Q & A

by Vikas Swarup

And that night, for the first time, my tears had nothing to do with physical pain.

But, once again, I learn that appearances can be deceptive and the dividing line between good and bad is very thin indeed.

We Indians have this sublime ability to see the pain and misery around us, and yet remain unaffected by it.

it is difficult to sustain a memory if you don’t have a face to associate with the name.

I have, though, evolved a rough classification system for drunkards. Top of my list are the horses. These can hold as many as eight pegs without slurring their speech. Then come the asses, who start braying and babbling after just two or three, or become maudlin and sentimental and begin crying. Then come the dogs. The more they drink, the more they want to get into an argument or a fight. Some of them also get frisky with Rosie. Below them are the bears, who drink and then drift off to sleep. And at the bottom are the pigs. They are the ones who vomit after their last peg. This classification is not watertight. I have seen customers who start like horses but end up like pigs. And dogs who turn into bears.

The one conclusion I have reached is that whisky is a great leveller. You might be a hot-shot advertising executive or a lowly foundry worker, but if you cannot hold your drink, you are just a drunkard.

‘The night is young. The bottle is full. So why don’t you begin?’

‘Well, all I can say is that at times truth is stranger than fiction.’

One who demands a second look.

Train journeys are about possibilities. They denote a change in state. When you arrive, you are no longer the same person who departed.

That dreams have power only over your own mind. But with money you can have power over the minds of others.

A great artist is not one who merely fits into a genre, but one who defines the genre.

Is an existence without desire very desirable?

And I realized again that real life is very different from reel life. Love doesn’t happen in an instant. It creeps up on you and then it turns your life upside-down. It colours your waking moments and fills your dreams. You begin to walk on air and see life in brilliant new shades. But it also brings with it a sweet agony, a delicious torture.

One doesn’t question a miracle.