19 Quotes by Meena Kandasamy

I remind myself of the fundamental notion of what it means to be a writer. A writer is the one who controls the narrative.

Violence is not something that advertises itself. It is not written on my face- he is too careful of that, of course, aiming his fists at my body. As long as a woman cannot speak, as long as those to whom she speaks do not listen, the violence is unending.

Sometimes the shame is not the beatings, not the rape.The shaming is in being asked to stand judgment.

Recompose the scene of me. But please don’t choose one of a battered wife – that’s an image that will brand itself on your mind, and the longer you think of it, the more impossible it will become for you to relate to me, to love me naturally. You will then love me like a scar loves a wound and I deserve something more.

nd the more familiar the strange becomes, the more and more strange the familiar appears. That’s how the once-upon-a-time fiery feminist becomes a battered wife. By observing, but not doing anything. By experiencing, but not understanding. By recording but not judging.

You'll not capitilize on your cunt, you will be labouring with your hands."I think the job of a wife comes somewhere in the middle: labouring with my cunt, labouring with my hands. As it stands, I am not sure if I am ready to take on an additional job.

Conversations here follow the same pattern. An endless back-and-forth relay of absolute pointlessness. No question demands an honest answer. A question is asked as an exercise in formal behaviour. Questions that are greetings. Questions that are placeholders. Questions that fill awkward gaps. Questions to suggest an interest that does not exist. Questions that pretend to listen. Never, ever a question that seeks to know.

The problem with thinking up a new and original idea within a novel is that you have to make sure that Kurt Vonnegut did not already think of it.

Lady justice does not serve displaced women.