Why would you, an Indian author, think about writing a story involving China and Portugal? Does it have something to do with your frequent visits to China?

My imagination is solely to blame. It has a habit of making up stories that are set in locales to which I can claim no ownership by birth or by adoption, be it Africa or China. There's also this fascination with the unexplored and mysterious that drew me to the story of a Portuguese doctor's quest for a cure for syphilis in 19th century China. While travel writing per se doesn't appeal to me, I am excited by the possibility of extending my mind and emotional hardware across borders of time and place. There's something though to answer for as I've set two of my novels in China, starting with The Opium Clerk.