Whole life is a search for beauty. But, when the beauty is found inside, the search ends and a beautiful journey begins.

We may not have sewage, drinking water, and Olympic gold medals, but we do have democracy.

In the white marble hall of the hotel, I’m waltzing with Rajat. The music is a river and we’re dancing in it. It winds against our bodies, muscular as a serpent.

I watched the rows and rows of chappals left by devotees outside the Hindu temple and wondered if the homeless boys who sometimes steal our chickens ever steal them, and if they do, are they...

I wash the clothes, rinse them and then scrub them again. Will that square little box do that? I am not using any fancy machines when my hands will do.

If Allah has willed it that way… He must have better plans for you child…

You put cow dung on my face?’ ‘Every day religiously until you were three. Why else do you think your skin is so clear?

She liked the way a ray of mild autumn sun infiltrating the thick cluster of trees caught a reddish orange leaf swirling in the wind and transformed it golden yellow. She liked that it wasn’t...

But he’s an untouchable, Shirin.’ ‘He’s my Untouchable Prince Charming, then. Only I am allowed to touch him.

She was a sleuth and sleuths had to follow rules. ‘Get to the point; don’t allow the subject to digress’ was one of them

Every family has secrets, Reena, and they’re there for a reason.

Have you been reading those books that clueless illiterate Duja in charge of the lending library lets you borrow?’ ‘No, Ma.’ ‘Then what put you in mind of devils possessing nuns to take over the...

Sometimes, it is easier to leave things as they are, rather than to fight, go against the flow.

You are a girl, Shirin. Girls don’t run around naked.’‘Why?’‘They just don’t.

What better hiding place than an old, woodlice-ridden album of photographs!

There’s a great drought in my village. People are dying. The price of rice and pulses has rocketed. There is no water anywhere. And here, people are complaining about the rain…

You don’t live in luxury! You are relegated to sleep in the little store room behind the kitchen with the cockroaches and rats and are at the mercy of Mrs. Gupta,’ Reena was indignant. ‘It’s...

What am I doing here, Reena? Why am I dancing to the tunes of that old hag?’‘You are saving your family.

It’s beyond your consciousness that your soul lingers with the person you love and hence your mood will affect the one you love. This is the reason why you sometimes sense your mood changing mysteriously...

What wouldn’t my people give for a few bites of the biryani she ordered me to throw away yesterday because she said it smelt?

Where are the coconut trees bowing allegiance to the wind, the wide open spaces, the verdant green fields?