I am very interested in human-interest stories emerging from modern India. I get my inspiration and daily dose by reading the Hindustan Times.

...a rainy day ceases to have meaning for a person who has lived in the open under a monsoon cloud most of his life.

The first thing you have to understand is that I was not desperate to be a writer. I was never a closet writer filing away notes in a cupboard.

I get invited to many more literary festivals than I used to because I'm associated with 'Slumdog Millionaire,' the brand. Many more doors have opened up for me as a result of the global success of the film, although I believe that I'm the same person that existed before it.

Tokyo may have more money and Kyoto more culture; Nara may have more history and Kobe more style. But Osaka has the biggest heart.

My first novel was a challenge to myself. No one had an inkling that I was working on it.

And I realized again that real life is different from reel life.