“My words are like Mummy: butterflies trapped inside a net.”

“The president is not at all like the powerful icon I imagined her to be. She’s more like I remember Amma: small and delicate with a sari that dances behind her as she walks. Of course, the president is clad in white, the color that shows eternal mourning of a lost child, while Amma never wore white. She wore reds and oranges and deep greens. Colors of celebration, of happiness. Perhaps she wears white now. Now that I am dead to her.”

“My words are like Mummy: butterflies trapped inside a net.”

“Have to wait my turn.Have to follow the rules.Have to smile like I agree.Have toHave toHave toHave toChoose him.”

“Nani’s allegiance is to her angerandangerruns deeper than blood and skin.It’s set in boneand bone, once broken,neverheals the same.”

“...you see what you wantand you want what you see,but if I have anything to say about it, that willnever beme.”

“We're told to plug our nosesto escape the smells. Manure.Rot.Poverty?Reality.”