In summers, while growing up in India, we often slept in the courtyard under the stars.

You are just your intelligence.

I stopped thinking about it after trying to figure out what are the lessons learned, and there are so many. After I had basically sorted that out, I figured it's time to really look at the future and not at the past.

The journey matters as much as the goal.

They talk about the American Dream. I still believe in that. I still believe that this is a great country, where great things can happen, where anybody can become president of the United States. Just that simple statement there defines so much about the whole business of liberty and freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

To be honest, I'm like a sponge so my inspiration and influences really can come from anywhere.

The fan mail I get every day is incredible. It piles through the door from not just Britain but everywhere. It is so great to have that support behind me - everyone says I am an inspiration. It is great.

People say, 'You have inspired me, you've given me courage...' They've gone so far as to say, 'You've changed my life!' And I would come back and say to my husband, 'I can't understand it - what kind of poor little life did she have if I had to come and change it?'