Bunny Suraiya, the author of Calcutta Exile, is a newspaper columnist. Her first short story was published by Khushwant Singh in the Illustrated Weekly. She lives in Gurgaon with her husband Jug Suraiya and her dog Mili.
a:10:{i:0;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:40:"Describe your favourite writing space?
";s:6:"answer";s:233:"My home office, sitting with my back to the window, stolidly facing a blank wall, with a proper keyboard and optical mouse plugged into my laptop. A gently breathing and occasionally snuffling dog lying on the rug behind me helps.
";}i:1;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:33:"Do you have a writing schedule?
";s:6:"answer";s:107:"I like to write only in the mornings. The fact that my morning starts at 11 am is particularly enjoyable.
";}i:2;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:39:"Ever struggled with writer’s block?
";s:6:"answer";s:47:"Not since I gave up writing advertising copy!
";}i:3;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:86:"What inspires you to write? Do you have a secret trick, or a book/author that helps?
";s:6:"answer";s:182:"The fear of an imminent deadline, say for an article or a review, is a powerful inspiration. For my novel, no inspiration was needed. I couldn’t wait to sit down to it every day.
";}i:4;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:69:"Coffee/tea/cigarettes — numbers please — while you are writing?
";s:6:"answer";s:278:"I’m afraid this is a really boring answer: no coffee, tea, cigarettes or anything else. I don’t drink the first two, except for a cup of organic Indian tulsi-ginger tea when I wake up, and gave up smoking 10 years ago. I resent stopping work for anything until lunch time.
";}i:5;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:41:"Which books are you reading at present?
";s:6:"answer";s:109:"Lijia Zhang’s Socialism is Great, Stephen Hunter’s Master Sniper and V.S. Naipaul’s Area of Darkness.
";}i:6;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:33:"Who are your favourite authors?
";s:6:"answer";s:146:"Tough question. Alexander McCall Smith, Jane Austen, Philippa Gregory, Robert B. Parker, P.D. James, Chaim Potok, Ken Follett… too many, really.";}i:7;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:61:"Which book/author should be banned on grounds of bad taste?
";s:6:"answer";s:157:"None. I don’t believe in bans. I think if an author is really awful, readers will refuse to read him/her, leading to an automatic market-driven “ban”. ";}i:8;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:35:"Which is the most under-rated book?";s:6:"answer";s:231:"The Young Visiters (sic) by Daisy Ashford, written when she was just nine years old, and The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith. Both these books are wonderful, absolute gems, but few people have even heard of them. ";}i:9;a:2:{s:8:"question";s:46:"Which are your favourite children’s books?
";s:6:"answer";s:125:"The Harry Potter series. I’m a complete Potter-maniac. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series comes a close second.
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