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“I invited you into my home, and you went snooping around my emails?” “Shiba, that’s not the point right now, is it?”
Is it true though lmao
I was surprised, actually, to see that this was where Shiba came from, to see, for instance, the retinue of servants at her disposal. It’s not that our household in Karachi wasn’t also run using the labor of servants, but in Shiba’s home, it was like … I don’t know … a whole protocol thing.
what do you MEAN??? No guys MY servants are the good kind! This is bad and, trust me, entirely different!!!!
I never saw entitlement or snobbery in her before, and the truth is, I didn’t see it now. But I didn’t see embarrassment either—just a very natural easing into her setting, as if she were perfectly comfortable both ways. I tried to follow suit.
You’re so clueless
I didn’t want him to think that I was the kind of person who went snooping through other people’s emails.
Then don’t snoop?
“One must always consider legacy,”
and walked past the kitchen—where Kumar was now bent over the countertop next to the stove, eating his own dinner—
Get the man a table??
David talked about some mind-hacking techniques he’d learned in the IDF.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I imagine, though, that it sounds like peak ignorance and privilege to be feasting poolside while children begged for money on the street just below, but sometimes it felt like this very thing—the chaos and noise, the poverty so close to our faces—that made our retreat into luxury all the more alluring. The rooftop was a haven from the blaring horns and the dying poor just steps away.
Girl WHAT
Maybe I’m just trying to justify the decadence.
Yeah girl that might be it
It’s messy and hard to explain, to reconcile in my own mind, but we all contain multitudes blah blah blah, point is that’s what we would do sometimes: chill in fancy bars and eat chocolate fondue.
Yikes
“To be clear,” Shiba added, “not all Storytellers know exactly what we’re going to do with their bodies.
AND THAT IS NOT BETTER
Society has turned these practices into awful, disgusting acts that need to be hidden away. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”
AND ITS CANNIBALISM??
“What about my consent, huh? What if I’d had a bad reaction and died?”
Or, and hear me out, what if you didn’t want to eat people??
“The truth is,” he continued, “very few people can see beyond their prescribed little boxes of good and bad, wrong and right. To digest an idea yourself—an idea that hasn’t been predigested—very few can do that. Maybe that’s the reason you like to translate. You can transmit ideas, but you’re too scared to come up with your own. Ultimately, you’re afraid of your own insides. That’s why the concept disgusts you so much.”
No it’s because eating people is gross you sicko
“But that’s what I’m trying to explain to you. It’s not inherently disgusting. Our bones and muscles, they carry unimaginable wisdom, immense capability. It’s for that very reason that these practices have been demonized, made to seem primitive, barbaric. But there is nothing inherently revolting about flesh and blood,” Shiba said.
eugh
“Underwater, in fact, over ninety percent of organisms engage in the practice.”
and am I a fish??? NO
“And you said this began here? With indentured laborers?”
Oh my god AND you’re just exploiting the poor 😭😭 I hate rich people
Those are pearls that were his eyes,’” George quoted. “Huh?” “Shakespeare,” he explained.
Don’t bring him into this
“I think that would be nice. For people to know exactly what they’ve signed up for.” “You think people would still do it, if they knew?”
They should be allowed to reject it I’m afraid
And soon, I found that I’d stopped seeing anything wrong with the process at all. Somewhere along the way, I had decided that it was no greater a sin to ingest a human being than it was to ingest, say, a cow. Or, arguably, a melon, which is also a living thing.
ughhhhhh
“I’m sorry. It’s just, ‘Do you know who I am?’ Doesn’t that make you no better than them?”
Dhar man style activism “be nice to minorities because they might secretly be rich/famous/etc”
“I was shocked by the bad treatment. Appalled.” His accent turned more British as he spoke. “Really, how dare they? And some of these people were just off the streets, you know? Lower-class types.”
Yeah hey man poor people shouldn’t be treated badly either
“Of course, those chaps at Oxford never treated me differently. They wouldn’t dream of it.
Like your IDF buddy? Oh sure, he’d never treat anyone less than
He spat on the ground in front of us and then he said ‘bloody p*ki,’ just like that, under his breath—”
Sorry are you censoring it in your own book?? Not to sound like I'm pro-slur but if you don't want to write it in your book then don't write it at all, this is such a corny way to write
Except now, we know better.
God I don’t want to sound victim blamey but you fully flinched and were like haha silly me like idk Was this not consensual??
Nothing in this book is written in a way that makes sense
And I responded to the push by looking up at his face, and he gave me a look that said “please” in such a way that I felt a rush at having power over this man who had seemed all-powerful.
You judging your girlfriend for her boyfriend does look silly now doesn’t it
“Oh. That’s fine. I didn’t do anything wrong, I hope?” “No. Of course not. But I should go.”
You’re gross both of you I just want to be done here
“It’s just about stroking their own … egos. That’s all,” I blubbered.
I can excuse cannibalism and exploiting the poor, but I draw the line at male ego
While I was away, Naima and Azeem had set a date. The wedding was in six months, and she’d sent me the invite that morning.
I don’t like how you don’t tell me certain things until later
It reminds me of the first season of Too Hot To Handle where they fully eliminated someone and for whatever reason decided to edit the episodes in such a way that it wasn't mentioned until well after the fact
“Why, though? Like, why actively pursue it? Why endure the drama if you have a choice in the matter?”
I don’t have words anymore
I thought of Azeem and felt a stirring of resentment toward Naima. I felt like she’d never admit, even to herself, just how much her own choice of partner had to do with the comfort of heteronormative conventionality, of, basically, tick-boxing. And yet here she was advising me to take risks?
Well you are attracted to women and as far as we know she is not so it’s different
“Yeah, first Adam, then Azeem. It’s that stereotype, that women have nothing to talk about but men.”
It’s like your editor said “hey, this reads kind of bad" and instead of changing your actual story you just threw in a clunky bit of dialogue to get ahead of the reviewers' critiques
“Oh my god, get over your fucking swoon. The woman eats eyeballs for breakfast.”
Hilarious quote I must admit
At the same time, David’s passing incited sympathy in me. David, with his shaved head and thick biceps, who held himself, always, very upright. David, who put tahini on everything and always skipped dessert, who roamed around Delhi wearing Fabindia kurtis and had named his son Ravi. David, who, like the rest of the foursome, spent a whole lot of time contemplating legacy.
No way you’re actually trying to convince me to care about this man. Not now, this close to the end, when he did literally nothing. I could barely even remember who he was and now you're telling me to care about his death?
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said and recited the prayer in my head, Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.
Boooooo I actually don't feel bad for the IDF soldier
