Freelance journalist Pierre Freha fell in love with India on his first trip. French Sahib, is his exploration of identity, love and the universal need to connect, told through the heartrending story of Philippe and Dipu. The Guide gets the writer of French-Algerian descent to share his travel experiences in India, and to tell us how freethinking is similar to hypocrisy

How did you conceive the story?
I had returned from India and thought, 'Hmmm... I wish I could be there again.' But I had to stay in France. So I decided to write a story. First came the family tree, with part of the family in India, and the other in France I had the best of both worlds. It felt like paradise, the East and West together! I had the distance and, more than that, love for my characters and what they stand for.

Was the book an immediate fallout of your time in India?
Yes and no. It's not autobiographical. It's a fantasy that incorporates the myriad details and incidents that I observed during my travels in India.