The Quilt and Other Stories Quotes

“She sat quietly in one corner of the sofa, the end of her sari drawn modestly over her hair. Like the motionless illusion of a madly spinning top, she was staring vacantly into space.”
― Ismat Chughtai, The Quilt and Other Stories

“One did not know when Begum Jaan’s life began — whether it was when she committed the mistake of being born or when she came to the Nawab’s house as his bride, climbed the four-poster bed and started counting her days. Or was it when she watched through the drawing room door the increasing number of firm-calved, supple- waisted boys and delicacies begin to come for them from the kitchen! Begum Jaan would have glimpses of them in their perfumed, flimsy shirts and feel as though she was being raked over burning embers!”
― Ismat Chugtai, लिहाफ

“In winter when I put a quilt over myself its shadows on the wall seem to sway like an elephant.”
― Ismat Chugtai, लिहाफ

“India was operated upon by such clumsy hands and blunt knives that thousands of arteries were left open.”
― Ismat Chughtai, The Quilt and Other Stories