Edited excerpts from an interview:

What are your earliest memories of reading?
I have very few memories that don't revolve around reading, writing or conversations surrounding literature and books. I am an only child and words have been my refuge. I was able to construct my own rich, inner worlds and also, process the world around me through poetry and writing. I cycled through the classics, as I was a precocious child. So, I was reading Dickens and Dostoyevsky before my teens. Herman Hesse and Camus spoke to my teenage existentialist angst.

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How has it helped you through the years?
The height of my fame in India - the mid 90s - was a particularly perplexing time for me, personally. I joke that I became a victim of India's industrial entertainment complex. I was labelled and branded a sex symbol, when in reality, I was a sad and sensitive girl trying to cope with private tragedy and make sense of the deeper questions. Fame has never appealed to me. So, I decided to go into hiding in my flat. For many months, I simply read from morning to night, along with baking quiches. There was no home delivery in those days in Mumbai, so a close friend would come over with supplies and we painted murals on my wall. It was bliss. I feel very little need of social interaction.

When did writing happen to you?
I've always written. I don't know how to survive without it. Not only is it a way for me to express my daily wonder at life and its nuances, but it's a way to define myself. It's rather unfortunate in India - as I have not come across this in my career abroad - but people tend to label you. My so-called career is not me. It's a side effect of my life's mission to experience everything on my own terms. So, my writing is a way to reclaim my inner life and thoughts. I write my life story. I've rebelled in so many overt and subtle ways against the system, but only I can be the author of my life story.

Poetry is a completely different ball game. How did you get hooked to it?
Poetry has always been a passion. There are so many poets I admire and whose work nurtures me - from Mary Oliver to Naomi Shihab Nye to my dear friend Tishani Doshi. Poetry has a way of awakening empathy and humanity in an instant. What is the truth of love? This moment? Sorrow? Poetry steers me towards compassion and universal love in a way no other art form does.

Do you write about situations close to you, or about yourself?
Right now, poetry has been flowing as a personal response to the increasing narrowness of the world we live in. Everywhere you turn, there are walls. Society is choking off the oxygen to open mindedness and empathy. But, my recent poetry, which I'm finally sharing, is also simply influenced by everyday events. I value solitude and meditation and stillness and a lot of my words come from that place.

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