By Sujeet Rajan

Q. How much time did it take you to research and write "The Space Between Us"?

The actual writing of the first draft of the novel took less than six months. But the research for it took a lifetime. What I mean by this is that growing up in Bombay, I was always aware of this strange, complicated, emotionally complex relationship between mistress and servant. With the dramatic class differences, with the kind of apartheid that exists in middleclass homes-where servants cannot sit on the furniture they clean, where they have their own separate dishes and glasses etc.-it's a relationship that would be easy to simplify and caricature. But what I wanted to show in the novel was both, the connections and the separations, the intimacy and the distance between women of different classes.

Q. Did the novel evolve?

The novel evolved in the sense that when I started it I had the first line and the last line in my head. I knew that these two lines would act as bookends to the novel. Then it was simply a matter of filling in the story between the two lines.

To be totally honest, I am amazed-and dismayed-at how little I remember about the writing of this novel. It feels like a blur to me, probably because I wrote it so fast I mean, I remember specific moments in the writing of it, particularly this one afternoon when it felt like the writing was pouring out of me. But in terms of, when did I come up with the plot etc., I simply can't recollect the whole process.

Q. What were some of the challenges you faced writing the novel?

The biggest challenge is always the same-getting it right. I have not lived in Bombay in over 23 years. And I have not kept up with the pop culture-who the latest movie stars are, what the hit songs are, etc. So it's a little intimidating to write a book about contemporary India. So what I do is write about things that are timeless-the things that divide and bind people, the eternal, life-affirming presence of the Arabian sea, the incredible instinct for survival and joy that every Bombayite possesses. The journalist in me knows the importance of getting facts and details right. But the novelist in me knows that people turn to literature not for facts but for eternal and universal truths.

Q. Bombay was the setting for your Parsi characters in your debut novel "Bombay Time" and your Memoir "First Darling of the Morning." You revisit the city, with some new Parsi characters in "The Space Between Us." What do you find most fascinating about Mumbai?

I think what I love and admire the most about Bombay is the sheer tenacity of its people. The desire to get up and face another day, even if you're living in the worst of squalor and misery. The rag pickers, the ear wax removers, the old women who make a living selling four cabbages a day. Just the sheer gumption, the creative energy it takes to make a living, to keep a foothold in the city. This is my personal definition of courage and bravery.

Q. Which is your favorite book on Mumbai?

Well, for purely sentimental reasons, I have to say, Rushdie's Midnight's Children. It was the first book I read that had names of streets I recognized, streets that I had actually visited, unlike, say, John Steinbeck's Salinas Valley. It was the first book that captured the nuances of the wonderful, linguistic hodge-podge that is Indian English.

Q. Apart from you, there are some other notable writers and artists from the Parsi community, including Rohington Mistry and Firdaus Kanga. Many films have been made on the community. What do you find most compelling about the community?

When I was a teenager, it was fashionable for us to mock our parents for their obvious pride in their religion. But the older I get and the more I see of the horrors committed in the name of religion, the more respect I have for the faith and its practitioners. It's a peaceful, live-and-let-live religion. I love how Parsis celebrate Diwali and Id and Christmas with the same zest with which they celebrate Navroz. And the fundamental tenet of the religion-Good thoughts, good words, good deeds. How can you go wrong with that?

Q. Despite living in the US since the age of 21, you revisit India for your works. Why?

Well, I often visit India to see my family. But whenever I'm there, I'm also taking mental notes on what the current phrases are, how people are talking these days, what stories they are telling, how much things cost. In other words, I'm trying to observe what has changed since I last lived there. Also, what has not changed.

Q. Do you plan to write a novel based on the expatriate Indian American community in the US?

Funny you should ask. As a matter of fact, I am close to completing another novel, which is set in suburban Ohio and tells the story of this middle-aged Indian woman who has to chose between living in the U.S. with her son or returning to India.

Q. You have been a journalist for around two decades, writing for among others, the Washington Post. Which do you find more challenging writing: journalism, non-fiction or fiction?

All these genres have their own challenges. For me, journalism began to feel too limiting in that I was only reporting someone else's words and ideas. Also, there are certain structural constraints that one faces in journalism, not the least of which is space. Journalism is great at getting the facts and the information across; it's not always good at telling the larger truth.

Put another way, journalism is about the outer world. Fiction is about the inner life-which is so much richer and emotionally engaging.

In that sense, fiction has been really liberating for me. I get to say what I feel and think and believe and there's no editor hovering around telling me to cut it short. And the act of telling stories that illustrate who we are in a moment in time, that talk about human connections, matters of the heart, is something journalism is not terribly equipped to do. Although the great reporters often come close.

Q. Which are some of the authors who have inspired you, and you admire?

I love Virginia Woolf for combining two difficult tasks-creating psychologically complicated characters and then writing about them in beautiful, lyrical language. I love Toni Morrison for the same reason. I love some of Rushdie's earlier novels for their sheer insanity, the pliable use of language.

Q. "The Space Between Us" seems tailor-made for a Bollywood film or a television soap. Did you have an eye on seeing it on screen when you started writing it?

God, no. I wasn't even sure it would find a publisher, much less anything else. In fact, when I'm working on a book, I try very hard not to think in terms of an audience or the realities of publishing. I want to focus on the work itself, to enter it as deeply as I can and make it as emotionally honest as I possibly can. It's really a kind of game of self-deception that I play with myself. And despite your suggestion, I still can't picture it as a Bollywood film. Where would the song sequences come in?

Q. What do you plan to write next, or are writing?

As I mentioned, I'm finishing another book. And once that's done, I want to start on another novel, this time about a seven-year-old child. This one is still percolating.