The good part about getting older is you stop trying to prove anything to anyone, including yourself. All you are in the pursuit of is collecting experiences - beautiful, fragile little soap bubbles that you store in your heart, and every once in a while you pull one out and gaze at the delicate pictures it shows you.
Twinkle Khanna
I am into the candle business, have a home store, The White Window, and interior designing is my primary occupation, though writing now seems to have become better known.
My frankness has got me into a lot of trouble. I try to temper it down now. As you get older, you get wiser.
I start my day with a hot water and lemon routine. I meditate. And I take my problems lightly, like my mother always said: treat them like helium balloons and let them go. I devour a lot of books to feed my mind.
My husband has always been my biggest supporter, and my mother has finally joined the cheerleading team now that her friends have been telling her that they like my work as well.
Eat carbohydrates: All these protein diets may help you twirl prettily in a size-2 dress, but if you want your mind to take a few marvelous leaps, then you have to give it the food it needs.
A wise woman keeps her hands firmly in her pockets and does not accidentally unzip anything, including her mouth.
Ultimately, there is no definition for smartness. It's just the ability to do what you want to do really well.
You won't believe it, but my grandfather named me. And the choices were between Sparkle, Sprinkle and Twinkle. So, thank God, they chose Twinkle.
I would have liked to be Birbal in Akbar's court, but a court jester also suits me just fine.
It is only through reading that one can understand how people are smarter than you and what they have left behind for you.
If people see anything I do and the way I live my life, there is no ambiguity about me being a feminist.
Naming me 'Twinkle' was a foolproof way of making sure that I would get teased throughout my life, have immigration officers at various airports stare at my passport and shake with hysterical laughter, and strangers stalk me with WhatsApp messages like, 'Twinkle, Twinkle, little star, I hope you get hit by a car!'
I read science fiction every single day of my life. It's my primary love.
I think every woman should have the skills and confidence to be able to earn a living. A working woman is happy because she has goals beyond herself and her needs.
I never said I'm not a feminist! I wrote one column where I was being sarcastic, and I called myself a 'wombist'. Now which sane person would say that 'wombist' is a better term than feminist? I was being sarcastic, and perhaps it was my fault in not getting the point across as clearly as I would have liked to. I don't think there's any doubt.
Sometimes I am glad I am not a philosopher - how would I ever complete a single chain of thought when someone is constantly asking me to do something? I don't think Plato would have been able to write his dialogues if he had a wife who kept bugging him to pass the pita bread.
Writing is a way of drifting within my own mind: almost a solitary process, so to speak.
I actually believe we are the superior gender. Why are we superior? Statistically, we outlive men by a good 10 years. No one should underestimate the power of nagging - it's on par with nuclear weapons.
We grow up, and we need to confront a society to be fit in.
'If The Weather Permits' was closer to my heart because it was a woman closer to my age, with a contemporary background like mine. I felt for that character. I've seen so many women like that - smart women who are a wreck when it comes to their emotional lives.
I'm not really as cool and collected as 'Mrs. Funnybones', but she is the woman I want to be.
I am living in the world that I always dreamed of. I am still not living in a world where you can teleport matter from one place to another just by atoms. We haven't reached there yet.
I am not a performing seal. In your writing, you are tapping into the part that is 'the best' in you. But what you are also filters through in your writing your prejudices, your bitterness. I am not a pretentious person.
I have never had a facial in my life. I use a facewash, a sunblock, and then I am set, with some kohl pencil around my eyes.
I still remember, when I got my fees for 'Barsaat,' I ran into a car showroom and purchased a Maruti Esteem. I treasure that car more than anything else in the world.
Sometimes I do give in to a scoop of sitaphal ice cream from Naturals or a chocolate chip cookie.
Relish being an oddball: Well-behaved, well-adjusted people are hopeless storytellers and, honestly, terribly boring.
I love to eat makhanas, and I always keep a packet in my car.
I am not a gym person, so I do walk a lot. I find gym is incredibly boring. Other thing I do is to devour books because I feel we need to feed our mind as well.
My husband and my son are both such positive-thinking optimists. Together, they've succeeded in making me a bit like them. I am looking at the brighter side of life and enjoying this phase of my life the most.
Some people are diplomatic, some people are outspoken, but the next generation is very clear. People are speaking their mind out. People are worried about other things besides their own careers. It's not accurate to say that they don't speak out.
My mother always wants me to put me on a diet.
I don't think I have a sense of fashion. But I do have an aesthetic, which I feel is an offshoot of me working in the design industry. For example, if I am mixing and matching prints on my sofas and cushion covers, I tend to do that with my wardrobe as well.
For all the oddballs and misfits out there, eventually, if you just follow your path, you will reach somewhere no one else has. You are uniquely meant to do something that only you can do.
My fashion cues come from my work, not the ramps of the world. I just keep working with so much colour, texture and structure, it rubs off!
Sometimes it is okay to have some chocolates and ice-creams. We all have those days sitting in front of the TV and have those. But you have to have the balance.
Standing in front of our hallway mirror, I am practising a few poses - one leg artfully bent, the opposite shoulder up - when the man of the house strides in and decides to share: a) I look like I have dislocated my shoulder and b) Has anyone ever told me I strongly resemble Tom Cruise?
I was born into the limelight. So, my biggest achievement, which I worked hard for, is to stay normal.
Was it my lifelong ambition to be in the movie business? No.
Today, it's about gender equality, not neutrality. Anyone who doesn't agree would be a bit of an idiot.
I have readers everywhere: from a radiologist who decides to compliment me on my writing while inserting a probe to check my ovaries to 80-year-olds who send me emails. And, of course, women my age everywhere.
I seem to be known as much by the moniker 'Mrs Funnybones' as my own name these days. The book was about how a modern woman looks at India and how India looks right back at her. I am glad that India seems to be looking back at me with a grin.
I'm not romantic; I'm very practical. There are lots of fish in the sea; so whoever gets struck with your rod, one is as good as another.
By the time I was in my teens, I was reading science fiction. I had this maternal uncle who had cartons of books. It's important to read because you have to fill your head with words.
I learnt how to make candles when I was a kid. My mom used to make them. Then, when I broke my leg once and couldn't really move around, I started playing around with it... putting the scent inside and dried flowers, and that's it.
I like crisp words like 'blimey', 'yikes', 'crap' which describe consternation, embarrassment, and sometimes wonderment without making me type so many alphabets.
I just became less rebellious with clothes, and today, I can slip into appropriate attire according to what the occasion requires, but off the red carpet, I am not that particular about what I wear, and comfort is my main priority.
'Salaam, Noni Appa' tells the beautiful story of the elderly Noni Appa, who finds love in the twilight of her life. The Noni Appa story gives you hope.
I love Twitter. Here, I get pieces of information quickly, and I also get myriad viewpoints rather than a one-sided view from a particular newspaper. Here, I have got a topic and 11 viewpoints, and I can judge for myself.
