Even in Cambodia, where I find myself until I move on, “Independence Day,” whether India’s or America’s, always excites me … as it did the crowds at the Red Fort on the night of August 14, 1947, and the framers of the American Declaration of Independence. When I was a kid, in the boarding school,…

Why does a writer write? Sometimes for love, sometimes for money, sometimes to impress someone, sometimes for fame, sometimes for revenge and/or justice. A true writer may also desire love, justice, and security (to do the work he/she loves best), but above all, a true writer writes because he can’t help it, because NOT to…

In The Revised Kama Sutra (various editions show some differences), I mention that the ancestors of the Konkanis (my linguistic and cultural group, now settled in Southwestern India) were Aryan invaders. Some years back, I was championed as a “courageous” writer by an Indian-American millionaire with a large following of Indian-Americans, mostly Hindus (if you’re…

Compared to the time I was in New York, catching up with art movies as well as acclaimed regular movies at Lincoln Center, Angelica Theater, and Film Forum, I am badly out of touch with the movie scene. In the last 2 days, however, I have seen three powerful movies, two of which are about…