The Palace of Illusions

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

“A problem becomes a problem only if you believe it to be so. And often others see you as you see yourself.”

The gloomy light played tricks on me: it seemed that there were two figures sitting inside the circle. One of them was the sage. The other—why, he appeared to have an elephant’s head! The cart lurched away before I could point him out to my nurse.

I said, If someone grasps my hand against my will, how does that make me his? I said, I’m the one who decides to whom I belong.

A warrior has the greatest respect for the man who defeats him in battle.” Men! They lived by strange rules.

“Love comes like lightning, and disappears the same way. If you’re lucky, it strikes you right. If not, you’ll spend your life yearning for a man you can’t have.

“Maybe the thought of marrying a blind man disgusted her—but being a princess she couldn’t get out of the match. Maybe she did this so she wouldn’t have to look at him every single day of her life.”

Expectations are like hidden rocks in your path—all they do is trip you up.

And even to her who loved me as she loved no one else, I didn’t dare reveal this dark flower that refused to be uprooted from my heart.