Krishnendu

“The human artist must copy in miniature what the supreme artist [God] has created -- He is the first artist who revealed the power of light, adorned an album with leaves of the universe. Did He adorn the despots as well? The soldiers blinding their prisoners? Which colour and brush had He used to draw the executioners, the spies who lived simply to betray others, the men who stole children to sell as slaves? Bihzad held his hands before his eyes. From his childhood he had been told of the genius of these fingers. He examined them one by one. Of all the paintings they had touched, he couldn't think of one that was free of the lies he had learned as a child. 'He has drawn an imperfect universe,' he whispered to himself. 'Better never to draw than imitate His strange pleasure.”
― Kunal Basu, The Miniaturist

“You must pass your exams and go to college, but do not feel that if you fail, you will be able to do nothing.”
― Ruskin Bond, The Writer on the Hill: The Very Best of Ruskin Bond

“He had kept Bihzad illiterate, so that he would discover his own secrets before he discovered the secrets in books, before words and numbers spoilt his love for glowing images.”
― Kunal Basu, The Miniaturist

“He was seldom alone, but he must have been lonely”
― Ruskin Bond, Voting at Fosterganj