Raj

“Where indeed has that old idealism, that uhuru spirit, gone? The answer is that it didn't last long after he left. That idealism and pride, the hope of independence that some of us remember so wistfully as the heyday of uhuru, was taken to ideological extremes that finally brought us to this state. All this bustle that you see in our capital, the wonderful dollar consumerism, runs on the rails of foreign aid ... That's what became of our pride. We swallowed it, along with all the gifts we received.”
― M.G. Vassanji, The Magic of Saida

“That's the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

“One time you mentioned the loneliness inside of marriage and I did not understand what you were saying. Two people are together; they have come from the same place; they share the same values, the same language. Practically speaking, they are the two halves of one consciousness. They eat the same food; they have a child; they sleep in the same bed, how can they be lonely.”
― Bharati Mukherjee, Desirable Daughters

“Pet names are a persistant remnant of childhood, a reminder that life is not always so serious, so formal, so complicated. They are a reminder, too, that one is not all things to all people.”
― Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake