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Can you tell us about a unique experience that changed or shaped your spiritual beliefs?
Just as I completed high school in Shimla, I went to Jersey, on the English Channel, to live with relatives who had moved to the island. I felt very lonely there. Somehow I knew I had to become a writer but I was not getting any encouragement. I went one day for a walk on the seafront. And there I had a sudden and powerful moment of inspiration. I felt I would become a writer and nothing else. No one would be able to stop me. From that moment on, I felt directed in becoming so. It all flowed in that direction and despite the many moments of doubt, of financial hardship, there was always something keeping me from abandoning the path of writing.

What have been your main spiritual inspirations?
There was very little religion in my childhood. I went once to church with my mother and we were turned away because she was not wearing a hat. We went and had lunch somewhere else instead. That was the end of it. My father was more contemplative. He kept a Bible and a prayer book but he was not church going. At school we had to listen to sermons by the principal but the main objective was not to fall asleep. There was no inspiration in it. Instead, it came over time from people I encountered and observed, and of course from nature.

If you were to be reincarnated, what would you like to be reincarnated as?
As a human, I would like to be me, but with a few improvements! Like being a better lover, or a better football player. Otherwise, I would be a migratory bird, travelling the world with an intelligent and observing mind ---not only caring about food--- so I could really appreciate it. In fact, I have often dreamt I could fly, just opening the window, gliding over the mountains and valleys --- and later on coming back and returning to bed.

If there was one question you could ask God, what would it be?
Why did You snatch my father away before he could complete his stamp collection?

What is your idea of happiness?
I would say it is about the ability to follow my vocation, to do what I’d wish to do in life and make a living out of it. And I have been quite fortunate in that respect. Also, I am relatively at peace with myself because I know my shortcomings and weaknesses. I can live with myself.