Saeed quickly found employment at a Banana Republic, where he would sell to urban sophisticates the black turtleneck of the season, in a shop whose name was synonymous with colonial exploitation and the rapacious ruin of the third world. Kiran Desai More Quotes by Kiran Desai More Quotes From Kiran Desai Writing, for me, means humility. It’s a process that involves fear and doubt, especially if you’re writing honestly. Kiran Desai honestyfearwriting The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind. Kiran Desai left-behindchangepast I don't think you can write according to a set of rules and laws; every writer is so different. Kiran Desai lawwritingthinking A journey once begun, has no end Kiran Desai endsjourney Could fulfillment ever be felt as deeply as loss? Romantically she decided that love must surely reside in the gap between desire and fulfillment, in the lack, not the contentment. Love was the ache, the anticipation, the retreat, everything around it but the emotion itself. Kiran Desai contentmentlossdesire I do think that the modern India does belong to writers who are living in India. Kiran Desai modern-indiadoethinking This way of leaving your family for work had condemned them over several generations to have their hearts always in other places, their minds thinking about people elsewhere; they could never be in a single existence at one time. How wonderful it was going to be to have things otherwise. Kiran Desai heartpeoplethinking You lived intensely with others, only to have them disappear overnight, since the shadow class was condemned to movement. The men left for other jobs, towns, got deported, returned home, changed names. Sometimes someone came popping around a corner again, or on the subway then they vanished again. Addresses, phone numbers did not hold. The emptiness Biju felt returned to him over and over, until eventually he made sure not to let friendships sink deep anymore. Kiran Desai homejobsmen Could fulfillment ever be felt as deeply as loss? Kiran Desai fulfillmentfeltloss No fruit dies so vile and offensive a death as the banana. Kiran Desai bananasoffensivefruit Jemu watched his father disappear. He didn't throw the coconut and he didn't cry. Never again would he know love for another human being that wasn't adulterated by another, contradictory emotion. Kiran Desai coconutsemotionfather The Indian diaspora is a wonderful place to write from and I am lucky to be part of it. Kiran Desai diasporaluckywriting When you write on your own, you can write the extremes. No one else is watching and you can really go as far as you need to. Kiran Desai extremeswritingneeds In India, if you are from the elite, dogs are extremely important. The breed of the dog indicates your wealth, that you are westernized. The cook, another human being, is on a much lower level than your dog. You see this all the time. Kiran Desai indiaimportantdog We think of immigration as a Western issue but, of course, it isn't. Kiran Desai issuesimmigrationthinking She'd have to propel herself into the future by whatever means possible or she'd be trapped forever in a place whose times had already passed. Kiran Desai forevermeantravel Slowly, painstakingly, like ants, men would make their paths and civilization and their wars once again, only to have it wash away again. Kiran Desai menwarcivilization But then, how could you have any self-respect knowing that you didn't believe in anything exactly? How did you embrace what was yours if you didn't leave something for it? How did you create a life of meaning and pride? Kiran Desai prideselfbelieve Sadness was so claustrophobic. Kiran Desai sadness When he died, I went about like a ragged crow telling strangers, "My father died, my father died." My indiscretion embarrassed me, but I could not help it. Without my father on his Delhi rooftop, why was I here? Without him there, why should I go back? Without that ache between us, what was I made of? Kiran Desai crowrooftopsfather
