Strong women, when respected, make the whole society stronger. One must be careful with such rapid changes, though, and make an effort to preserve, at the same time, the positive traditions of Indian culture. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
To achieve important things, we have to sacrifice what’s important to us. That’s an idea that’s very central to Indian thinking. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The ancient world is always accessible, no matter what culture you come from. I remember when I was growing up in India and I read the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey.’ – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I have a variety of readers from across the diasporic community, not just from South Asia. I like to write large stories that include all of us – about common and cohesive experiences which bring together many immigrants, their culture shocks, transformations, concepts of home and self in a new land. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I write best late at night, when everyone in the house has gone to bed. There’s something magical about that late night silence that appeals to me. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I hate it when people throw away food – I’ve seen too many hungry people. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
A kshatriya woman’s highest purpose in life is to support the warriors in her life: her father, brother, husband and sons. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I have no particular reader in mind, but a passionate desire to tell an honest, moving story. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I work very hard at creating complex characters, a mix of positives and negatives. They are all flawed. I believe flaws are almost universal, and they help us understand, sympathise and, paradoxically, feel closer to such characters. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I show women growing, changing, becoming stronger in many kinds of situations. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Two great and terrible truths of war are these: War is easy to enter into, but difficult to end. And ultimately, in war there are no winners. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I came from a traditional family, and it was an exciting but challenging transition to move to America and live on my own. The world around me was suddenly so different. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I want my books to force readers to recognise the fact that a woman is a human being just like them. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
One of the things that I am learning is that each generation will have its own negotiations with identity. And one generation can not necessarily help the other generation with it. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
It’s very important to balance things; it’s imperative to do something for the society, and women in particular, and help women who aren’t in position to help themselves. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
When I was volunteering with Hurricane Katrina refugees in Houston in 2005, I first started thinking about the whole phenomenon of grace under pressure. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I wrote ‘Mistress of Spices’ at an unusual time when I had a near-death experience after the birth of my second son. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
With the strong women I write about, I want to create a sense of strong possibilities. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I think, we all learned that when we are afraid it’s easy to want to blame, and the people we want to blame are the people who don’t look like us. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I think writers from both East and West have long been fascinated by the ancient tales and the opportunity to reinterpret them. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Dissolving differences has always been an important motive for my writing, right from ‘The Mistress of Spices.’ – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I came to the plain fields of Ohio with pictures painted by Hollywood movies and the works of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. None of them had much to say, if at all, about Dayton, Ohio. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I’m too careful with money – comes out of being poor for several years while growing up. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I feel I can express the nuances of the Bengali lifestyle and ways of thinking better than other cultures. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
I realise that a novel and a film are different mediums. As artistes, we need to respect other artistes. It also needs a lot of courage to take risks to experiment and interpret known literary works. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Perhaps what distinguishes my characters is their courage and spirit and a certain stubbornness which enables them to keep going even when facing a setback. I think this developed organically as I wrote, but also it came out of a desire to portray women as powerful and intelligent forces in the world. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
It’s different for different people, and for a woman it’s important to look as good she wants to look. But you don’t need to do it for someone else or to impress some male out there. You do it for your own sake. You wear what makes you feel good, you put make-up and jewellery – whatever gives you self-confidence. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
America is a country formed by diverse communities from different countries. Overall, the country is very hospitable and gives opportunities to grow. Saying that, I’d also say I’m not a ‘white’ immigrant; a South Asian’s experience is different than, say, a European immigrant’s. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
It is an Englishman who turns out to be the real villain of ‘The Moonstone.’ By contrast, the three Indian priests who dedicate their lives to returning the jewel to its proper home in the temple, though they have nothing personal to gain by doing so, are positively heroic. – Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni