In a sense, that's what she represents, the possibility of fusing pleasure with activism, of making an impact without being self-righteous. "I think it's important to reimagine resistance," she says, "Because in India a lot of people feel you're either Gandhi or you're nothing. And then if you're not Gandhi the government will start off on this business of trying to discredit you. But I'm not dying to suffer. I'm certainly not willing to die for a cause. I'm not looking for any character certification. You know, learn to be happy, because if you're not they'll tire you out."
Over the last few months Roy has been away from her Delhi home, travelling, visiting America and Pakistan. Frightened by the "whole atmosphere of ugliness", the "unspeakable" violence of the Gujarat pogroms, the escalating war against terrorism and the threat of nuclear war, she wanted, she says, "to test the pulse of the world". What she felt surging beneath its skin was "an underground drumbeat of dissent, anger against the decisions governments are making".
She is, she jokes, now part of a global network called SIN, "sweethearts international", a networked world of writers and activists that includes the likes of Noam Chomsky, Howard Zind and Naomi Klein.
Over the last few months Roy has been away from her Delhi home, travelling, visiting America and Pakistan. Frightened by the "whole atmosphere of ugliness", the "unspeakable" violence of the Gujarat pogroms, the escalating war against terrorism and the threat of nuclear war, she wanted, she says, "to test the pulse of the world". What she felt surging beneath its skin was "an underground drumbeat of dissent, anger against the decisions governments are making".
She is, she jokes, now part of a global network called SIN, "sweethearts international", a networked world of writers and activists that includes the likes of Noam Chomsky, Howard Zind and Naomi Klein.