Dams are the temples
Dams are the temples of secular India and almost worshipped. They are huge, wet cement flags that wave in our minds. They’re the symbol of nationalism to many. Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
I can’t be a
I can’t be a part of the large convoy because it’s not a choice that you can make. The fact that I’m an educated person means that I can’t be on that convoy. I don’t want to be on it. I don’t want to be a victim. I don’t want to disappear into the darkness. … Read more
My writing is translated
My writing is translated into every Indian language, it’s distributed in pamphlets, in little private video things, it’s everywhere. So it’s a lovely pastime for the middle class to think of itself as the whole nation. Arundhati Roy
It was a grand
It was a grand old house, the Ayemenem House, but aloof-looking. As though it had little to do with the people who lived in it. Like an old man with rheumy eyes watching children play, seeing only transience in their shrill elation and their whole-hearted commitment to life. Arundhati Roy
The strange thing about
The strange thing about Roman soldiers in the comics was the amount of trouble they took over their armor and their helmets, and then, after all that, they left their legs bare. It didn’t make any sense at all. Weatherwise or otherwise. Arundhati Roy
If you look at
If you look at the history of the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller, in Latin America, in Indonesia, where almost a million people, mainly Communists, were killed by General Suharto, who was backed by the CIA, in South Africa, in the US Civil Rights Movement – or even now, it’s very disturbing. They have always worked … Read more
Stable markets, unstable world.
Stable markets, unstable world. Efficiency. Everybody hears about it. It’s enough to make you want to be pro-inefficiency and pro-corruption. Arundhati Roy
When she looked at
When she looked at herself in her wedding photographs, Ammu felt the woman that looked back at her was someone else. A foolish jewelled bride. Her silk sunset-coloured sari shot with gold. Rings on every finger. White dots of sandalwood paste over her arched eye-brows. Looking at herself like this, Ammu’s soft mouth would twist … Read more
Have we raised the
Have we raised the threshold of horror so high that nothing short of a nuclear strike qualifies as a ‘real’ war? Are we to spend the rest of our lives in this state of high alert with guns pointed at each other’s heads and fingers trembling on the trigger? Arundhati Roy
Humbling was a nice
Humbling was a nice word, Rahel thought. Humbling along without a care in the world Arundhati Roy