No fruit dies so vile and offensive a death as the banana.

No fruit dies so vile and offensive a death as the banana.

Kiran Desai

I love Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor. I read a lot of American writers.

I love Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor. I read a lot of American writers.

The publishing world is very timid. Readers are much braver.

The publishing world is very timid. Readers are much braver.

Why couldn't she be part of that family? rent a room in someone else's life.

Why couldn't she be part of that family? rent a room in someone else's life.

I feel as comfortable anywhere as I feel uncomfortable anywhere.

I feel as comfortable anywhere as I feel uncomfortable anywhere.

We think of immigration as a Western issue but, of course, it isn't.

We think of immigration as a Western issue but, of course, it isn't.

The Indian diaspora is a wonderful place to write from and I am lucky to be part of it.

The Indian diaspora is a wonderful place to write from and I am lucky to be part of it.

Slowly, painstakingly, like ants, men would make their paths and civilization and their wars once again, only to have it wash away again.

Slowly, painstakingly, like ants, men would make their paths and civilization and their wars once again, only to have it wash away again.

She'd have to propel herself into the future by whatever means possible or she'd be trapped forever in a place whose times had already passed.

She'd have to propel herself into the future by whatever means possible or she'd be trapped forever in a place whose times had already passed.

Sadness was so claustrophobic.

Sadness was so claustrophobic.

When you write on your own, you can write the extremes. No one else is watching and you can really go as far as you need to.

When you write on your own, you can write the extremes. No one else is watching and you can really go as far as you need to.

I do think that the modern India does belong to writers who are living in India.

I do think that the modern India does belong to writers who are living in India.

I don't think you can write according to a set of rules and laws; every writer is so different.

I don't think you can write according to a set of rules and laws; every writer is so different.

A journey once begun, has no end

A journey once begun, has no end

The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind.

The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind.

Writing, for me, means humility. It’s a process that involves fear and doubt, especially if you’re writing honestly.

Writing, for me, means humility. It’s a process that involves fear and doubt, especially if you’re writing honestly.

The Indian diaspora is a wonderful place to write from, and I am lucky to be part of it.

The Indian diaspora is a wonderful place to write from, and I am lucky to be part of it.

If we trace the history of any nation backwards into the past, we come at last to a period of myths and traditions which eventually fade away into impenetrable darkness.

If we trace the history of any nation backwards into the past, we come at last to a period of myths and traditions which eventually fade away into impenetrable darkness.

The most practical teaching of the Gita, and one for which it is of abiding interest and value to the men of the world with whom life is a series of struggles, is not to give way to any morbid sentimentality when duty demands sternness and the boldness to face terrible things.

The most practical teaching of the Gita, and one for which it is of abiding interest and value to the men of the world with whom life is a series of struggles, is not to give way to any morbid sentimentality when duty demands sternness and the boldness to face terrible things.