When you become a consultant to a political party, your views are no longer objective. You do it at a cost.

Parliament's job is to conduct discussions. But many a time, Parliament is used to ignore issues, and in such situations, obstruction of Parliament is in the favour of democracy. Therefore, parliamentary obstruction is not undemocratic.

According to me when former governors join the political mainstream, the whole cause propagated for autonomy of the institutions, itself gets impacted. When they dwell into statements which are politically loaded, rather than during their tenure as a governor, it is far easier to analyse those statements.

A finance minister should have a basic understanding of the country, know where the shoe pinches and, hence, have some compassion in policy formulation. An ability to understand economic issues should certainly be there.

My father was an Episcopal minister, and for 14 years my family lived in China, in a city called Wuchang. We four children spoke Chinese before we spoke English. We left when the communists came, in the early 1930s. I was about 5 years old.

I always say, you never know how much your parents loved you until you have a child to love.

My family had a membership to the Riverside Yacht Club where my brother, Sandy, learned to sail, and I competed in local swim races. My sister, Marcia, became a competitive springboard diver, and my brother excelled in water polo.

My mother was never very famous when I was growing up, so it wasn't so difficult. It was only when I left home and went to university that she become this style icon.