The Henna Wars Quotes

“She’s inching forward.
Is there a heterosexual explanation for why she’s inching forward?”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“I've never really thought about having a type. I guess my type is....beautiful girl. Which is a lot of them. Most of them? Pretty much all girls.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“What I want more than anything else in the world is to feel like being myself isn't something that should be hidden and a secret. What I want is for my parents to be outraged that someone betrayed me, not ashamed of my identity.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“This is one of those moments that I want to bottle up and keep with me forever. Not because it's extraordinary, or because it's the kind of thing you would find in a Bollywood movie.

But because it's the kind of moment I could never have dreamed of having in a million years.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“I’m standing for … me. For you. For us, I guess.”

It doesn’t seem like much. But sometimes just being yourself—really, truly yourself—can be the most difficult thing to be”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“What I want more than anything else in the world is to feel like being myself isn’t something that should be hidden and a secret.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“It doesn’t seem like much. But sometimes just being yourself—really, truly yourself—can be the most difficult thing to be.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Because of course Muslims can be gay. How can anyone even think otherwise? The two aren’t mutually exclusive. I am living, breathing proof.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Doctor, teacher, engineer, our Nishat could be anything she wants to be," Abbu says, clapping me on the back proudly. It's the most he's said to me in weeks, but there's a plasticity to his smile, a solemness to his voice. Nishat can be anything she wants to be, except herself.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“I promise to love you the most, no matter what. Even when we’re old and disheveled and dying and you’re somehow more annoying than you already are, I’ll still love you.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“The thought of telling someone about this feels almost as bad as the fact that it happened.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“I feel my stomach drop even though my little crush on Flávia is supposed I have disappeared. I guess it's not that simple to get over someone. I still have a thing for Taylor Swift, after all - even though I hate all of her white feminism nonsense.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“White people like to pretend that race is only as deep as the color of our skin—maybe because the color of their skin gets them so many benefits.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Maybe ... sometimes people don't see the things they do as wrong, but they can see the wrong in what other people do - especially if it's done to someone they care about ... When it happens to someone else, it doesn't feel as important as when it happens to someone we love.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Like everything in the world has fallen away to make space for this moment, for the rhythmic breathing of the two of us, side by side. Despite the cold, the rain, and the damp, the warmth of Flávia’s body is a palpitating thing next to me. The heat of her is stronger than any Irish sun.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Sometimes just being yourself-really, truly yourself-can be the most difficult thing to be.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Flavia might not understand it, but I think I do. After seeing the way they were together, with no inhibitions; that’s the way you are with people you love.
I don’t say any of this to Flavia. Instead, I say, “Family can be difficult. Complicated. I get it.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“It’s not something that happens, Ammu. It’s something I am.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“I love you, Apujan,” she whispers. “And I’m so damn proud of you. I hope you know that.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“I am a little nervous," I admit after a moment's hesitation. Ammu didn't say anything as I left the house this morning, but I noticed she had taken out the jainamaz, or prayer rug, and actually said a few prayers last night.

I can't quite shake the hypocrisy of that--but I guess we're all hypocrites about one thing or the other. I feel like her silence spoke volumes. It always does.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Straight girls do that all the time. That's why being a lesbian is so confusing.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“When matters of the heart are involved, it's difficult to be careful.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Nishat can be anything she wants to be, exept herself.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“I want to ask her a thousand more questions. I want her to give me a blow-by-blow about her conversation with Chyna; I want to know everything. But then Flávia leans in and presses her lips to mine, and I don’t care about any of it anymore.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“It doesn’t seem like much. But sometimes just being yourself —really, truly yourself—can be the most difficult thing to be.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Priti pops into the hallway almost as soon as classes end.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar , The Henna Wars

“Ya Allah, if you are there please please please please please let my parents still love me.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“If you have to think that hard about the last time you prayed to Allah, I don’t think you get to hate gay people on the basis of God.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars

“Nishat, come on. You’re the most self-assured person I know. You’re so . . . you have all of these things you believe in and you don’t bend from them just because it might not be cool or people might not like it about you. You always stand your ground and . . . you’re so into your culture.”
― Adiba Jaigirdar, The Henna Wars