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Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum

Book by Katherine Boo · 4 quotes · Accidents, Bags, Blow

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Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum Quotes

“It seemed to him that in Annawadi, fortunes derived not just from what people did, or how well they did it, but from the accidents and catastrophes they dodged. A decent life was the train that hadn’t hit you, the slumlord you hadn’t offended, the malaria you hadn’t caught.”

“Everyone in Annawadi talks like this: 'Oh, I will make my child a doctor, a lawyer, and he will make us rich'. It's vanity, nothing more. Your little boat goes west and you congratulate yourself, 'what a navigator I am!' And then the wind blows you east.”