But he’s an untouchable, Shirin.’ ‘He’s my Untouchable…

“What am I doing here, Reena? Why am I dancing to the tunes of that old hag?’‘You are saving your family.”

— Renita D'Silva

“I wash the clothes, rinse them and then scrub them again. Will that square little box do that? I am not using any fancy…

— Renita D'Silva

“You don’t live in luxury! You are relegated to sleep in the little store room behind the kitchen with the cockroaches and rats and…

— Renita D'Silva

“Have you been reading those books that clueless illiterate Duja in charge of the lending library lets you borrow?’ ‘No, Ma.’ ‘Then what put…

— Renita D'Silva

“Sometimes, it is easier to leave things as they are, rather than to fight, go against the flow.”

— Renita D'Silva

“What wouldn’t my people give for a few bites of the biryani she ordered me to throw away yesterday because she said it smelt?”

— Renita D'Silva

“I watched the rows and rows of chappals left by devotees outside the Hindu temple and wondered if the homeless boys who sometimes steal…

— Renita D'Silva

“You are a girl, Shirin. Girls don’t run around naked.’‘Why?’‘They just don’t.”

— Renita D'Silva

“Every family has secrets, Reena, and they’re there for a reason.”

— Renita D'Silva

“What use is status if you have no one to share it with, Dad?”

— Renita D'Silva

“Where are the coconut trees bowing allegiance to the wind, the wide open spaces, the verdant green fields?”

— Renita D'Silva

“What better hiding place than an old, woodlice-ridden album of photographs!”

— Renita D'Silva

“She liked the way a ray of mild autumn sun infiltrating the thick cluster of trees caught a reddish orange leaf swirling in the…

— Renita D'Silva

“There’s a great drought in my village. People are dying. The price of rice and pulses has rocketed. There is no water anywhere. And…

— Renita D'Silva

“She was a sleuth and sleuths had to follow rules. ‘Get to the point; don’t allow the subject to digress’ was one of them”

— Renita D'Silva