Shrivatsan Ragavan

“Hindutva claims to represent indigenous Indian thought opposed to western interpretations of Indian religion, traditions and culture. The claim is that colonial scholarship used its understanding of Indian culture for political purposes to justify colonialism. Yet Hindutva is doing precisely the same by reformulating Hinduism along the lines suggested by colonial interpretations in order to facilitate its use in political mobilization. It uses colonial constructions of the Indian past such as the theories of James Mill and Max Mueller to further its programme of political control. The exploitation of history becomes a significant dimension of its attempt to appropriate the understanding of the past.”
― Romila Thapar, The Past as Present: Forging Contemporary Identities Through History

“I gave my life a real nice show. And then you went away so I could see you as graffiti in a bar just once. A man is stepping on the moon. The earth or your one life is gone. The phone rings in your leaving. Let your black hair, let your black hair get in my way always.”
― Alex Dimitrov, Together and By Ourselves

“Bring me all of your dreams, You dreamers. Bring me all of your Heart melodies That I may wrap them In a blue cloud-cloth Away from the too rough fingers Of the world.”
― Langston Hughes, The Weary Blues

“Stop and consider! life is but a day;
A fragile dewdrop on its perilous way
From a tree's summit; a poor Indian's sleep
While his boat hastens to the monstrous steep
Of Montmorenci. Why so sad a moan?
Life is the rose's hope while yet unblown;
The reading of an ever-changing tale;
The light uplifting of a maiden's veil;
A pigeon tumbling in clear summer air;
A laughing schoolboy, without grief or care,
Riding the springy branches of an elm.”
― John Keats, Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne