The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years Quotes

“From the day a girl is born she's told she needs a love story to survive. It's everywhere: in poetry, in music, in films and books. She's told life is worthless without love. She's told she is worthless without love.' She lowers her voice. 'But what no one tells her, what no one talks about, is that it can kill her. That the very thing they say can save her can destroy her. Love is a trap, darling. It lures you in then digs its bony fingers into your chest, breaks open your ribs, and yanks out your bloody, beating heart, and still leaves you alive.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“But the girl has something the others do not: a questionable amount of soul.
And a questionable amount of soul is a dangerous things. It makes people unpredictable, it can send them out in the darkness to seek things that others would never dare. It can keep the flame burning, long after it was supposed to go out.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“How much brighter the stars shine in the sky when you know you are loved.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“But don't you know? The best songs are the sad ones. It's like love—the best love stories are the painful ones," Doctor responds.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“The fact that he could make her memories his own made Sana believe that love was not a thing that always left. Love, to her, was the thing that stayed.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“In love, aside from sipping the wine of timelessness, nothing else exists.
There is no reason for living except for giving one's life.
I say, "First I know you, then I die."
He says, "For the one who knows Me, there is no dying."

It is raining outside and Akbar sits at the desk in the library, reading to Meena Begum, who is lying on a rug and looking up at the glass dome.
"So, jaan, love is to forget yourself," he says as he shuts the volume.
Meena Begum props herself up on her shoulder and turns to him. "Tell me, have you forgot yourself?" she asks.
"Entirely," he says.
"Why?"
"Because we were made for each other before we even met. Our souls found each other on the plains of heaven. I knew it when I saw you."
"Did you not say you fell ill and tried to forget me?"
Akbar smiles. "A foolish effort to fight fate."
Meena Begum's eyes laugh up at him. "You know I do not believe in such things as fate, sir."
"Perhaps you need to read more poetry.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“She turns to look at hum as she tightens her hand in his. Her body moves up against his without her even knowing. Twisting, turning, adjusting her shape into his until from the sky above, the heavens see them as one,. One human being with four legs and four arms, wrapped in unspoken understanding.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“She is on the brink of womanhood and everything feels full and heavy with expectation; there are Discoveries That Are Waiting and Experiences to Be Had, and for a moment she allows herself the pleasure of wondering what a new life will be like”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“She is going Home. It is not really home, but her father says it is because he believes it. He says Home can be many places, even places you haven't been before. He says Home can also be a memory if you return to it enough. Sana wants to know exactly how many times you have to return to make a memory Home and her father says you will know when it happens.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“The end always returns to the beginning; the circle always seeks to be whole, and so when the end comes for Meena Begum, she is remembering the river and the way it runs through the village like a person, like a friend with a laughing face and open arms. She can hear the sound of rain and the way it fills the river like a drumbeat as it carries away twenty-one grams of soul.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“Did we really meet in the heavens before?” I asked Akbar today. “Of course,” he said. “And that is why we recognized each other on earth.” “How come I didn’t recognize you at first?” I asked. “Because you had closed your heart to the Signs,” he said.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“And then she wrote how it changed, how love came in quietly and softened her edges. Even her writing seems to change then; it turns looser and languid, as if everything of her has altered.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“Her body feels alert; everything seems brighter and louder, her flesh constantly burns. She can hear the blood running through her. She smiles more often, her dimples flashing like pebbles in a pond. Her nipples ache. She looks up more often, no longer hiding beneath her lashes. Love is the last thing she expects from life and she certainly does not expect it in this way. It is strange to her that she is capable of such joy, that she responds with such delight to another, as if she were a wick just waiting to catch alight.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“But the girl has something the others do not: a questionable amount of soul. And a questionable amount of soul is a dangerous thing. It makes people unpredictable; it can send them out in the darkness to seek things that others would never dare. It can keep a flame burning, long after it was supposed to go out.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“Sana is quiet. She takes in the moment. She tries to remember what it feels like to hear this, how the morning light passes through the window onto the plants around her. How she can hear the seagulls in the distance. This is how love sounds: it was in that precise moment I knew I would marry her. When one human being recognizes another. She treads in the feeling.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“To see two human beings merge seamlessly into one distinct shape left her breathless. From then on, she has tried to discover how love affects the shape of things. She watched how the faces of the workers on the farm changed when they talked about their loved ones; how a divorced uncle of hers talked about his ex-wife; listens to how her father whistles when he remembers her mother. She sees that the signs of love exist in small and quiet ways, from how people look at each other (or don’t), from the way they speak to each other (or don’t), how they touch each other’s shoulders carelessly or search for someone in a crowded room. She scribbles notes, trying to capture it all.