Nikki

“Most of all, I am exhausted from being different. You've never had to live in a place where you're different, where you are the "other".”
― Shankari Chandran, Song of the Sun God

“Be cautious then, young ladies; be wary how you engage. Be shy of loving frankly; never tell all you feel, or (a better way still), feel very little. See the consequences of being prematurely honest and confiding, and mistrust yourselves and everybody. Get yourselves married as they do in France, where the lawyers are the bridesmaids and confidantes. At any rate, never have any feelings which may make you uncomfortable, or make any promises which you cannot at any required moment command and withdraw. That is the way to get on, and be respected, and have a virtuous character in Vanity Fair.”
― William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

“They had once dug the earth for yams and planted seeds and prayed for rain. Now they dug for life and planted the dead and prayed for the end.”
― Shankari Chandran, Song of the Sun God

“Sonia, shy by nature, had been quite aware of her own social vulnerability; she knew that anyone could insult her and get away with it. And yet until that very moment she had thought she might somehow avoid trouble by being careful and meek and humble to everybody. Her disillusionment was more than she could bear.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment