Sarthak Kumar

“Sophie Mol eventually found what she had been looking for.
Presents for her cousins. Triangular towers of Toblerone chocolate (soft and slanting
in the heat). Socks with separate multicolored toes. And two ballpoint pens—the top
halves filled with water in which a cut-out collage of a London streetscape was
suspended. Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. Shops and people. A red doubledecker
bus propelled by an air bubble floated up and down the silent street. There was
something sinister about the absence of noise on the busy ballpoint street.
Sophie Mol put the presents into her go-go bag and went forth into the world. To drive
a hard bargain. To negotiate a friendship.
A friendship that, unfortunately, would be left dangling. Incomplete. Flailing in the air
with no foothold. A friendship that never circled around into a story which is why, far
more quickly than ever should have happened, Sophie Mol became a Memory, while
The Loss of Sophie Mol grew robust and alive. Like a fruit in season. Every season.”
― Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm

“It strikes me that religion—in its essence—seeks to take natural events and ascribe supernatural causes to them. I, however, seek to take supernatural events and find the natural meanings behind them. Perhaps that is the final dividing line between science and religion. Opposite sides of a card.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

“Life before Death.
Strength before Weakness.
Journey before Destination.”
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings