Small Things Start Us In New Ways

I Became Very Interested In The Islamic Question, And Thought I Would Try To Understand It From The Roots, Ask Very Simple Questions And Somehow Make A Narrative Of That Discovery.

I Read A Piece Of Writing And Within A Paragraph Or Two I Know Whether It Is By A Woman Or Not.

I Came To London. It Had Become The Center Of My World And I Had Worked Hard To Come To It. And I Was Lost.

We Made No Inquiries About India Or About The Families People Had Left Behind. When Our Ways Of Thinking Had Changed, And We Wished To Know, It Was Too Late. I Know Nothing Of The People On My Father's Side; I Know Only That Some Of Them Came From Nepal

I Wish My Prose To Be Transparent—i Don't Want The Reader To Stumble Over Me; I Want Him To Look Through What I'm Saying To What I'm Describing. I Don't Want Him Ever To Say, Oh, Goodness, How Nicely Written This Is. That Would Be A Failure.