A global writer

Did you start writing your latest novel with an intent?
I decipher the intent only after the book is written. I don't know where the seed of the book comes from ��� it's a mystery. The work grows organically. In retrospect I can see a lot of motivations and reasons for my writing.
So, what's the intent!?
It is the exploration of the moral decay in society and the intersection and collision between our private and public worlds.The novel is about a little boy whose world view is shaped by different messages ��� from his upright parents, extended family and television, which are dissonant and contradictory.
Did you have a specific audience in mind for the book ?
I worry about the audience only after I've written the book. I don't have a geographic or demographic audience. Writing is about my journey and the reader is essentially me!
What are the challenges you face as a diaspora writer?
I see myself as a global writer. I belong to many different worlds at the same time. I have not migrated and become static. I keep moving to different parts of the world and have a strong connection with India. The shrinking of the world in terms of communication helps me to belong to both places ��� India and the US. And today there are a lot of young people who belong to this global citizenship. Our sensibility is different, not like that of the migrants of the 60s ��� a sensibility frozen in time. So, although some issues in my book are uniquely Indian, I think people across the board will relate to the book
How has the global citizenship become possible?
Largely because of faster means of communication which has resulted in the shrinking of time. We are able to communicate across distances and so quickly. What unifies my reader is the internet; it's instantaneous and online and we are all virtually connected.
As a writer exploring human relationships, do you think the young Indian's sexuality is getting redefined?
Yes, it is, especially through the tremendous cultural influence of the media. Also because the internet and the mobile phone give privacy which never existed before. In the Indian joint family for instance, because of limited and common physical spaces, there was no personal space or privacy. But now you have virtual privacy in which you can conduct personal relationships.
You have won several awards including the American Library Association���s Stonewall Award and the NYFA fiction fellowship Award, and you are an artist too. How do you move across mediums?
Writing is cerebral and rational, it is isolating and I live in my head. Visual art is like poetry ��� it is meditative and immediate and I work with a different part of my brain. Visual art gives my life a balance and a fresh lease of life to get back to writing!
What's next?
Another novel which looks at the human condition through the lens of science. Right now I'm researching neuroscience on how we perceive the world. Since I'm not a student of science, the challenge for me is now to stop researching and start writing!