Normally, I just sit in my quiet little room and do the small things that bring me pleasures. I read my books, I answer email, I write a little bit.
I'm a firm believer of the venture capitalist-style approach to solving problems. Rather than doing many small things that you hope add up, it's much more effective to work on projects that are high risk and high reward.
When I decided to write 'The God of Small Things', I had been working in cinema. It was almost a decision to downshift from there. I thought that 300 people would read it. But it created a platform of trust.
People can talk about how much they care about you, but the small things like this, people taking time out of their day to come and support, it's amazing.
For a real New India to arise, all petty and small things must be given up. To be redeemed, all Indians must offer to sacrifice not only their good things, but all those evil things they cling to blindly - their hates and their divisions, their pride in what they should be thoroughly ashamed of, their quarrels and misunderstandings.
Those small things, like giving a hug to man, I try to avoid it. Because I can see the situation is coming, and I try to prepare. But I remember the first time I did it, I was 16, and I was at the gymnasium, and it was a cosmopolitan thing, an international thing, a modern thing, but I never felt at ease with it at all.
After one has been in prison, it is the small things that one appreciates: being able to take a walk whenever one wants, going into a shop and buying a newspaper, speaking or choosing to remain silent. The simple act of being able to control one's person.
I think each one of us should try and do small things on Diwali so that those who are not as privileged as we are can also have a good festival.
You can do things in every part of the world. You can do things in every discipline. You can do large things, you can do small things. But it takes a while to figure out what you actually want to do. And it changes. As you change your interests and desires in philanthropy change, I think you have to be open to that change.
It's through the small things that we develop our moral imagination, so that we can understand the sufferings of others.
You've got to be able to go out there and do the small things. I went to Villanova, and I didn't start my freshman year until the last two games of the season. And I think that continuously not being 'The Man' helped me as an individual be able to say, 'Listen, what else do you need me to do?'
I like to jot down ideas on the back of envelopes and to recognise the potential value in small things. I also like the freedom to think without feeling compelled to write too early. Stories are often better if we can hold back and get to know the characters and the sounds of language.
The first thing I tell clients is get off the couch! Just start making some small lifestyle changes such as walking to work instead of driving or taking the stairs instead of the lift. The small things you can change all add up.
The more of my readers I encounter who say, often apologetically, that they are actually listeners, the more I write for the ear rather than the eye. Small things like identifying speakers in dialogue rather than relying on paragraphing to mark the shifts.
If you normally go quiet when you get angry, you may not relate to a character that reacts very differently. But if you see someone internalising the anger like you do, you will immediately identify with him or her. It's these small things that penetrate your psyche and make you relate at a deeper level.