I truly appreciate the special qualities that America and American national myths offer me. Bharati Mukherjee americaamericanmyth Change image and share on social
In India, there are real consequences to inattention; drivers who jeopardize pedestrians can be lynched on the spot. Bharati Mukherjee consequencedriverinattention Change image and share on social
My mother's rules had to do with feminine deportment, so I never played hard enough to break a toy or muddy my dress. My father's rules had to do with never shaming the family by even a hint of scandal, and not providing business rivals with an opportunity to kidnap me or throw acid in my face. Bharati Mukherjee acidbreakbusiness share on social
The picture of Mother Teresa that I remember from my childhood is of a short, sari-wearing woman scurrying down a red gravel path between manicured lawns. She would have in tow one or two slower-footed, sari-clad young Indian nuns. We thought her a freak. Probably we'd picked up on unvoiced opinions of our Loreto nuns. Bharati Mukherjee childhoodclothefoot share on social
Bengalis love to celebrate their language, their culture, their politics, their fierce attachment to a city that has been famously dying for more than a century. They resent with equal ferocity the reflex stereotyping that labels any civic dysfunction anywhere in the world 'another Calcutta.' Bharati Mukherjee attachmentbengalicalcutta share on social
I'm very moved by chaos theory, and that sense of energy. That quantum physics. We don't really, in Hindu tradition, have a father figure of a God. It's about cosmic energy, a little spark of which is inside every individual as the soul. Bharati Mukherjee chaoscosmicenergy share on social
In Hindu societies, especially overprotected patriarchal families like mine, daughters are not at all desirable. They are trouble. And a mother who, as mine did, has three daughters, no sons, is supposed to go and hang herself, kill herself, because it is such an unlucky kind of motherhood to have. Bharati Mukherjee daughterdesirablefamily share on social