Poornima

“During dinner, the governor, Phani Bhushan Chakraborty, asked Atlee why the British had left India in such a hurry. Atlee replied that the British had left because Subhas Bose's campaign was leading to an uprising in the Indian army and the navy, and that Gandhi had a minimal role in their withdrawal. The governor mentioned this conversation in a book that he wrote later on.”
― Bishwanath Ghosh, Longing, Belonging: An Outsider at Home in Calcutta

“The senses are never satisfied by indulgence. As the fire blazes with an offering, so do the senses get incensed the more by indulgence.”
― Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, Yayati: A Classic Tale of Lust

“she reasoned that the armed struggle and the Tamil cause were bigger than Lingeswari’s life, and that she eventually came around to recognizing that. This was the leap of faith that Prabhakaran asked Sri Lanka’s Tamils to take. The Eelam movement will consume many of your nearest and dearest, he told them, but it will all, once the fighting was over, be entirely worth the sacrifice. Clinging to this belief was the only way in which the violence-ridden universe of the Tigers could make any sense.”
― Samanth Subramanian, This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War

“Shrink the humanity of your enemy, and the fighting must seem easier, more just, less complicated. Warfare consists of several psychological tricks, not least the ones you play upon yourself.”
― Samanth Subramanian, This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War