Amish Tripathi

In any industry, the people with the freshest ideas usually come from outside.

I never thought my ideas would actually get published.

Mythology and history are my passion. I grew up in a religious family and learnt about our scriptures and philosophies. It's the language I'm comfortable with.

Creating music is a wonderful way to celebrate our devotion for Lord Shiva.

India is a musical country, so it would appear obvious to use our collective passion for music to promote a book.

No disrespect to any other god, but Shiva's an outsider god. He breaks the rules. He's a brilliant musician, a brilliant dancer; he treats his wife as an equal, and she opposes him many times, but he obsessively loves her.

I'm certainly not surprised by the passion of the youth for our myths. Mythology is almost a part of an Indian's DNA.

If your purpose is to make money, you shouldn't get into writing.

I see everything like a movie. I laugh and cry, I smell, touch, see and describe my own experience. I don't care if this sounds strange; I am not the creator - I am only the channel. The story is given to me.

At the outset, I think that one should be natural, not just when it comes to writing but in every area of life. If you try to be something that you are not just to impress others, then it's a rather sad life.

He has turned my life around by 180 degrees, I still don't understand why Shiva has blessed me so much. I believe he'll bless the worst of us first because we need it the most.

While in some countries there's a feeling that literature must stay away from religion, this is not so in India - in the Indian way, literature is just another means to find a more spiritual life, to find our way to God.