Chiki Sarkar edited 'Mrs Funnybones,' and she is a ruthless but kind editor to work with. The only lesson I learnt during this process was to say, 'Yes, Prime Minister,' and re-write.
Sometimes kids want a hamburger, but I'll fill it up with a quinoa tikki. We eat makhana instead of popcorn; we even take it to the movie theater! I also mash up a lot of vegetables and put it in the aata, so they don't realise they are eating vegetables.
Do people think women from Bollywood aren't smart?
Strangely enough, I don't mention my sister too much in my columns because she nags me and says, 'Don't make me look foolish. Don't write nonsense about me. Don't make jokes about me.'
I don't take too many things too seriously.
Walk, run, cycle - When you live inside your head for such long periods of time, you have to open the windows, air it out a bit, let sunlight stream into all the dark and dusty corners of your mind.
I've had my nose in a book my whole life. I never thought it would be useful, but it is now. What's really nice is that I don't have a photographic memory, so words get blurred, thoughts get mixed up, and they come out as something new.
While growing u,p I was the fattest girl in the class, and my name was Twinkle, so if I didn't learn to laugh at myself, then I was going nowhere.
I have never had a facial in my life. I use a facewash, a sunblock, and then I am set, with some kohl pencil around my eyes.
I'm a different person who's not my father or my mother. I want to be treated differently from them. I am myself, Twinkle Khanna. I am proud of being the daughter of such illustrious parents, but I would not like to be compared with them time and again.
I read science fiction every single day of my life. It's my primary love.
By the time I was in my teens, I was reading science fiction. I had this maternal uncle who had cartons of books. It's important to read because you have to fill your head with words.
My father believed in astrology. His astrologer had predicted that his daughter would become a writer someday. My father would nag me, but I didn't write a word till he passed away. I wish he could see me now.
There are 146 countries above us where the men have longer lifespans, and the biggest blow is that even with four wives who don't fast for them, the Arab men outlive our good old Indian dudes.
I don't really read non-fiction, but I have grown up on a steady diet of Wodehouse and, of course, science fiction.
People feel feminists are aggressive, men-hating women with a little moustache. I think it's got a bad reputation because when feminism came into being, we were facing so much opposition that we had to be strident and aggressive.
I grew up in a bustling household of women with my mom, granny, and aunts. Seeing all these strong women taking charge of their lives and living it to the fullest was a great inspiration while growing up.
Sometimes I do give in to a scoop of sitaphal ice cream from Naturals or a chocolate chip cookie.
For all the oddballs and misfits out there, eventually, if you just follow your path, you will reach somewhere no one else has. You are uniquely meant to do something that only you can do.
To me, a life that doesn't change things and touch people's lives is pretty meaningless.
I'm just a normal girl. People have these preconceived notions about what movie stars are about and how we've grown up. My mother is pretty regular and raised us just like anyone else.
'Barsaat' was a wonderful experience, but it took a long time in the making, and that got very tedious.
Writing is a way of drifting within my own mind: almost a solitary process, so to speak.
Sometimes I am glad I am not a philosopher - how would I ever complete a single chain of thought when someone is constantly asking me to do something? I don't think Plato would have been able to write his dialogues if he had a wife who kept bugging him to pass the pita bread.
I have always been immersed in a world filled with words, earlier as a reader and now, finally, as both a reader and a writer.
Naming me 'Twinkle' was a foolproof way of making sure that I would get teased throughout my life, have immigration officers at various airports stare at my passport and shake with hysterical laughter, and strangers stalk me with WhatsApp messages like, 'Twinkle, Twinkle, little star, I hope you get hit by a car!'
I'm not really as cool and collected as 'Mrs. Funnybones', but she is the woman I want to be.
Once, I went to the premiere of a film, and the producer asked me if I liked it. I said it's crap. But I don't say that anymore. Now I say I have to think about it. If you ever hear me say that, you know the answer!
There was never a game plan to be on social media. Like most things in life, if you work consistently and at your pace, then things fall into place.
We grow up, and we need to confront a society to be fit in.
To me, it felt that if I give up my name, I am also sending a message to my children, saying my name was not important enough as your father's; I am not as important as your father. That is a message we are passing down generation after generation without realising.
The editor of a newspaper, who is an old friend, asked me to write a column. According to her, I cracked lame jokes all the time and read voraciously.
After sitting for two to three hours at a stretch, my feet just swell up. So I try to walk as much as I can.
It is only through reading that one can understand how people are smarter than you and what they have left behind for you.
My granny was always mourning about the fact I wear dull, stained jeans or don't brush my hair.
I am not a performing seal. In your writing, you are tapping into the part that is 'the best' in you. But what you are also filters through in your writing your prejudices, your bitterness. I am not a pretentious person.
My fashion cues come from my work, not the ramps of the world. I just keep working with so much colour, texture and structure, it rubs off!
I am into the candle business, have a home store, The White Window, and interior designing is my primary occupation, though writing now seems to have become better known.
Now that I look back, all the things that I was teased about, became game changers and my strengths. That's what we have to learn as mothers. We push our children so much to be perfect, but it's their imperfections that make them unique.
Today, it's about gender equality, not neutrality. Anyone who doesn't agree would be a bit of an idiot.
I like crisp words like 'blimey', 'yikes', 'crap' which describe consternation, embarrassment, and sometimes wonderment without making me type so many alphabets.
Some people are diplomatic, some people are outspoken, but the next generation is very clear. People are speaking their mind out. People are worried about other things besides their own careers. It's not accurate to say that they don't speak out.
I still remember, when I got my fees for 'Barsaat,' I ran into a car showroom and purchased a Maruti Esteem. I treasure that car more than anything else in the world.
Was it my lifelong ambition to be in the movie business? No.
I love Twitter. Here, I get pieces of information quickly, and I also get myriad viewpoints rather than a one-sided view from a particular newspaper. Here, I have got a topic and 11 viewpoints, and I can judge for myself.
I think you have to be pragmatic to the approach of life and brutally honest with yourself. We all are here to do something, and it is important to understand our potential first.
My frankness has got me into a lot of trouble. I try to temper it down now. As you get older, you get wiser.
No one has ever told me that I act badly. It is just that most of the films I did didn't click.
If people see anything I do and the way I live my life, there is no ambiguity about me being a feminist.
