Strong women, when respected, make the whole society stronger. One must be careful with such rapid changes, though, and make an effort to preserve, at the same time, the positive traditions of Indian culture.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I like being myself. Maybe just slimmer, with a few less wrinkles.
I was caught on the freeway for hours when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The entire city had to be evacuated. I observed lives threatened by catastrophes and a whole range of behaviour. What could people do during a crisis?
I realise that a novel and a film are different mediums. As artistes, we need to respect other artistes. It also needs a lot of courage to take risks to experiment and interpret known literary works.
Often, writer's block will occur when I don't understand a character or his/her motivations. So I will make notes analysing characters.
A kshatriya woman's highest purpose in life is to support the warriors in her life: her father, brother, husband and sons.
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.
My favorite part was when my grandfather and I would make a special trip to Firpo's Bakery for red and green Christmas cookies and fruitcake studded with the sweetest cherries I've ever tasted. Usually Firpo's was too expensive for our slim budget, but Christmas mornings they gave a discount to any children who came in.
I love visual art. I painted for many years when I was younger. I have studied modern/contemporary Indian art a bit and am very impressed with the talent in India.
Perhaps what distinguishes my characters is their courage and spirit and a certain stubbornness which enables them to keep going even when facing a setback. I think this developed organically as I wrote, but also it came out of a desire to portray women as powerful and intelligent forces in the world.
When I was volunteering with Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston in 2005, I first started thinking about the whole phenomenon of grace under pressure.
I was about 12 when I first encountered 'The Moonstone' - or a Classics Illustrated version of it - digging through an old trunk in my grandfather's house on a rainy Bengali afternoon.
Dissolving differences has always been an important motive for my writing, right from 'The Mistress of Spices.'
As I remember my grandfather and those Christmas mornings he gave for a little girl's pleasure, I know that often a big life starts with doing small things.
The ancient world is always accessible, no matter what culture you come from. I remember when I was growing up in India and I read the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey.'
I came from a traditional family, and it was an exciting but challenging transition to move to America and live on my own. The world around me was suddenly so different.
It is an Englishman who turns out to be the real villain of 'The Moonstone.' By contrast, the three Indian priests who dedicate their lives to returning the jewel to its proper home in the temple, though they have nothing personal to gain by doing so, are positively heroic.
It's very important to balance things; it's imperative to do something for the society, and women in particular, and help women who aren't in position to help themselves.
We even had a different word for Christmas in my language, Bengali: Baradin, which literally meant 'big day.'
I grew up in Kolkata in a traditional family. We had friends who lived in mansions just like the one in 'Oleander Girl.' Growing up, I was fascinated by the old house and the old Bengal lifestyle.
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.
By the time we're adults, our ideas have solidified. So I wanted to write for a younger audience, who would perhaps love heroes from other cultures.
In community work, you reach some people, but in writing, I can reach many more people, not only in exploring issues of domestic violence, but also by showing the importance of strong women in communities.
To me, characters are at the heart of great literature.
If it is good literature, the reader and the writer will connect. It's inevitable.
I feel I can express the nuances of the Bengali lifestyle and ways of thinking better than other cultures.
I wrote 'Mistress of Spices' at an unusual time when I had a near-death experience after the birth of my second son.
I started putting down my thoughts on paper out of loneliness while I was studying in America. I was very close to my grandfather, and when he died, I couldn't visit home. I started scribbling those thoughts.
I started writing after the death of my grandfather - memories, poems, etc. It was very personal; for years I did not share my writing with anyone.
My grandfather was a very strong personality. He certainly ruled his household with an iron fist, even though it was often gloved in velvet!
I find that it's really important for me to imagine characters and situations. That allows me a lot of freedom.
After September 11, 2001, I was feeling like I really wanted more understanding between cultures. It seemed to me that so much of what happened on September 11 was because people didn't understand each other and were suspicious of each other.
I'm a very senses-oriented person, and I want to bring readers in on the level of the senses, so they can experience another culture and another place.
To achieve important things, we have to sacrifice what's important to us. That's an idea that's very central to Indian thinking.
I think writers from both East and West have long been fascinated by the ancient tales and the opportunity to reinterpret them.
I came into Chicago in winter - I'd never been so cold in my life! I was very homesick, and a poor student at that time. America seemed so different and so filled with amazing things - and almost all of them were out of my reach.
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.
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.
India lends itself well to fictionalization, but ultimately, it all depends on the writer's imagination.
To some extent, I draw on what I see around me; in other places, I imagine what I write.
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.
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 had friends who died in the 9/11 tragedy; some of my friends lost family members in the aftermath of Godhra.
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.
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 have no particular reader in mind, but a passionate desire to tell an honest, moving story.
The Mahabharata might have been a great and heroic battle, but there are no winners. The losers, of course, lose.
