in which there was very little religion. My father wasn't religious at all. But he was really interested in the subject of, you know, the birth and growth of Islam. And he basically transmitted that interest to me.