Vikram Chandra · 542 pages
Rating: (2.3K votes)
“Ask him why there are hypocrites in the world.'
'Because it is hard to bear the happiness of others.'
'When are we happy?'
'When we desire nothing and realize that possession is only momentary, and so are forever playing.'
'What is regret?'
'To realize that one has spent one's life worrying about the future.'
'What is sorrow?'
'To long for the past.'
'What is the highest pleasure?'
'To hear a good story.”
― Vikram Chandra, quote from Red Earth and Pouring Rain
“And so I began to read,' Sorkar said. 'And at first the complete works were like a jungle, the language was quicksand. Metaphors turned beneath my feet and became biting snakes, similes fled from my grasp like frightened deer, taking all meaning with them. All was alien, and amidst the hanging, entangling creepers of this foreign grammar, all sound became a cacophany. I feared for myself, for my health and sanity, but then I thought of my purpose, of where I was and who I was, of pain and I pressed on.”
― Vikram Chandra, quote from Red Earth and Pouring Rain
“Then what in your opinion is a good story?'
'What it's always been, monkey,' Ganesha said. 'One dhansu conflict. Some chaka-chak song and dance. Grief. Love. Love for the lover, love for the mother. Love for the land. Comedy. Terror. One tremendous villain whom we must love also. All the elements properly balanced and mixed together, item after item, like a perfect meal with a dance of tastes. There you have it.”
― Vikram Chandra, quote from Red Earth and Pouring Rain
“What could my mother be
to yours? What kin is my father
to yours anyway? And how
did you and I meet ever?
But in love
our hearts have mingled
like red earth and pouring rain.”
― Vikram Chandra, quote from Red Earth and Pouring Rain
“The future is simple. The future is simple, I can hold it i the palm of my hand; and the present is just a matter of endurance, detachment, and a sense of humor.”
― Vikram Chandra, quote from Red Earth and Pouring Rain
“--'There is no completeness; nothing endures, nothing lives; there is only change, unreasoning unreasonable; only birth and death repeating the same story each time, yet different; why?' The voice laughed--'Why you know already; look in your hands.”
― Vikram Chandra, quote from Red Earth and Pouring Rain
Vikram Chandra
Born place: in New Delhi, India
Born date January 1, 1961
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“Carl: Do I happen to see a twinkle in your eye, or do you always look so fantastic Lis?
Lis: Carl dear, the twinkle in my eye is reserved for my husband and children, When are you going to accept that?
Carl: I'll accept it the day the light vanishes and eternal darkness swallows me up along with the rest of the earth.”
― Jussi Adler-Olsen, quote from The Keeper of Lost Causes
“[T]he forget-me-not gray of an eye squinting at an incipient kiss, the placid expression of your ears when you would lift up your hair … how can I reconcile myself to your disappearance, to this gaping hole, into which slides everything—my whole life, wet gravel, objects, and habits—and what tombal railings can prevent me from tumbling, with silent relish, into this abyss? Vertigo of the soul.
from “Ultima Thule”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
“Im not looking for marriage here, Zach. I just want to fuck her until one of us dies.”
― quote from Go Fetch!
“Kafamda bir sessizlik yuvarı büyüyor, genişledikçe genişleyip bütün kafatasımı kaplayarak kocaman, bomboş bir alan yaratıyor. Yavaş ilerleyen bir gerçeklik sızıntısından muzdaribim. Şeylerin sadece sınırlarını görüyorum, özlerini değil, üstelik sınırlar bile belirsizleşiyor artık.”
― Robert Silverberg, quote from Dying Inside
“Words travel as swiftly as desire, so it is possible to send a message of love without them.”
― Laura Esquivel, quote from Swift as Desire
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