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.

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

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

I do all my thinking lying down.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am not really a city person.

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

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

I enjoy the process of writing.

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

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.

Unhappy and unsettled childhood helps in writing.

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.