Upamanyu Chatterjee

“Amidst one's daily clutter, one doesn't usually reflect on the splendour of being free because - naturally - one has to get on with the business of living.”

“Governance is complex, difficult, and on the whole, thankless - why ever should the Bright Young Things leave the management of their hotels, newspapers, banks, TV channels and corporations to join, like fleas on a behemoth, the government? Wherein lies the difference between the two worlds?”

“I feel completely at home in the absurdities of India.”

“In his essay,Agastya had said that his real ambition was to be a domesticated male stray dog because they lived the best life.They were assured of food,and because they were stray they didn't have to guard a house or beg or shake paws or fetch trifles or be clean or anything similarly meaningless to earn their food.They were servile and sycophantic when hungry;once fed,and before sleep,they wagged their tails perfunctorily whenever their hosts passes,as an investment for future meals.A stray dog was free,he slept a lot,barked unexpectedly and only when he wanted to,and got a lot of sex.”

“Advances don't fundamentally interest me. It sounds terribly naive, but money doesn't really mean anything to me. If a lot of money came my way, I'm certainly not going to say no. But it hasn't come my way as yet, and I'm not heartbroken.”

“So much better to write pen on paper; you can do it anywhere, say, while stuck at the airport.”

“I don't think I would do better books if I wrote full time. I write for amateurish reasons.”

“People should have literary and cultural taste and should not bomb hotels.”

“Well, life is dark, isn't it? Mostly, it's dreadful. At the same time, death is funny too. I mean, look at the fuss we make of it.”

“It's a huge headache - the more money you have, the more hassles. I find money very uncomfortable.”

“I need to have some depth in my characters. That's why they are all Bengalis. I can't imagine writing a book with someone called Saxena as the hero.”

“The more languages you know, the less likely you are to become a terrorist.”

“For me, comedy is richer and larger than anything else.”

“Anyone who has grown up in Delhi knows it's horrible.”