Writing means liberation, therefore spirituality

Do you believe you are guided by a superior force?

There is great comfort in thinking that way whether it is a guardian angel or a guru or the divine. But I have a hard time getting my ethical sense around it. Because then you are stuck with the inevitable question which I always put to people who believe in such protection: what about the people who die of famine or in a war, those who have absolutely no access to dignity, does it mean they were just not anointed?

Do you believe you have a special mission or purpose in this life?

I do not know that we are here for any kind of purpose at all; it would have a religious overtone I do not adhere to. Also, I am weary of the destiny concept. On a personal level, writing actually came quite late. I always read — to escape and it felt so much more real than the real world. It took me a long time to realise that writing could do the same for me and even better. The Indian school system is so ruthless, if you have any artistic inclination it is driven out of you. I was so unhappy in school. So when eventually I went to an arts college in the United States, where suddenly it was a legitimate pursuit, I took a writing class and that was it. It was like a revelation, like a Eureka.

What is spirituality for you in your day-to-day life?

Writing itself is for me an act of liberation and freedom and therefore, of spirituality. It feels like a mystical act in many ways. It is built up in every aspect of my life and of my being, in the way I live, I sleep, I behave. Hours pass by when I write like in a trance, in the same way meditation or mystical experiences are often described.

Can you tell us about a unique experience that changed or shaped your spiritual beliefs?

There was no particular moment but because I mostly equate spirituality to my work, I can say that this latest book, The Inheritance of Loss, was certainly a deeper process and an attempt to understand what we consider right and wrong, what is honesty, how I look at things.

What are your spiritual inspirations?

In many ways I think of my parents as quite spiritual people and a certain degree of humanity and thought, the ability to be silent and think things through was certainly emphasised at home.

If you were to be reincarnated, what would you like to be reincarnated as?

I would be water, or air, which I suppose I will be in any case!

If there was one question you could ask god, what would it be?

I am not a person who thinks of god, it is not even remotely a presence in my life, the feeling of ‘a’ god, or ‘The’ god.

What is your idea of happiness?

It cannot be a selfish endeavour, defined in terms of your little patch of the world. It may be so small that it lies in the humblest definition of all, which changes every day. Is it about eating a nice potato at the end of the day? Maybe…