Indian Wisdom

“The Indian audience is getting exposed to world cinema and realising the power of unique plots and distinct characters.”

“When you learn Indian classical music, sometimes it takes decades to perfect a raga.”

“The only real connection I have with Indian fans is through Twitter, where I try to answer as many questions as I can, or if they write anything nice, I do try and let them know if - that I liked it. I do get a bunch of people from India tweeting to me.”

“Each of us must find a way to give back to society. Each of us must choose one thing we can do to help another, less-fortunate Indian.”

“In a lot of Indian societies, spirituality has been lost, I think it's still the best way of looking at the world for Indians - better than any organized religion in this country.”

“On the fourth day of July following, a party of about two hundred Indians attacked Boonsborough, killed one man, and wounded two.”

“O, I do read Indian novels sometimes. But you know, Ms Rupinder, what we Indians want in literature, at least the kind written in English, is not literature at all, but flattery. We want to see ourselves depicted as soulful, sensitive, profound, valorous, wounded, tolerant and funny beings. All that Jhumpa Lahiri stuff. But the truth is, we are absolutely nothing of that kind. What are we, then, Ms Rupinder? We are animals of the jungle, who will eat our neighbour's children in five minutes, and our own in ten. Keep this in mind before you do any business in this country.”

“I hope in my lifetime we will get to see an Indian superhero for sure.”

“Respect and humility go together. Humility is not meekness, but the opposite of arrogance. A wise old Indian man once said, "Empty drums make the loudest noise." Grandfather often repeated this phrase to indicate that those with the least understanding are the most arrogant.”

“People listen to The Beatles, but while they were muscially influential, they weren't culturally influential in quite the same way. You can go into the back of beyond in a little Indian village, and they will listen to Bob Marley. But they're not going to be listening to The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.”

“I am a secular rationalist Nationalist proud Indian who is inconvenient to both Hindu and Muslim communalists.”

“I don't really focus on these things - on what tags are given to me or what people think of me off the field - stuff like that. My main focus is always to do well on the field for the Indian cricket team. When people say good things about me off the field, I am more than happy to accept them.”

“I like my role in 'Akira,' which is a remake of a south Indian film. I play the role of a pregnant cop like the original. So, since it's the role of a pregnant cop, luckily I didn't have to do any stunts.”

“I am an absolute lover of Indian food.”

“Every time you are on a tour you miss Indian food.”

“It's okay, it's cool to be Indian and there are cool people that are Indian and doing really well. It's okay to be brown and cool.”

“When I tell a foreign audience that 90 per cent of Indian women have no access to sanitary napkin, there is a visible disbelief. But there is hardly a ripple when I say the same thing to an Indian crowd.”

“Indians are numerous in the tropical regions; not so elsewhere.”

“When I was in school, sport was given utmost importance. I think it's fantastic for character building, for team playing, and I think it's a great profile for a nation. One in every six people on Earth is an Indian, and I look forward to the day when we can compete with the heavyweights of the sporting world and do well in the medal tally.”

“The Indians seemed to be living in a place and in a way that was of immense importance to me. So I associate learning to read - English, oddly enough - with wanting to know about Indians. I'm still growing into it. I've never outgrown that.”