A Great Deal Of What Is Presumed

When I'm Engaged In A Story My Health Is Not A Big Deal, But When I'm Not Doing Anything, If You Sit Me Down, I Can Get Tied Up In My Own Medical Dramas. So I Much Prefer To Work.

We Often Have An Exaggerated Sense Of What Nonprofits And Governments Are Doing To Help The Poor, But The Really Inspiring Thing Is How Much The Poor Are Doing To Help Themselves.

Rich Indians Typically Tried To Work Around A Dysfunctional Government. Private Security Was Hired, City Water Was Filtered, Private School Tuitions Were Paid. Such Choices Had Evolved Over The Years Into A Principle: The Best Government Is The One That Gets Out Of The Way. The Attacks On The Taj And The Oberoi, In Which Executives And Socialites Died, Had Served As A Blunt Correction. The Wealthy Now Saw That Their Security Could Not Be Requisitioned Privately. They Were Dependent On The Same Public Safety System That Ill Served The Poor.

When I Pick A Story, I'm Very Much Aware Of The Larger Issues That It's Illuminating. But One Of The Things That I, As A Writer, Feel Strongly About Is That Nobody Is Representative. That's Just Narrative Nonsense. People May Be Part Of A Larger Story Or Structure Or Institution, But They're Still People. Making Them Representative Loses Sight Of That. Which Is Why A Lot Of Writing About Low-income People Makes Them Into Saints, Perfect In Their Suffering.

I've Said It Before And I'll Say It Again: Never Trust Anyone Who Tells You How People Come To Trust Them.