I would actually like to begin though with something that you only allude to and it's

not really a central part of your book but I would like to hear just a little bit more

about the sort of Hindu sensibility and culture in which you grew up and you know how much

of that part of your identity you think affected your desire to explore the legacy of the

Buddha.

Can you just say something about that?

Well I grew up in what would be normally called a Hindu family but you know because

Hinduism is such a flexible religion if it is a religion at all I mean it's more a way

of life and it includes all kinds of fates and beliefs and practices and so we certainly

and I mean me and my siblings we never actually were under any pressure to conform to any

set of ritual or any God particular God that we wanted to worship or anything.

I mean my parents worshiped a whole range of admired a whole range of gods and divinities.

So I think if anything there was anything I sort of particularly picked up from this

upbringing of mine it was perhaps a larger acceptance of all kinds of things and not a particular

allegiance to any one tradition or some sort of monolithic faith which perhaps helped

me you know in my curiosity I could go into these areas without thinking that I have to

be loyal to a particular set of ideas and I have to compare those sets of ideas to what

I'm encountering in these other religions.

So I could go into for instance Buddhism with you know I suppose slightly clearer mind

and a slightly you know blank as slate then people coming from you know more monolithic

traditions like Christianity or Islam.

So that way it was you know I suppose helpful to be part of this particular tradition but

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