16 Quotes by Mathangi Subramanian

Bit by bit, piece by piece, the warehouses stopped being warehouses and started being mandapams: wedding halls for the not-so-rich, the never-will-be-famous.

She thought she would miss it. The power, the possibilities. The bending of time. But here, in this chaos of sisters and mothers and brothers, of families lost and found. Here, in this glorious present, she doesn't miss a thing.

Early on, we girls learn that life owes us nothing, that womanhood is a spectrum of nuisances, heartbreaks and tragedies.

Because in the game of life, there are two teams: adults and children.Sometimes, the children win.

How can she explain to these children, whom she would never begrudge a blossom or two, that in the game of life there are two teams: rich and poor? That she and these children are on one team, and Padma is on the other.

It’s not that I don’t want to be part of something bigger,” Rukshana says to no one in particular. “It’s that I want to be myself first.

So what you’re saying is,” Anand says, “that girls can be bought, but echoes can’t?

The sun slides down the sky, dragging the heat with it. Timid breezes poke their heads up from the depths of Bangalore's dying lakes, pawing at the air and puffing at the sparse remains of clouds. Dulling the edges of the unforgiving day.

They'll tell you secrets keep you safe. They're wrong. Nothing safe ever needs to be hidden. Nothing hidden is every truly safe.