I think when you wear so many hats, be it of a mom or a working woman, you need to feel good and look good as well.
— Twinkle Khanna
I learnt how to make candles when I was a kid. My mom used to make them. Then, when I broke my leg once and couldn't really move around, I started playing around with it... putting the scent inside and dried flowers, and that's it.
Eat carbohydrates: All these protein diets may help you twirl prettily in a size-2 dress, but if you want your mind to take a few marvelous leaps, then you have to give it the food it needs.
I never said I'm not a feminist! I wrote one column where I was being sarcastic, and I called myself a 'wombist'. Now which sane person would say that 'wombist' is a better term than feminist? I was being sarcastic, and perhaps it was my fault in not getting the point across as clearly as I would have liked to. I don't think there's any doubt.
I like crisp words like 'blimey', 'yikes', 'crap' which describe consternation, embarrassment, and sometimes wonderment without making me type so many alphabets.
Today, it's about gender equality, not neutrality. Anyone who doesn't agree would be a bit of an idiot.
I like to see the world from different levels. Even when I'm making a candle or designing a piece, I like to sit on the floor to polish or make it from scratch. I haven't seen really tough times, but my husband has come up the hard way. He has even seen poverty.
When your name is Twinkle, you are a bookworm, and a fat child, then you have to be ready to be made fun of. As a child, I used my fists a lot, but then the tongue seemed like a better option. So I started using words as a sword to jab fun at myself.
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.
Scripts didn't exist during my time in Bollywood, or, at least, I was never given one. I don't want to act at all and am happy in my cave.
Standing in front of our hallway mirror, I am practising a few poses - one leg artfully bent, the opposite shoulder up - when the man of the house strides in and decides to share: a) I look like I have dislocated my shoulder and b) Has anyone ever told me I strongly resemble Tom Cruise?
I just wanted to say that there is so much goodness in the world. We keep looking at the terrible and diabolical things when we open newspapers.
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.
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 don't take too many things too seriously.
I don't need an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. Akshay snores so loudly that I'm usually awake the entire night!
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!
I'm not really as cool and collected as 'Mrs. Funnybones', but she is the woman I want to be.
Relish being an oddball: Well-behaved, well-adjusted people are hopeless storytellers and, honestly, terribly boring.
Read everything you can get your hands on: Programme your mind to read all the time and everywhere - even in the bathroom; skim through the lines printed on the back of shampoo bottles and sanitary napkin packets.
I read science fiction every single day of my life. It's my primary love.
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.
Ultimately, there is no definition for smartness. It's just the ability to do what you want to do really well.
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.
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.
My father was very fond of reading. It was something we did at our home. I don't think it fits the way people think Bollywood works, but that's who we are.
I would have liked to be Birbal in Akbar's court, but a court jester also suits me just fine.
The good part about getting older is you stop trying to prove anything to anyone, including yourself. All you are in the pursuit of is collecting experiences - beautiful, fragile little soap bubbles that you store in your heart, and every once in a while you pull one out and gaze at the delicate pictures it shows you.
My husband has always been my biggest supporter, and my mother has finally joined the cheerleading team now that her friends have been telling her that they like my work as well.
'Mrs Funnybones' is based and structured around my columns, and it's about how a modern woman looks at India and how India looks right back at her. Since I have a weakness for illustrations, there are also a few funny illustrations in there as well.
'Barsaat' was a wonderful experience, but it took a long time in the making, and that got very tedious.
Do people think women from Bollywood aren't smart?
I pretend that I was never in the movies. The only job I had before was selling prawns door to door. That's what I tell myself. My kids have never seen my films. I'm too embarrassed to show them.
My frankness has got me into a lot of trouble. I try to temper it down now. As you get older, you get wiser.
You won't believe it, but my grandfather named me. And the choices were between Sparkle, Sprinkle and Twinkle. So, thank God, they chose Twinkle.
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.
If people see anything I do and the way I live my life, there is no ambiguity about me being a feminist.
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.
I remember joining a boarding school in the sixth grade. I was lazy, complacent, and fat. Suddenly, I realised that I had to fend for myself. That's when I discovered this drive within myself. For the first time, I ranked first in class, which was a miracle in itself. However, it didn't matter to my family.
I was born into the limelight. So, my biggest achievement, which I worked hard for, is to stay normal.
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.
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.
I just became less rebellious with clothes, and today, I can slip into appropriate attire according to what the occasion requires, but off the red carpet, I am not that particular about what I wear, and comfort is my main priority.
Writing is a way of drifting within my own mind: almost a solitary process, so to speak.
To me, a life that doesn't change things and touch people's lives is pretty meaningless.
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.
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.
No one has ever told me that I act badly. It is just that most of the films I did didn't click.
Akshay's idea of a romantic date is a six-kilometre jog, followed by 500 crunches... together! Eeeeks!
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.
