Why write about the Ramayana or Draupadi?
My wife is the one who suggested it. She is the inspiration. Initially I was resistant – why write such poetry? I did not want to do it in a half-hearted or small way. So it would mean dedicating a significant part of my life to it. But I always liked writing. When I was a child, my illiterate mother would bring the kerosene lamp for me to study and she would stay there while I was reading and writing. She would not allow me to do anything else. In the morning, she would wake me up at 4.45am and I had to study from 5 to 6.30 or 7am. That is how I started writing. Then I continued that way. I never stopped. Even when I was Chief Minister she would sometimes sit quietly when I would write in the morning. And actually, even now, I feel her spirit is somewhere around me. I do not believe in rebirth and so on but somehow I believe she is around. That is why wherever I am, the first thing I do in the day is write. And the morning writing charges me for the rest of the day. It is what gives m
