How close do you feel to Maya?
Dhillon: Close indeed. Maya and I share many interests, we’ve endured a number of common hardships, and we have both built remarkably better lives by changing our worlds from the inside out - that is, by changing ourselves not trying in vain to change everything and everyone else around us. Some portions of Maya’s story actually coincide with my own life experience. And the two of us are, in turn, very close to and representative of, an entire generation of Asian women that has helped change the world for the better.

How difficult was it to write the book?
Dhillon: In large measure the book wrote itself, if you will, as if I were merely a channel through which the story was told. Yes, I later had to concentrate for days on end as to whether this or that verb would be most appropriate, or whether Chapter Seven bridged properly to Chapter Eight (in other words, I had to painstakingly "organize" the material and refine it), but Maya’s story was one that had a power of its own and had to be told. The initial pages were a flurry of concepts, scenes, and juxtapositions that flowed out of me in only a few days’ writing.

Do you think there might be another book on the way?
Dhillon: Oh yes; it is already well under way, and it will continue Maya’s story to the present. Was has happened in her life most recently is the most intriguing of all, and it all follows her having sown the seeds of life I wrote about in Nectar of the Grateful Victim.

Is the lasting impression that you intend to leave the reader with, hope?
Dhillon: I believe that hope alone is inadequate to face one’s challenges in life... Resolve is more like it, I think, specifically resolve to change oneself for the better.

Do you think the concept of an arranged marriage is something that has yet been somewhat untouched by contemporary literature? Do you believe it to be wholly integral to the plot?
Dhillon: Heavens, no!... to both questions. Information on arranged marriage is readily available in all media, including contemporary literature, and it is easy to find informed and intelligent critique of this age-old system. But arranged marriage per se is not an essential issue within the book; it is simply what happens to Maya, and in her particular case, it leads to great hardship due to the deceit that takes place. In other words, Maya’s story does not condemn the system of arranged marriage, it reveals what can happen at any time and in any place that a human being takes cruel advantage of another person. This kind of injustice unfortunately takes place in every culture upon the face of the earth.

How do you believe the book will be received?
Dhillon: Like most things in life, I believe the book will speak to individuals in very different ways. Some will primarily heed Maya’s intense struggles, and therefore they may take it simply as a tale of one woman’s prolonged woe. Others will likely focus upon Maya’s resilience, and as a result, they might come away inspired to keep "plugging away" at their own problems. Oh, for that matter, I can imagine the book being seen by someone as a snapshot of Indian culture, or perhaps as an anti-authoritarian anthem, or maybe as a rallying cry for womankind to rise up in protest. But none of those are my intention, nor do they embrace the reason I’ve presented Maya’s story. You see, the reception I hope for is that as many readers as possible will be inspired to solve their own personal challenges as did Maya: by making the world a better place from within one's own spirit. As Mahatma Gandhi advised, "Be the change you want to see in the world."