“Instead, their only daughter was only going to Kerala, just a dodgy neighbouring state, doing one of those five-year integrated MA degrees that held no charm, required no intellectual prowess, and did not even further one’s job prospects. ‘Everyone from Kerala comes here to study, but our unique daughter decides to go there. What can I do?’ My father’s intermittent grumbling was amplified by my mother who spoke non-stop about sex-rackets, ganja, alcoholism and foreign tourists, making Kerala – a demure land of lagoons and forty rivers – appear more and more like Goa.”
Source: When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife
“It is important to leave behind a rich and memorable legacy than just accumulated history!”
Source: Dance of the Spirits: A Novel
“കേരളത്തിലെ വലിയ മഹാന്മാരൊക്കെ ബേപ്പൂര് വന്നിട്ടുണ്ട്. ഒന്നുകിൽ മൊയ്തു മൗലവിയെ കാണാൻ; അല്ലെങ്കിൽ ബഷീർക്കാനെ കാണാൻ.”
Source: മാമുക്കോയ [Mamukkoya]
“What is a democratic Central Government to do with a Communist state?’ he asked. ‘What would the
American administration do if California or Wisconsin suddenly – and I admit, somewhat
unexpectedly – turned Communist? And again, how is a Communist government itself to behave with
democratic overlords sitting on its neck?”
Source: India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
“The differences in the life chances of the rich and the poor, men and women, Brahmins and Doms and, for that matter, Keralites and Biharis, Hindus and Muslims across India are so sharp that, until these inequalities are bridged, it is impossible for the nation as a whole to prosper, let alone be a world leader.”
Source: UNEQUAL: Why India Lags Behind Its Neighbours
“Yeah 2 inches is accurate”
“Thus, she begin her own journey. Along the way, she will transform into Unniyachi, the aboriginal mother, into Kanchana Seetha and Sree Kurumba; into Vanadurga, the goddess of the forest, and Jaladurga, the goddess of the water; and into Kali, the primordial power.
She will ride the waves between life and myth into the darkness of stories that are brighter than light.
Through fields of marigolds to the slope of Kannanthalikunnu...
To forest verges where the chempakam blooms...
To screw-pine-scented canal banks...
To riverbanks red with the blood of revolution...
Through it all, Manjadikunnu will keep her company, silently, as the night of stories unfolds.”
Source: Valli
“In Kottayam there were deep undercurrents of local tension that they weren’t aware of. The Marxist government in Kerala was unhappy with the book for what it considered to be unacceptable criticism of the party and its legendary leader, E. M. S. Namboodiri -pad, who was the frst Communist chief minister of Kerala. I was an admirer, but not a devotee. The criticism in The God of Small Things had to do with the party’s attitude to caste. I was denounced as anti- communist (though nothing could be further from the truth) and for a while there was some talk of banning the book.”
Source: Mother Mary Comes to Me
“Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand!… We choose our next world through what we learn in this one…”
Source: JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL
“I am the Duff. But so is everyone else in the world. We're all fucking Duffs.”
Source: The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend