All you who sleep tonight Far from the ones you love, No hand to left or right, An emptiness above-- Know that you aren't alone. The whole world shares your tears, Some for two nights or one, And some for all your years. Vikram Seth More Quotes by Vikram Seth More Quotes From Vikram Seth In spite of all temptations of belonging to many nations, I've remained an Indian. Vikram Seth spite indian temptation And the process of reading is such a private one. I once came into a room where a friend of mine was reading one of my books, and he clicked his tongue impatiently and shooed me off. Vikram Seth reading book rooms Of course, the greater one's need, the greater one's propensity to be mesmerized. Vikram Seth propensity courses needs You get your inspiration - suggestions - wherever you have to, even from your mother. Vikram Seth suggestions inspiration mother I spent many years of my life as an economist and demographer. I was finally distracted by writing my novels and poetry. I'm enormously happy that was the case. I feel that with writing I have found my metier. Vikram Seth found writing years In a painting, you can't make out whether the artist painted the left eye before the right eye. In Chinese calligraphy, you can see the progression of the artist's stroke. Vikram Seth chinese eye artist In general, questions are fine; you can always seize upon the parts of them that interest you and concentrate on answering those. And one has to remember when answering questions that asking questions isn't easy either, and for someone who's quite shy to stand up in an audience to speak takes some courage. Vikram Seth answering-questions asking-questions shy It is exciting to write about the present once one gets beyond the trivia of the moment. As a time to live in, as a time to think about, the present is intriguing. Vikram Seth trivia writing thinking I want my books to sell, to be read. I'm not interested in being obscure. Vikram Seth obscure want book I think goodness is about how person behaves to person, and also person to world, to nature. Vikram Seth goodness world thinking You can talk good ideas out of existence. Vikram Seth good-ideas existence ideas I simply seem to drift. But I sort of allow the drift, because it has a kind of check - it forces me to work harder at what I'm interested in. Vikram Seth checks force kind You know, I can imagine not writing a novel and writing poetry only. Vikram Seth imagine novel writing I tend to follow a scattershot approach to reading a lot of very diverse subjects interest me, and I'm quite happy to read stuff on any of them. Vikram Seth interest reading stuff Quietly they moved down the calm and sacred river that had come down to earth so that its waters might flow over the ashes of those long dead, and that would continue to flow long after the human race had, through hatred and knowledge, burned itself out. Vikram Seth race rivers long Dear though the reader might be, I'd be silly to cater to what the reader wanted. Vikram Seth dear silly might Revision has its own peculiar pleasures and its own peculiar frustrations. The ground rules are already established; the characters already exist. You don't have to bring the characters to life, but you do have to make them more convincing. Vikram Seth frustration peculiar character Boredom provides a stronger inclination to write than anything. Vikram Seth boredom stronger writing All over India, all over the world, as the sun or the shadow of darkness moves from east to west, the call to prayer moves with it, and people kneel down in a wave to pray to God. Five waves each day - one for each namaaz - ripple across the globe from longitude to longitude. The component elements change direction, like iron filings near a magnet - towards the house of God in Mecca. Vikram Seth iron prayer moving There are plenty of good Indian writers in English, and none of us feel we are carrying the burden of being a poster boy. Vikram Seth posters burden boys