Sometimes writing a novel is not unlike having a baby. You'd have to ask a female novelist to compare the pain.

And using that - the birth of a religion, it suggests that you have got two tests. You have the test of weakness. When you're weak, do you compromise, do you bend, do you give in, do you accommodate? And then the test of strength. When you're strong, are you merciful, are you generous, or are you cruel?

I didn't become a writer to write about me.

If you look at Indian movies, every time they wanted an exotic locale, they would have a dance number in Kashmir. Kashmir was India's fairyland. Indians went there because in a hot country you go to a cold place. People would be entranced by the sight of snow.

The frustrating part of being tagged 'controversial' is people go looking for trouble where there isn't any to look for.

Good advice is rarer than rubies.

Censorship is the thing that stops you doing what you want to do, and what writers want to talk about is what they do, not what stops them doing it.