Arundhati Roy
I am completely a loner. In my head I want to feel I can be anywhere. There is a sort of recklessness that being a loner allows me. — Arundhati Roy
Category: Indian Culture
Agha Shahid Ali
Yellow island, yellow sun:My struggle beganwith a soft wave,which offered loveon the shore’s terms.Wearing a mask of glares,the white, white sandtouched me with fire. I held myself together,a still breath. 2 It pulls me to itself,the reflection, no, not mine:I know the water’s fidelity, its utter transparence. The seabecomes me like nothingelse: I wear it… Continue reading Agha Shahid Ali
J. Krishnamurti
You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance and write poems and suffer and understand, for all of that is life. — J. Krishnamurti
Rabindranath Tagore
If I call not thee in my prayers, if I keep not thee in my heart—thy love for me still waits for my love. — Rabindranath Tagore, from “iv,” Poetry (December 1912)
Rabindranath Tagore
I dreamt that she sat by my head, tenderly ruffling my hair withher fingers, playing the melody of her touch. I looked at her faceand struggled with my tears, till the agony of unspoken words burstmy sleep like a bubble. I sat up and saw the glow of the Milky Way above my window,like a… Continue reading Rabindranath Tagore
Monica Ali
The thing about getting older is that you don’t need everything to be possible any more, you just need things to be certain. ― Monica Ali, Brick Lane. (Scribner; First Edition edition August 19, 2003)
Alfred D’Souza
For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were… Continue reading Alfred D’Souza
Salman Rushdie
A sigh isn’t just a sigh. We inhale the world and breathe out meaning. While we can. While we can. ― Salman Rushdie, The Moor’s Last Sigh. (Pantheon January 13, 1996)
Jhumpa Lahiri
Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination. — Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First… Continue reading Jhumpa Lahiri
Arundhati Roy
Her collarbones like wings spread from the base of her throat to the ends of her shoulders. A bird held down by skin. — Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things. (Random House April 22, 1997)
The Vale of Soul-Making 