I have a variety of readers from across the diasporic community, not just from South Asia. I like to write large stories that include all of us - about common and cohesive experiences which bring together many immigrants, their culture shocks, transformations, concepts of home and self in a new land.
The Mahabharata might have been a great and heroic battle, but there are no winners. The losers, of course, lose.
A kshatriya woman's highest purpose in life is to support the warriors in her life: her father, brother, husband and sons.
I have no particular reader in mind, but a passionate desire to tell an honest, moving story.
I came to the plain fields of Ohio with pictures painted by Hollywood movies and the works of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. None of them had much to say, if at all, about Dayton, Ohio.
After 9/11, there was so much distress in America that it led to an inter-cultural breakdown. Some of our communities were targeted. Many of our adults shut themselves off from other cultures. I tried to bring children of Indian and other cultures together in my literature.
I have been watching how Indian women are forced to do certain things, as the stories of sacrifice and devotion in mythology demand from them. And then there are inspiring stories about women like the Rani of Jhansi that offer women refreshing role models.
I had friends who died in the 9/11 tragedy; some of my friends lost family members in the aftermath of Godhra.
I work very hard at creating complex characters, a mix of positives and negatives. They are all flawed. I believe flaws are almost universal, and they help us understand, sympathise and, paradoxically, feel closer to such characters.
I write in my study, where I also have my prayer altar. I believe that keeps me focused and gives me positive energy and reminds me that I'm merely the instrument of greater creative forces.
Often, writer's block will occur when I don't understand a character or his/her motivations. So I will make notes analysing characters.
I type everything on my computer. I carry a writer's notebook everywhere, in case I am struck by an idea. I forget things unless I write them down. I'm planning to learn how to dictate into my cellphone; I think that will be very helpful, too.
I write best late at night, when everyone in the house has gone to bed. There's something magical about that late night silence that appeals to me.
To some extent, I draw on what I see around me; in other places, I imagine what I write.
India lends itself well to fictionalization, but ultimately, it all depends on the writer's imagination.
Two great and terrible truths of war are these: War is easy to enter into, but difficult to end. And ultimately, in war there are no winners.
To make money for college, I worked in our college dining room.
I'm too careful with money - comes out of being poor for several years while growing up.
I hate it when people throw away food - I've seen too many hungry people.
As I lived on in America, I got to truly know the people of this country - so many kind and wonderful people, people of so many races - who helped me in so many ways. Who became my friends. I realized that underneath our different accents, habits, foods, religions, ways of thinking, we shared a common humanity.
