The opposite of love is not hate. Hate is just love gone bad. The actual opposite of love is apathy. When you don't care a damn as to what happens to the other person.
There is your truth and there is my truth. As for the universal truth, it does not exist.
Creation and destruction are the two ends of the same moment. And everything between the creation and the next destruction is the journey of life.
Nobody is good or bad. They are either strong or weak. Strong people stick to their morals, no matter what the trials and tribulations. Weak people, many a times, do not even realise how low they have fallen.
There are many realities. There are many versions of what may appear obvious. Whatever appears as the unshakeable truth, its exact opposite may also be true in another context. After all, one's reality is but perception, viewed through various prisms of context.
However, weak people never admit that they are responsible for their own state. They always blame either circumstances or others.
Some good can emerge from the most horrific of events. There is something positive hidden in every negative, and something negative in every positive. Life is complicated, and a balanced person can see both sides.
When I was young, I was an academically oriented guy like most academically oriented guys. I graduated in science, did an MBA. My dreams as a young boy were I wanted to be an industrialist, or I wanted to be a scientist.
I believe if you want to convey a complex philosophy, it's advisable to keep it simple: day-to-day lingo.
In the ancient times, bards went around singing the epics, which were storehouses of philosophy.
I was a very happy banker, but I feel happier as an author.
Most educated Indians are bilingual. Amongst the urban elite though, there is a disdain for regional languages. That's unfortunate.
I don't think I'm any competition to the already-existing canon of writers in Kannada. How can I ever even think of comparing myself?
Writing about our gods in English is unnatural, but I believe language is just a carrier - a means to an end.
If you have to write a fictional adventure to convey a philosophy of evil, the best person is the destroyer of evil himself, Lord Shiva.
The good news is that a vast majority of Indians from different religions see no contradiction between religiosity and liberalism, keep India stable. We religious liberals don't talk loudly enough.
I see a sense of unity in the universe. Spirituality is not limited to only one religion. One can experience it across different religions. I am fascinated by philosophy of Advaita and philosophy of unity. We have to get over the illusion that God is different from us.
In the early '90s, I was disillusioned after the blasts and riots in Mumbai. I was in college and started thinking that religion was the root cause of all these evils. While my father told me not to blame religion because of a few bad people, I wasn't convinced. The faith was restored after I started writing my first book.
I'm one of those lucky guys making a living out of something I really enjoy doing. That's a blessing. But you never know. What if my subsequent book series flops? I don't come from a wealthy background, so I'd be left with no choice. I'd have to go back into banking!
As a writer, it's important to stay true to your story without giving a hoot about publishers, critics and readers. You should do your karma as an author the way you want to, and rest is up to God.
