From the age of 17 through my 20s, I was living on my own, so sometimes I wouldn't even tell anybody it was my birthday. It was not a big thing for me.

I'm not very good at writing fantasy or even reading it.

A lot of school-going children are familiar with my writing. I am basically very much a children books author.

Writing for children may have kept me young at heart.

I am hopeless with machinery. I could never learn to drive a car except into a wall.

I did all kind of jobs to sustain myself. I worked at a grocery store, in the public health department, and what was then Thomas Cook and Sons. The last job was particularly interesting, but I got fired from it.

I wanted to be a tap dancer when I was very young.

I find it very lucky to be an Indian and living in India.

When I was younger, I took life much more seriously.

I wouldn't want a film to be made on my life, because I suppose I would only want them to show all the good things about me and hide the awful things, and that wouldn't be a very honest biopic, no?

I think every writer wants future generations to read what he has written.

I write mostly for pleasure, and the reading should ideally be for pleasure, too.

I like talking to visitors, especially children.

When I ventured into writing at the age of 17, I wanted to be a good and successful writer. I just wanted to write good stuff - poems, prose, stories, essays, everything.

Occasionally, I have written about stories related to crime, but I have never attempted a traditional detective story. So I want to write a true detective story.

As you grow older, life seems funnier.

In the '50s, '60s, '70s, before television became easily accessible, even the most well-known writers were not recognised. The writers remained mostly an anonymous lot then.

Unhappy and unsettled childhood helps in writing.

Respect the language in which you write. Be kind, develop good vocabulary, and be creative in writing beautiful sentences. Your prose should be your poetry when you write.

It's amazing to dwell in the world of fantasy and fear.

I enjoy the process of writing.

If four or five days go by, and I haven't written anything, I feel incomplete.

If you enjoy your journey as a writer, you will never find it difficult to write.

I am not really a city person.

I get inspiration from a lot of things around me - nature, hills, people, and even insects.

Ghosts are all around us. Look for them, and you will find them.

I am a sleepy fellow. I will take a nice long nap the first chance I get.

I like flowers. In my next life, maybe I can be a gardener.

You may not enjoy loneliness, because loneliness is sad. But solitude is something else; solitude is what you look forward to when you want to be alone, when you want to be with yourself. So, solitude is something we all need from time to time.

I'm a pickle fiend. I like all kinds of pickles: garlic pickle, lemon pickle, mango pickle, jackfruit pickle, you name it.

I can't live in a room without a window.

Many people told me such convincing ghost stories that I felt that there really were ghosts, though I hadn't seen any. And though I still haven't seen a ghost, I feel that they are all around us; we are just not aware of them being there.

Children haven't changed - the world around them has. Their basic natures haven't changed. They like ice creams. They like to have fun, play games if they get space.

In my twenties, I wrote a lot of romantic stories in which I always lost the girl.

Change has to come. It's not always what you'd like. It's what other people like.

There will always be books as long as I am mentally capable of it.

I do all my thinking lying down.

I used to type, but now, typing or working with a computer, I get a stiff neck. So I prefer writing longhand.

My first, 'Room on the Roof,' was the longest book I've written.

I've never written specifically for children as such. I write to please myself, and if it is suitable, it gets printed as a children's book.

I've lived in small rooms, flats, growing plants in pots on window sills. I'd have liked to have had a full-fledged garden with all kinds of flowers and plants. I've never had enough money to buy a big enough garden space.

I keep a journal, like many writers do. It helps in writing a story, as you can use an incident from the journal and put in your story.

Jokes apart, I, like many other, am looking for strong and stable government. I don't want any chaotic political situation where the elected government is being toppled frequently.

For the film 'Saat Khoon Maaf,' which was adapted from my story 'Susanna's Seven Husbands,' I did collaborate on the screenplay. I even took a small role in the film, of a priest.

I have an excellent memory - for books and authors, that is. I remember all the books I've read.

I won't usually just sit down to write. I'd have done it in my head already. I visualise a story just like a film strip running in my head. I guess that is also a reason why my books have such a visual element to them. And it's what I tell young writers: plan your story ahead.

One of the very first ghost stories I read - and that was in a forest rest house, where it is a bit scarier - was by M.R. James. He is one of the pioneers of ghost stories. And the book was called 'Ghost Stories Of An Antiquary.'

I wrote 'Time Stops at Shamli' in 1956, shortly after 'The Room on the Roof' was published, and I couldn't find anyone to publish it.

If I set out to write 'War And Peace' or 'A Suitable Boy,' I'd be miserable.

I had a bad habit of falling in love with any girl who was nice to me.