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13f4130
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Pain, which is ultimately only like itself.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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cf39f09
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til which fried in its own oil restores lustre when one has lost interest in life. I will be Tilottama, the essence of til, life-giver, restorer of health and hope.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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47dbb0e
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Pain makes us crazy. All we want is to throw the live coal of it as far from us as we can, not thinking what we might set afire.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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a0dbe99
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He who binds to himself a Joy Doth the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the Joy as it flies Lives in Eternity's sunrise.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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b4af8b6
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We had known it would be hard to leave this island of women where on our skin the warm rain fell like pomegranate seeds, where we woke to birdcall and slept to the First Mother's singing, where we swam naked without shame in lakes of blue lotus. To exchange it for the human world whose harshness we remembered. But this?
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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89eeca9
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Now that she no longer cares whether tears blotch her letter, she feels no need to weep.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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17dcf34
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Is the desire for vengeance stronger than the longing to be loved? What evil magic does it possess to draw the human heart so powerfully to it?
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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e17e081
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Bushes would pull in their sharp thorns and burst into flower when I watered them or loosened the earth around their roots. Squirrel-like creatures, their long white hair smooth as silk-thread, would scurry up to take berries from my palm.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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5aaa8c4
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Bela had thought she knew what love felt like, but when she saw Sanjay at the airport after six long months, her heart gave a great, hurtful lurch, as though it were trying to leap out of her body to meet him. This, she thought. This is it. But it was only part of the truth. She would learn over the next years that love can feel a lot of different ways, and sometimes it can hurt a lot more.
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india
indian-american
indian-fiction
divakaruni
immigrant-experience
mothers-and-daughters
novel
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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acf02dc
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Would you like to come in?" I said. My hands were sweaty. Inside my chest an ocean heaved and crashed and heaved again. "I would," he said. I saw his Adam's apple jerk as he swallowed. "Thank you." I was distracted by that thank you. We had moved past the language of formality long ago. It was strange to relearn it with each other."
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fiction
divakaruni
immigrant-experience
immigrant-fiction
indian-authors
love-mothers-and-daughters
indian
women-s-fiction
mothers-and-daughters
novel
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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e248de0
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Ah, how helpless we children are, how dependent on the whims of adults.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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11ac25d
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And if I wasn't able to bar anger, or her insidious cousin, irritation, From my heart, at least some of the time I bit back the sharp comments that I had prided myself on dispensing so freely all these years.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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07bdb14
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A situation in itself," he said, "is neither happy nor unhappy. It's only your response to it that causes your sorrow. But"
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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358cc23
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Sometimes he sang to me, making me smile because he was always slightly off-key, my husband who was so perfect at everything else. For me, that was part of his charm.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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8fa6c26
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When Arjun asked why man found himself driven to wrongdoing in spite of good intentions, Krishna replied, Because of anger and desire, our two direst enemies. How
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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bf0a765
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Good daughters are fortunate lamps, brightening the family's name.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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8809b58
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Weeping is not bad. It clears out the heart, making space in it for growth.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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3b14dc5
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Early in my life, I learned to eavesdrop. I was driven to this ignoble practice because people seldom told me anything worth knowing.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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3e5f002
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Drupad was mystified. He'd had little to do with the Kaurava clan, whose kingdom lay to the northwest, in Hastinapur. From what he'd heard, their blind ruler, Dhritarashtra, was a quiet, careful man.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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2eca067
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She taught me to close myself off from the sorrow of others so that I might survive
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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ec94061
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the confidence of the untested.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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04fe0d3
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Such rulers were adored by the citizens they protected, but often their families had to bear the brunt of sacrifice.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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78cdfdb
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mother?" Yudhisthir asked. "Haven't our scriptures"
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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17c9c59
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Dear Anju, for whom love means that we must want the same thing, always. That we must be the same. She has not yet learned that ultimately each person - even Anjali and Basudha - is distinct, separate. That ultimately we are each alone.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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156e0af
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It's a rare man--and an even rarer ruler--that can remain untouched by jealousy in the face of a peer's sudden prosperity.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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76e4b08
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The force of a person's believing seeps into those around him-- into the very earth and air and water--until there's nothing else.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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2631916
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Endure your challenges.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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397b680
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Mostly their troubles were minor ones, for they followed a healthy lifestyle, waking at sunrise to bathe in the river, then spending long hours in study or prayer, followed by daily chores, simple meals, storytelling
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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4ed59b3
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I was forced to face the truth. Ram no longer cared for me. Or if he did, it was pushed deep down inside him, suffocated by kingship. And since the children came from my body and were subject to the same gossip and doubts, he couldn't afford to care for them either.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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81169e4
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He told me that visions of all he needed to write came to him at the oddest moments, forcing him to abandon other activities and write them down.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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cc3167a
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To return to the peaceful forest, its healing green canopies. To return to the ashram community, where everyone trusts and accepts me,
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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d87a8c1
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Rage rises up in me until my whole body is scorched, for some kinds of burning don't require a fire. Not a word of love, not a word of apology for the sorrow he has caused me. Not a word about the unjust and cruel way in which he sent me away. He hasn't even called me by my name.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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4fc837c
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Anger and self-pity are useless emotions, so I push them away and speak calmly, even though my heart is breaking all over again.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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622688e
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did you think of the impact your actions would have on the women of the city? That men would punish their wives harshly or even discard them for the smallest refractions, saying King Ram did so. Then why shouldn't I?
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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bc75c91
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sometimes one has to drop logic and go with the instinct of the heart, even if it contradicts law.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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fa55caf
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his love was totally different from every other love in my life. Unlike them, it didn't expect me to behave in a certain way. It didn't change into displeasure or anger or even hatred if I didn't comply. It healed me.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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87a5da4
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What enchantment did my betrothed possess that made even enemies forget their ancient rivalries in their desire to make him happy?
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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34c7092
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He'd probably kill us both with the same blow. A little part of my mind said, That's all right. It would be better than living on alone if he killed Ram.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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750f1d6
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be polite and respectful to all and don't take sides.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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96a19b5
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fashion wasn't as important to me as to Urmila. There would be time enough to wear my mother's saris. And in any case Ram's eyes were on me all the time, too.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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dae0710
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Ram wasn't shy about telling me what pleased him, and he asked me what I liked until I overcame my shyness and answered. Bedtime became at once exciting and joyful, a secret gift I looked forward to all day while we went about our separate duties--his as heir-apparent, mine as new bride.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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c3b8165
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How, without detaching ourselves from the spell of the past, can we focus fully on the moment that faces us?
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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186f192
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Haven't you seen how many of them come to the palace each week, just to see us wave to them from the public balcony?
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |
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66a5531
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There's always a connection, a reason because of which people enter your orbit, bristling with dark energy like a meteor intent on collision.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni |