Quotes from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

After that, somehow, I began fixing things in my life. Dr Berger says being close to death will do that, but I'm not sure catalysts of change can be so easily identified.

There will be challenges—which worthwhile endeavor doesn't have them?—but I am prepared. Love will give me strength. Do not worry about me. It will be a grand adventure.

situation in itself," he said, "is neither happy nor unhappy. It's only your response to it that causes your sorrow.

American I too am looking. I thought all my looking was done when I found the spices but then I saw you and now I no longer know. I want to tell him this. I want to believe he'll understand. In my head an echo like a song of stone. A Mistress must carve her own wanting out of her chest, must fill the hollow left behind with the needs of those she serves.

She would learn over the next years that love can feel a lot of different ways, and sometimes it can hurt a lot more.

There was an unexpected freedom in finding out that one wasn't as important as one had always assumed!

Masalah hanya menjadi masalah kalau kau percaya itu masalah. Dan sering orang melihatmu seperti kau melihat dirimu sendiri. -Krishna

again: Let the past go. Be at ease. Allow the future to arrive at its own pace, unfurling its secrets when it will.

Each time I went to a new brother, I'd be a virgin again.

I wasn't ready to let go of my life. How amazing it seemed to me with its victories, its adventures, its moments of glory. Even the shame that had struck like hot iron, branding revenge into my brain, seemed suddenly precious in its uniqueness. I wanted to live it all again—with more wisdom this time!

Pain, which is ultimately only like itself.

in the sixty-four arts that noble ladies must know. I was given lessons in singing, dancing, and playing music. (The lessons were painful, both for my teachers and me, for I was not musically inclined, nor deft on my feet.)

should have remembered how tricky the gods are. How they give what you want with one hand while taking away, with the other, something much more valuable. Yes, fame would come to both the young men, and bards would sing of their exploits oftener than they sang of their fathers'. But when they did so, listeners would turn away to hide their tears.

I didn't realize—until this earthquake, until today—that my withholding was a worse kind of betrayal, a betrayal of the self. It was time for me to change.

Kalau ada yang meraih tanganku melawan kehendakku, bagaimana mungkin itu menjadikan aku miliknya? Akulah yang memutuskan siapa yang memiliki aku." -Panchali

The grandfather dropped his weapons and knelt before him. On his face was a look I could only interpret as hope. "And have you come to set me free finally, Govinda?" he asked.

Tunggu seorang laki-laki membalaskan dendam untukmu, dan kau akan menunggu selamanya. -Srikandi

til which fried in its own oil restores lustre when one has lost interest in life. I will be Tilottama, the essence of til, life-giver, restorer of health and hope.

I'm grateful that we are safe. But it occurs to me that being safe is not very different from being imprisoned.

Dia yakin tentang itu. Bukankah itulah kebenaran? Kekuatan keyakinan seseorang merembes kepada orang-orang di sekitarnya--ke dalam tanah, udara, dan air-- sampai tidak ada yang lainnya." -Krishna

Nehru is good with words, he studied at Harrow and Trinity College. Let us see how the pandit uses the colonizer's language against them, Somnath says.

Bless me that I might be like the Rani of Jhansi, the Queen of Swords," I say. "Bless me that I have the courage to go into battle when necessary, no matter how bleak the situation. Bless me that I may be able to fight for myself and my child, no matter where I am.

Kekuatan laki-laki bisa diibaratkan serudukan sapi jantan, sementara kekuatan perempuan bergerak serong, seperti ular yang mencari mangsa. Kecuali kau gunakan dengan benar, kekuatanmu tidak akan menghasilkan apa yang kau inginkan." -Srikandi

Sometimes—she knows this from her own life—to get to the other side, you must travel through grief. No detours are possible.