Durbar Quotes

“In India books are nearly always banned at the request of people who do not read but whose literary sensibilities are easily offended.”
― Tavleen Singh, Durbar

“India is such a huge country with so many problems of her own that the problems of other countries rarely cause concern.”
― Tavleen Singh, Durbar

“Why? Why did India so easily forgive Rajiv for violence that, as prime minister, he was directly responsible for? Why have other leaders, like Narendra Modi, never been forgiven for presiding over similar massacres? I have asked myself this question many times and the only answer I have been able to find is that it was perhaps because Rajiv, for a brief shining moment in Indian history, became for most Indians a living symbol of hope.”
― Tavleen Singh, Durbar

“banality of their own lives to discover the larger canvas of existence with its drama, newness and constantly changing realities.”
― Tavleen Singh, Durbar

“A film called Jai Santoshi Ma about a goddess nobody had heard of till the film came out created a new cult. The film told the story of an unhappy woman who was tortured and starved by her husband’s family while he was away working in some distant city. What keeps her alive in the film is her enduring faith in the goddess Santoshi, for whom she fasts every Friday and practises other austerities. The film became a runaway hit but nobody noticed that this was a new goddess invented in Bollywood.”
― Tavleen Singh, Durbar

“Ai gulcheen-e-ajal tujh se nadani hui, phool voh tora ke gulshan mein veeranee hui.”
― Tavleen Singh, Durbar