Author of three books—her latest, The House that Spoke was published by Penguin this January…16-year-old Zuni Chopra’s childhood fantasy involved her combing through dense forests or crossing the Antarctic, looking for a great, big adventure. But, “being an explorer meant being frequent close with bugs and that didn’t quite work for me, so then I decided to be a writer. How else could I explore the whole world sitting in my bedroom?”

The House that Spoke is a fantasy novel set in Kashmir. “I wanted to bring out the truth about Kashmir as that is where I originally come from, to show that it is a beautiful place where a fantasy could be set. Of course, you need to take into account its political history, but I am not making a political statement. I don’t think I have gained enough knowledge to make one,” she adds thoughtfully.

Writers Lewis Carroll, Neil Gaiman and J. K. Rowling are Zuni’s heroes—also her guides. She turns to her father, film producer and director Vidhu Vinod Chopra for honest opinions, “He judges me objectively, which I appreciate, because sugarcoating doesn’t make sense, particularly when you are trying to grow.”

Sharing her joy of reading and the wonder that her craft inspires in her, she says: “You can create whole worlds out of words. They are often deeper and memorable, over films, for example.”

This 11th grader is now working on a book of short stories and teaching English—writing and storytelling—to kids at the Maharashtra Mitra Mandal Library, down the road from her Bandra home. “It’s really fun, I’ve made some good friends, and we have a great time.”

   I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.

"Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?" I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.

"Thank you" - two powerful words. They're easy to say and mean so much.

Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy—they’re given after all. Choice can be hard．

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I’d been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most start-ups don’t and I wasn’t sure what to expect. MacKenzie told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I’d been a garage inventor. I’d always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion．

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn’t already have a good job. ” That 1ogic made some sense to me，and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light,it really was a difficult choice, but finally, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.

After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I’m proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choice．