Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava Quartet, #1)

by Roshani Chokshi

Maybe that’s why superheroes wore capes. Maybe they weren’t actually capes at all, but safety blankets, like the one Aru kept at the bottom of her bed and pulled up under her chin before she went to sleep. Maybe superheroes just tied their blankies around their necks so they’d have a little bit of comfort wherever they went. Because honestly? Saving the world was scary. No harm admitting that. (And she could have done with her blankie right about then.)

Aside from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana was the other ancient epic poem that lots of Indians knew. It told the story of Rama, one of the reincarnations of the god Vishnu, who fought a ten-headed demon to rescue his wife. Aru’s mother had collected some art depicting Rama’s adventures, and now Aru recalled an image of a sage sitting on an anthill. She also recalled something else about him: “Wasn’t Valmiki a murderer?” “Well, he started out as one,” said Mini. “Even if you murder only once, you’re still a murderer….”

villains could be heroic, and heroes could do evil. Makes you wonder who the villains really are, her mother used to say. Everyone has a bit of good and bad in them.

Tales are slippery, her mother had often said. The truth of a story depends on who is telling it.

Deign,’” she said. “It means ‘to do something that one considers beneath one’s dignity.’”

It’s like when you have to make a choice you don’t want to make and you feel like you’re reluctant to do it.”

“Ah, yes! Sometimes, when people find a tiny lash on their cheek, they hold it tight, make a wish, and then blow it away. Those unspoken yearnings of the heart always find their way to me. They make my hand soft when I’m pouring a soul into a new form.”