DIKSHA’S FIVE BIG IDEAS

like her writing, her thoughts too reflect her several observations

On sexism

“My grandfather, my mother’s father, was a real feminist. I remember going to their house on weekends and he would go and buy stuff he knew me and my brother loved and came back and prepared it for us. It wasn’t something we all had to put him up on a pedestal for. But of course, we do still live in a sexist society. We see men being praised for tasks that women do everyday. There’s a greater dialogue about it and it’s a larger conversation.”

On writing

“I go from the characters up. I think that’s the crucial thing as a writer— observing and to be able to step away and fade away into the background and watch people. When I meet people, I like hearing the small, minute details about their lives. It sounds silly, but I love hearing what people do all day. I don’t need to hear life-changing traumatic experiences in their lives, I like knowing what time they wake up and what they eat for breakfast.”

On romance

“I like all of it. I like the big statements, but also the more I settle into my marriage, the more I like the evenings where we decide to cancel a dinner reservation and have dinner at home because we’re both working through the evening. He in his studio and me at my writing desk. Those are some of the most tremendous moments to me.”

On being a traveller and a mother

“My brother and I travelled with our parents from a young age; my brother and his wife travel all over with their son (my nephew has the best passport picture I’ve ever seen—you can see my brother holding him up because he was just a few weeks old and too young to sit up unassisted). Travel is a natural part of our lives and I expect to continue it with my daughter now. It isn’t even a conscious decision—travel and moving is just who we (McCleary and Basu) are and who we will continue to be. Now we’ll do it with another, small-sized person in tow—it will be even more fun.”

On home

My birth country is India, my adoptive country is US, and now my country-in-law is New Zealand. No place is home but every place is home. I love them all in such different ways. I hope to be able to continue to do that and have our child do that as well. I want her to be equally at home everywhere—I want her to guzzle languages and cultures and food and feel comfortable all over the world.”