I was socially awkward for many years. I stuttered, stammered, talked rubbish. I never take up invites to parties, and I've been invited to very glamorous things, but I never go.
A long, negative review I wrote of Rushdie's novel 'Fury' earned me a rebuke from the writer: He told an administrator at the college where I teach, and who had invited Rushdie to come speak, that he wouldn't share the stage with me.
Once a fan did something really sweet for me. He came all the way from Nasik and literally lived outside my house from morning to night. When the security guard and my driver told me about this, I invited him to Film City and he was so happy.
Let's just say I didn't get invited to a lot of frat parties.
After I lost my legs, I got invited to my old high school, and I shared my stories with all the classes. I remember I was so nervous and didn't know where to start, but I knew I had information they could take away.
I got invited to work on Dre's 'Compton' project.
I get invited to a thousand parties, but do I show up at them? No, I don't.
If you look back at the great classics and the epics and myths, they were for everyone. Different people got different things from them, but everyone was invited to participate.
I felt like I couldn't meet a single rich person. Regardless of where I live, they don't want to talk to me. I threw a barbecue and invited the whole neighborhood, and nobody showed up.
I was going to be in an acting school in London, and then I promptly got thrown out of an acting school in London. Well, it wasn't that I got thrown out as much as I was not invited back, which is the same thing, just more polite.
