Each book is a separate entity for me. When I'm writing it, I enter its world and inhabit its vocabulary. I forget, as it were, that I ever wrote anything else.

I think, we all learned that when we are afraid it's easy to want to blame, and the people we want to blame are the people who don't look like us.

If it is good literature, the reader and the writer will connect. It's inevitable.

I wrote 'Mistress of Spices' at an unusual time when I had a near-death experience after the birth of my second son.

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.

With the strong women I write about, I want to create a sense of strong possibilities.

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.

I was very fortunate that all my holidays I'd spend with my grandfather, experiencing a much more traditional way of life and listening to these wonderful stories, which I now feel are such an important part of Indian thinking.

Often, writer's block will occur when I don't understand a character or his/her motivations. So I will make notes analysing characters.

I want my books to force readers to recognise the fact that a woman is a human being just like them.

I took a little break after 'The Palace of Illusions' to clear my head.

It's different for different people, and for a woman it's important to look as good she wants to look. But you don't need to do it for someone else or to impress some male out there. You do it for your own sake. You wear what makes you feel good, you put make-up and jewellery - whatever gives you self-confidence.

I feel I can express the nuances of the Bengali lifestyle and ways of thinking better than other cultures.

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.

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.

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 like being myself. Maybe just slimmer, with a few less wrinkles.

There are actually very few deeply 'gifted' kids with transcendent cognitive or artistic abilities.

Having been built in the fashion I was as a child - created and then deflated - has left me with a distinct feeling of failure. Because I did not live up to my precocity, I experience it to be like a cross between a has-been and a never-was.

The United States is the richest and also the most unequal country in the world.

In a lot of ways, I had a wonderful childhood.

My father made me who I am; he was incredibly intellectually generous.

I'm just a reporter.

In an economy where women now make up half the work force, we're going to have to address the treatment of pregnant employees more systemically. The passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act would better protect against the discrimination pregnant job seekers face.