Nobody wants to be dancing to political songs. Every bit of music out there that’s making it into the mainstream is really about nothing. I wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing. And it kind of worked.

[https://indianexpress.com/profile/columnist/rajendran-narayanan/ Rajendran Narayanan's articles] at

Hey, Rathbone! I was just thinking of a title for my new book. "Roy O'Brannon vs. Little Lord Sissy." Or how about "Roy O'Brannon versus the Man who would be Queen?

[https://m.rediff.com/news/varsha.htm Archive of Articles by Varsha]

Back in the days, when people didn’t have their own home studios, they had to get songs done that day. There was a certain magic in that ‘hurry up and get it done’ kind of thing.

Sometimes I think that what I do must be either idiotic and naïve or courageous. I don’t know which. If there was no threat of violence, that is what you would do. This threat of violence shouldn’t dictate what you are going to write or hinder you in any manner.

I enjoyed talking to her, but thought nothing of her writing. I considered her 'a beautiful little knitter'.

I have now attained the true art of letter-writing, which we are always told, is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth.

Who does the novel belong to? I am writing about a different reality, so I need to shape it to fit my reality. You don’t want to do the same. You don’t want to do the done thing. To take a risk, you still need to be absolutely on the margins. I am doing what I want to do.

Freddie Mercury was - and remains - my biggest influence. The combination of his sarcastic approach to writing lyrics and his 'I don't give a fuck' attitude really inspired my music.”

Such an insinuation is in conformity with [Irfan] Habib's pattern of thinking and writing. He is a patently biased historian.

I wanted just a song to sing, and there came a certain point where I couldn't sing anything. So I had to write what I wanted to sing 'cos nobody else was writing what I wanted to sing.

A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives the right to dream.

One should write not unskilfully in the running hand, be able to sing in a pleasing voice and keep good time to music; and, lastly, a man should not refuse a little wine when pressed upon him.

Writings such as commentaries and annotations exist to assist people in becoming sages, but in fact they close the doors to sagehood.

After "Jammin' In New York", I went from a comedian who wrote his own material to a writer who performed his own material... I became socially conscious, and found I had something to say that wasn't too common.