"Anger is essential if one is to survive this world. It’s not just a degenerate emotion that destroys everything in its path. If it were so completely destructive, why would people of every religion in..."
- Jinat Rehana Begum
"There is no denying it, our past stinks and seeps into our present. Occasionally I get such a potent whiff of history that my mind spins and my stomach lurches."
"So I watch her work and put all her energy, all her force, all herself, all is inside her work. Does she think that this is what life means? She goes to work in the dark and comes home when it’s dark...."
"Your mother wasn’t upset. “Scars stay with you so you don’t forget,” she said. She seemed almost satisfied."
"Sometimes, when you are busy and children ask funny questions, you don’t think so much. You just answer quickly so they will leave you alone. If you don’t answer, they will just keep asking or they wi..."
"I struggle to discover what these silent sons of mine want, but words have always failed me. They are sullen even as they tell me they are okay. I know they are lying but there is nothing I can do."
"The first sound a child hears is very important. It determines character. A Muslim child always hears the Azan first. Words in praise of God. Words to live by."
"Can you lose your inborn talents? Can the gifts you come into this world with be taken away without your even noticing? Maybe it’s my fault for wanting always to stem the fires within me? Perhaps ther..."
"It was a tried and tested remedy. Go home, take two Panadols and fall into a deep dreamless slumber. The next morning awake in a hazy stupor, go through the daily routine and as soon as all obligation..."
"Difficulties were fires. If you kept them in check, you could learn from them. You simply had to know how to fan them the right way."