If today were the last day of my life, Would I want to do what I'm about to do today? And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Songs should follow the state of mind of the actor on screen. It can be grammatically perfect, you know, with all those embellishments that the ustads are good at, only if you're singing for a film on, say, the life of Tansen.

Searching is half the fun: life is much more manageable when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party.

If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week.

It can never be again! Everyone always talks about a good thing coming to an end, as if life was over. But I'll be 40 when this interview comes out. Paul is 38. Elton John, Bob Dylan - we're all relatively young people. The game isn't over yet. Everyone talks in terms of the last record or the last Beatle concert - but, God willing, there are another 40 years of productivity to go.

When I was young, I was so interested in baseball that my family was afraid I'd waste my life and be a pitcher. Later they were afraid I'd wastemy life and be a poet. They were right.