Vaijayanthi Jagannathan

“Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”
― Alexander Pope , The Rape of the Lock

“Unconditional love. That’s what he wants to give her and what he wants from her. People should give without wanting anything in return. All other giving is selfish. But he is being selfish a little, isn’t he, by wanting her to love him in return? He hopes that she loves him in return. Is it possible for a person to love without wanting love back? Is anything so pure? Or is love, by its nature, a reciprocity, like oceans and clouds, an evaporating of seawater and a replenishing of rain?”
― Alan Lightman, Reunion

“If you want to know what God thinks about money just look at the people He gives it to.”
― Alexander Pope

“India has always had a strange way with her conquerors. In defeat, she beckons them in, then slowly seduces, assimilates and transforms them.”
― William Dalrymple, White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India