What happened in Pakistan was that people were told: You're all Muslim, so now you're a country. As we saw in 1971 with the Bangladesh secession, the answer to that was: 'Oh no, we're not.'

The publishing of a book is a worldwide event. The attempt to suppress a book is a worldwide event.

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

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

Travel was pointless. It removed you from the place in which you had a meaning, and to which you gave meaning in return by dedicating your life to it, and it spirited you away into fairylands where you were, and looked, frankly absurd.

I'm a reader of Chinese literature, I like their films, but also: I've had great difficulty getting my work published in China; very little of it has been published there. The first two attempts to have all of my work published, for instance, were refused without any reason ever being given.

If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.