Vikas Swarup Quotes

The first thing you have to understand is that I was not desperate to be a writer. I was never a closet writer filing away notes in a cupboard.

I am neither a Bengali nor am I from Delhi's St Stephen's. I am an Allahabad boy.

Sometimes street knowledge can be as important as book knowledge.

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

I did not go to any creative writing workshop; I did not major in literature. If I can write, anyone can write. All it needs is imagination.

Never judge a man's actions until you know his motives

You have been counting rosary beads for an era
But the wandering of your mind does not halt
Forsake the beads in your hand
And start moving the beads of your heart.

The slums are not a place of despair. Its inhabitants are all working towards a better life.

I want to show that the underdog can win. I believe we're all the same: you, a slum girl, my mother.

Indian writers have appropriated English as an Indian language, and that gives a certain freshness to the way we write.

I held my breath and wished for that moment to last as long as it possibly could, because a waking dream is always more fleeting than a sleeping one.

I may have entered her body, but now I want to enter her mind.

I am very interested in human-interest stories emerging from modern India. I get my inspiration and daily dose by reading the 'Hindustan Times.'

A rainy day ceases to have meaning for a person who has lived in the open under a monsoon cloud most of his life.

Just because someone has gone to an elite school and college does not make him smarter than the person who has grown up on street knowledge.

All I can say is that I am not one of those writers who want 100% of their book in the film. I recognize that film is a different medium and the filmmaker must have the right to bring some new elements to the table, provided the soul of the book is preserved.

You must never take a direct route to your destination.

For me, the day job comes first. That's why I call myself a diplomat who writes, not a writer who masquerades as a diplomat. If the day job demands it, I won't write at all. I write in what I call 'the crevices of my day job', and that comes only on weekends.

Confuse your trail, lose your trail.

I became completely addicted to 'Angry Birds' for a while.

India may be the soul of world cricket, but IPL is its commercial heart. Just as 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' changed the ground rules for quiz shows by injecting a massive dose of money into the equation, IPL has changed the dynamics of the cricket economy.

I need to meet people to be able to write.

I wonder what it feels like to have no desires left because you have satisfied them all, smothered them with money even before they are born. Is an existence without desire very desirable? And is the poverty of desire better than rank poverty itself?

Tokyo may have more money and Kyoto more culture; Nara may have more history and Kobe more style. But Osaka has the biggest heart.

There is some pleasure even in pain. A sweet ecstasy.

I write fast. But it takes me a while to get going. It's very important for me to see my whole plot. I have to see the end first because I like a surprise in the end. Which is why I let characters and plot gestate in my mind.

I get invited to many more literary festivals than I used to because I'm associated with 'Slumdog Millionaire,' the brand. Many more doors have opened up for me as a result of the global success of the film, although I believe that I'm the same person that existed before it.

The writer's is an interior world, a world of the mind.

appearances can be deceptive and the dividing line between good and bad is very thin indeed.

Your beauty is an elixir.
Which has given an orphan life.
Lovesick I will die, from the grave I will cry
Should you decline to become my wife.

Mumbai may not be my city. But it is my kind of city.

The fight against international terrorism isn't just a fight against a bunch of misguided extremists; it is a fight to defend the values that we hold dear.

Unheralded we came into this world. Unheralded we will go out. But while we are in this world, we do such deeds that even if this generation does not remember, the next generation cannot forget.

Twenty20 is cricket on speed. In an era of hectic lifestyles and falling attention spans, it gives spectators more drama and intensity in three hours that they would get from a whole-day match. And even though it is a heady cocktail of money, entertainment and media, at its core it is cricket.

Because luck comes from within

The city may have chosen to ignore the ugly growth of Dharavi, but a cancer cannot be stopped simply by being declared illegal. It still kills with its slow poison.

The line of head is strong, but the line of heart is weak. And most importantly, the line of life is short. The stars do not seem to be right.

I think mobility is very important, not only to discover opportunities elsewhere but at times, also to appreciate better what your home town has. Allahabad, for instance, has the feel of a small, tightly-knit community where everyone participates.

People don't just want a mindless flick with a superstar; they want to connect more deeply.

Love doesn't happen in an instant. It creeps up on you and then it turns your life upside down. It colors 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.

Knowledge is not just the preserve of the educated elite. Just because someone has not had a formal education, that does not mean he does not have wisdom and common sense.

It is in the genes of cities to bounce back from disasters - whether natural or man made. The denizens of suburbia have no choice but to survive and move on. But it is the manner in which different cities respond to emergencies that sets them apart.