My childhood and adolescence were filled with visiting scientists from both India and abroad, many of whom would stay with us. A life of science struck me as being both interesting and particularly international in its character.

Governments and scientists in India need to ensure that politics and religious ideology do not intrude into science. They belong to separate spheres, and if they are not kept separate, it is science in India and the country as a whole that will suffer.

People go into science out of curiosity, not to win awards. But scientists are human and have ambitions.

Nobody has approached me about an offer to work in India. However, I can categorically state that if they did so, I would refuse immediately.

Science is an international enterprise where discoveries in one part of the world are useful in other parts.

If I were to take an undergraduate chemistry exam, I would probably fail.