What Was The Function Of Poetry If

But, Christ, There's A Difference Between Exotic And Foreign, Isn't There? Exotic Means You Know How To Use Your Foreignness, Or You Make Yourself A Little Foreign In Order To Appear Exotic. Real Foreign Is A Little Scary, Believe Me.

I Had Never Walked On The Street Alone When I Was Growing Up In Calcutta, Up To Age 20. I Had Never Handled Money. You Know, There Was Always A Couple Of Bodyguards Behind Me, Who Took Care If I Wanted... I Needed Pencils For School, I Needed A Notebook, They Were The Ones Who Were Taking Out The Money. I Was Constantly Guarded.

There Was No Audience For My Books. The Indians Didn't Regard Me As An Indian And North Americans Couldn't Conceive Of Me Of A North American Writer, Not Being White And Brought Up On Wheat Germ. My Fiction Got Lost.

A Farmer Is Dependent On Too Many Things Outside His Control; It Makes For Modesty.

The Picture Of Mother Teresa That I Remember From My Childhood Is Of A Short, Sari-wearing Woman Scurrying Down A Red Gravel Path Between Manicured Lawns. She Would Have In Tow One Or Two Slower-footed, Sari-clad Young Indian Nuns. We Thought Her A Freak. Probably Wed Picked Up On Unvoiced Opinions Of Our Loreto Nuns.