"No one has called me a bimbo as yet. I wish someone would," she says, careful not to sound too defensive as she sinks into the sofa at the Oberoi, gently resting a shapely leg plastered at the foot for three cracks which she got when she twice went for a toss while trying to make tea at five in the morning in her aunt's kitchen.

No more football then for a while? you ask her. "Oh yes, no more football. Ronaldo taught me, you know, but then I'm not supposed to talk about it," she giggles.

Ms Deshpande is here to talk about an interactive e-novel that she is writing for Firstandsecond.com and Adobe. "It is the world's first interactive e-novel," she says. World's first? Is she sure? No, she is not, but she believes that GBS Bindra of Firstandsecond.com is sure. Mr Bindra is at hand. Is he sure? Mr Bindra is not so sure. Claim stands withdrawn.

But this is, nevertheless, a rare literary exercise with a gorgeous author with a broken foot, some talented writing to her credit and a wacky sense of humour.

What Ms Deshpande has done is to write the first chapter of a thriller called The Motive, which can be read on the Internet at Firstandsecond.com.

Readers are invited to do the second chapter, after which she will do the third and they the fourth and she the fifth and they the sixth and she the seventh and final one.

Does she worry about the loss of privacy, the challenge of writing out there in the open for all to see? Not at all. On the contrary, what she hopes to enjoy is taking the story forward with a world full of options, which will pour in from Timbuctoo to Minneapolis or wherever.

"It is great fun, like being on ICQ, except that is in long hand," says Ms Deshpande.

Publishing is not getting too crassly commercial for her liking either. "What is wrong with being marketed? After all, you have to sell. When I go to an American shopping mall, I see so many things competing for my attention. You have to be noticed if you want to sell."

But surely there is a difference between the hype around instant fiction and the popularity of literature that has endured over the ages? "Oh everyone has done it in one way or the other," says Ms Deshpande. "What do you think Kalidas was doing putting it into the right women in the court so that they would tell the kings to read his poetry?"

The Motive, it is hoped, will savour instant success. There are 200,000 people registered with Firstandsecond.com. Even if half of them access the book while it is being written and when it is finally ready, it would have a readership far in excess of the first edition of any other Indian book.

The idea to do the book was really Mr Bindra's. And Ms Deshpande is more than just the author. She is the brand ambassador for his site as well.

These changing roles do not bother her a bit. "Acting and writing go perfectly well together," she declares. "I'd love to... it is my dream to act in a story I have written." For now she is writing for Mr Bindra's new act.