Umesh Deshpande

“For the simple reason, Reid,’ said Mr Burnham patiently, ‘that British rule in India could not be sustained without opium—that is all there is to it, and let us not pretend otherwise. You are no doubt aware that in some years, the Company’s annual gains from opium are almost equal to the entire revenue of your own country, the United States? Do you imagine that British rule would be possible in this impoverished land if it were not for this source of wealth? And if we reflect on the benefits that British rule has conferred upon India, does it not follow that opium is this land’s greatest blessing?”
― Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies

“What was love if it wasn't nursing someone else's pain as if it were your own?”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

“One of the most ironic paradoxes of our time is this great availability of leisure that somehow fails to be translated into enjoyment.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

“How do you lose a word? Does it vanish into your memory, like an old toy in a chest, and lie hidden in the cobwebs and dust, waiting to be cleaned out or rediscovered?”
― Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide