I am a creative person and watching a movie is like writing a story. So when I see a movie, I also see the editing, the music, the camera angles, etc.

I hail from a middle class educated family and now that God is kind to me by giving me enough money, I want to share it with others.

Women should realise their strength and set goals.

Writing is an art, just like any other creative exercise - painting a picture, singing a song or dancing. It is an expression of your feelings.

I started writing when I was in school. I wrote essays and in my teen years I used to write sorrowful sad stories and poems as you do at the age.

If I give someone flowers, what will they really do with it. If I take food, the person could be diabetic... But books are a source of knowledge, I have great thirst for knowledge.

My novels are always in Kannada because I express myself better in Kannada.

My first exposure to sanitation issues occurred when I got admission into an engineering college. They probably didn't want to admit me and informed me that there was no ladies toilet in the college. I was adamant and pursued my studies in engineering in that very college.

I watch movies regularly, especially Kannada films.

Writing for children is the toughest thing.

It was March 1974, I was in my MTech final year when I came across a notice which stated - Telco requires bright, young engineers at a salary of Rs 1,500. This was big money at that time. But that notice followed with a line that said lady students need not apply. I was agitated!

I wanted to become an engineer and I believed in myself. I was the lone girl to enrol for engineering studies, then. But the college provided me an opportunity to excel in my life.

I am touched by my readers who loved my books. All the stories are true incidents in life. Now I have realised, any amount of imagination will not be as beautiful as the real life.

We can spend Rs 5,000 for a meal at the Taj and thousands on all kinds of shopping, but we're always stingy about books. We always think of borrowing. Why? Writers can use some support. If you have space and money, you should buy your own books.

Availability of water is critical for sanitation projects. Without water, toilets can't be kept clean. Places where there is no drinking water, water for toilets becomes complicated.

I don't write for fame or money, I simply want to share my experiences.

I will not buck to pressure of delivering to publishers.

I came from a middle-class family. My father was a professor in a medical college, and my mother was a schoolteacher. We led a good life but we did not have much money.

I rarely eat outside.

For a child everything is wonderful, be it going to a fair or visting a temple with parents. This happiness and enthusiasm needs to reflect in my writing.

From fiction, you do not get to learn much because it is only imagination. Whereas, from non-fiction, people can understand and learn from the realities it covers.

With one or two children at home, I feel that parents concentrate too much on them and hence children lose touch with reality. They get whatever they desire and fail to understand that in real life you may or may not get what you wish for.

Though most of my titles are translated into about 7 to 8 languages, I feel that translations, to some extent, can lose the flavour of the colloquial words used otherwise in the regional narrative.

Social entrepreneurs come from different backgrounds and are by and large, starved of capital. Such socialpreneurs must have extraordinary passion to follow their dreams.

All innovators face challenges and seldom enjoy family support.

My ad-hoc empirical formula is that wherever you grow a lot of rice, there is a lot of art developing as well. My theory goes on to say that after having a nice meal of rice, one feels lethargic and don't think of work. When you don't think of work, you think of art.

My grandfather and mother were school teachers, so there was always some discussion around books.

My library is segregated into philosophy, history, general reading, travel, my own books... and only three cookbooks.

Mythology has largely been written by men and focusses on men - on wars and men, who went to war. But, there are women who influence the decisions of men.

In my case, both my grandmothers made a huge impact on my early childhood days. But, as I grew older, people rarely made an impact or influenced me.

I learned reading and writing from my mother.