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“In the days that follow, he begins to remember things about Moushumi, images that come to him without warning while he is sitting at his desk at work, or during a meeting, or drifting off to sleep, or standing in the mornings under the shower. They are scenes he has carried within him, buried but intact, scenes he has never thought about or had reason to conjure up until now.”

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Book:The Namesake
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“Gogol remembers having to do the same thing when he was younger, when his grandparents died...He remembers, back then, being bored by it, annoyed at having to observe a ritual no one else he knew followed, in honor of people he had seen only a few times in his life...Now, sitting together at the kitchen table at six-thirty every evening, his father's chair empty, this meatless meal is the only thing that seems to make sense.”

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Author:Jhumpa Lahiri
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“While the astronauts, heroes forever, spent mere hours on the moon, I have remained in this new world for nearly thirty years. I know that my achievement is quite ordinary. I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. 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." (from "The Third and Final Continent")”

KnowsMenWorldYearsFirstsPersonsStillsHomeHoursImaginationRoomsKnownForeverHeroMoonAchievementOrdinaryThirdsFortuneMereFinalsMilesThirtyMealsNew WorldContinentsTraveledMy ImaginationAstronautThirty YearsBewildered
Author:Jhumpa Lahiri
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“He owned an expensive camera that required thought before you pressed the shutter, and I quickly became his favorite subject, round-faced, missing teeth, my thick bangs in need of a trim. They are still the pictures of myself I like best, for they convey that confidence of youth I no longer possess, especially in front of a camera.”

NeedsStillsSubjectsMissingFrontsYouthCamerasRoundsTeethExpensiveThickBangsShuttersPictures Of MyselfFavorite Subject
Author:Jhumpa Lahiri
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“And wasn't it terrible, how much he looked forward to those moments, so much so that sometimes even a ride by himself on the subway was the best part of the day? Wasn't it terrible that after all the work one put into finding a person to spend one's life with, after making a family with that person, even in spite of missing that person...that solitude was what one relished the most, the only thing that, even in fleeting, diminished doses, kept one sane?”

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Author:Jhumpa Lahiri
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“The sky was different, without color, taut and unforgiving. But the water was the most unforgiving thing, nearly black at times, cold enough, I knew, to kill me, violent enough to break me apart. The waves were immense, battering rocky beaches without sand. The farther I went, the more desolate it became, more than any place I'd been, but for this very reason the landscape drew me, claimed me as nothing had in a long time.”

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Author:Jhumpa Lahiri
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“It was not in my nature to be an assertive person. I was used to looking to others for guidance, for influence, sometimes for the most basic cues of life. And yet writing stories is one of the most assertive things a person can do. Fiction is an act of willfulness, a deliberate effort to reconceive, to rearrange, to reconstitute nothing short of reality itself. Even among the most reluctant and doubtful of writers, this willfulness must emerge. Being a writer means taking the leap from listening to saying, "Listen to me."”

WritingMeanPersonsSometimesStoriesRealityUsedCan DoEffortFictionInfluenceListeningGuidanceLeapDeliberateReluctantDoubtfulListen To MeAssertiveWriting StoriesWillfulness
Author:Jhumpa Lahiri
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“You are still young, free.. Do yourself a favor. Before it's too late, without thinking too much about it first, pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it will be too late.”

ThinkingWorldFirstsStillsInspirationMotivationalYoungFreedomInspiringToo MuchSeeingRegretOne DayTravelLateFavorsToo LatePacksPillowBlanketBeing FreeDon't RegretThinking Too MuchBefore It's Too LateNamesake
Author:Jhumpa Lahiri
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