Aishwarya Dhal

“The same feeling of not belonging, of futility, wherever I go: I pretend interest in what matters nothing to me, I bestir myself mechanically or out of charity, without ever being caught up, without ever being somewhere. What attracts me is elsewhere, and I don’t know where that elsewhere is.”
― Emil M. Cioran, The Trouble With Being Born

“... ageing is nothing to be ashamed of

especially when the entire human race is in it together”
― Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other

“You have to decide who you are and force the world to deal with you, not with its idea of you.”
― James Baldwin

“I'm drenched
in the flood
which has yet to come

I'm tied up
in the prison
that has yet to exist

Not having played
the game of chess
I'm already the checkmate

Not having tasted
a single cup of your wine
I'm already drunk

Not having entered
the battlefield
I'm already wounded and slain

I no longer
know the difference
between image and reality

Like the shadow
I am
and
I am not”
― Jalaluddin Rumi, The Love Poems of Rumi