I'm not interested in, and not capable of, direct politics. What I can do - I try to figure out the underlying principles. I'm interested in the psyc….

What fiction does is bring you closer to the essence of truth, as opposed to simply giving you the truth. And there's no knowing truth. Truth seekers….

India has sanctioned phenomenal injustices for years and years and years. And normalized it. There is no understanding of what it means to be born in….

I think it's really good not to get published. It sounds crazy but it's true. People want to get published very soon, but the moment that happens, yo….

I find it very difficult to relate to India's new middle class. This very patriotic and neoliberal group that mixes religion and economics together. ….

I'm interested in history because it's a discipline that requires a lot of effort from the imagination. You need to put in a lot of imaginative effor….

There are different reasons why people write: for themselves, or for other writers, or to get prizes, or keeping an audience in mind. In my case, it ….

As a non-western artist, you have to ask yourself a question fairly early in your life: do I want to become a bridge maker, do I want my culture to b….

It's not my intention to be understood. I will continue writing for a readership that is fundamentally local. Because if you want to produce universa….

The most important part of a city is its people. In fact, people for me are like little cities. When you meet someone, it's like you've found a new c….

Everything you draw is influenced. It's like yogurt. You need a little bit to start the next batch..

The only way one can display learning is by playing with it. Because the truth is that there's something embarrassing about displaying heavy knowledg….

People are infinitely more interesting than characters that I come up with. Because the characters I come up with are basically combinations of peopl….

Only a very specific kind of writer keeps their reader in mind while working. Such writers don't want to irk their readers; they don't want to challe….

I want to make sense of things, to understand the world, but my work is never really instructional. I have no wisdom to impart or give, so I think my….

I feel history is more of a story than a lesson. I know this idea of presentism: this idea of constantly evoking the past to justify the present mome….

People are interested in relevant stories. In big events. But I'm not interested in big things; I'm interested in the smaller details of life..

My books serve as archives of thoughts and emotions, like a tonal history that captures how I felt at a certain time of my life. It's not very inform….