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I grew up in Mumbai.

It is much easier to learn another language when you are young, enthusiastic and unembarrassed.

I love being in Mumbai and want to continue being here.

I have stayed in south India all my life. English comes more naturally to me than Hindi.

It's not so much what you learn about Mumbai, it's what you learn about yourself, really. It's a funny old hippie thing, but it's true as well. You find out a lot about yourself and your tolerance, and about your inclusiveness.

Mumbai is like Manhattan. There's a certain pace, a social life and the thrill of a professional life.

Mumbai's infectious. Once you start living in Mumbai, working in Mumbai, I don't think you can live anywhere else.

The fact is I like Mumbai less and less. My son says, 'Baba, let's go for a drive', and I tell him, 'Where's the fun of a drive in this place?' You get caught in a million traffic jams, and you spend time cooped in your car with all that mad cacophony around you.

I've never been in any country for more than four years, and I'm learning different languages all the time. It gives you a different attitude.

I grew up, as many Indians do, in an archipelago of tongues. My maternal grandfather, who was a surgeon in the city of Madras, was fluent in at least four languages and used each of them daily.