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“You can have everything, everything in this world today, but tomorrow you can have nothing and no one.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“From the day a girl is born she’s told she needs a love story to survive. It’s everywhere: in poetry, in music, in films and books. She’s told life is worthless without love. She’s told she is worthless without love.” She lowers her voice. “But what no one tells her, what no one talks about, is that it can kill her. That the very thing they say can save her can destroy her. Love is a trap, darling. It lures you in then digs its bony fingers into your chest, breaks open your ribs, and yanks out your bloody, beating heart, and still leaves you alive.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“Just then Fancy takes a bite of the biryani and exclaims, “Oh, Bilal, beta. This is delicious. Really. I haven’t tasted food this good in years.” “Really? Even better than Razia Bibi’s?” asks Zuleikha with a wry grin. “Don’t be so ridiculous, Zuleikha,” interrupts Razia Bibi. “How can a man’s food be better than a woman’s, eh?” Just then she dislodges something from her mouth. She inspects it for a moment then shouts, “Aha! Look, elachi,” she says, holding up the offending cardamom seed triumphantly. “Any woman would have removed that before she served the food. Didn’t your wife teach you how to cook properly?” “Oh, I’m sorry—I forgot. Actually, Razia Bibi, my wife didn’t teach me how to cook . . . I sort of learned by myself,” replies Bilal.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“It seemed to her in that precise moment, the moment the man and woman's eyes met in some understanding, two separate people suddenly transformed into one person with one shape and all their ends and trailing edges joined to form a single perfect outline. The woman was the man and the man was the woman and there were no halves, only wholes with no beginnings or endings.
To see two human beings merge seamlessly into one distinct shape left her breathless.
From then on, she has tried to discover how love affects the shape of things.
She watched how the faces of the workers on the farm changed when they talked about their loved ones; how a divorced uncle of hers talked about his ex-wife; listens to how her father whistles when he remembers her mother. She sees that the signs of love exist in small and quiet ways, from how people look at each other (or don't), from the way they speak to each other (or don't), how they touch each other in a crowded room. She scribbles notes, trying to capture it all.
In history class she learns about the Grecian myth of half humans, how human beings originally had four arms, four legs and a single head made of two faces. With such great strength, her teacher had told them, these beings threatened to conquer the gods, To punish humanity for their pride, Zeus split them in half into separate beings.
These halves are said to be in constant search for each other in the world, Sana writes. And that when the two find each other, there is an unspoken understanding between them, they will feel unified and lie with each other in unity for eternity.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“She knew you were afraid of water. She said it was her fault somehow. She told me girls couldn't have weaknesses, that the moment they did, someone would take advantage. A girl has to be strong if she's going to survive in this world, she said. She made me promise I would take you to live by the sea, so that every day when you looked out at the water you would become a little more brave.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“Of course, such places have secrets. Sana knows it. She knows it from the day she enters, even before she enters, such intuition arising with other unknowable knowings, like sensing when a phone will ring or a dog will die, she knows there are all sorts of things to discover.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“The house watches all this with a peculiar kind of horror. It knows that things cannot remain the same forever. It has watched from its high perch how the town below changed over the years. It has seen roads cut through the landscape, buildings erupt, and people multiply.
It knows that nothing can escape change. That the djinn just opened the way for what was always going to happen.
Still, it cannot bear to witness this.
The reopening of history like fingers digging into a wound.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“When he comes home, he is always restless - going hunting, horse riding, or studying new places on the map. He dreams of the seas and of new lands parting through the waters. He takes his dreams seriously and sees them as Signs.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“The garden is better at keeping secrets than the house. Whereas the house has grown stiff and slow and occasionally drops a piece of history from the rafters, the garden is nimble ; it grows and climbs and peers. It is alert enough to ensure it keeps it secrets.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“Your kids abandon you, your husband leaves you, your best friend hates you, and eventually everyone dies. Trust me on this: at the end of the day, all you have is yourself.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“There are things that never see light again.

They scream and bang at their fate, hoping they will be discovered. A forgotten letter beneath a file, an ivory button in a couch, a handprint against a window. These things tremble in rage at their apparent insignificance. Eventually they calm down; they take deep breaths. They resign themselves to their fate and watch time pass.

But they hold on to hope.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“It walked to many places in the world and swam through many seas. It moved among men and watched how they lived and how they fought. Men were the same everywhere—power-hungry creatures always engaged in wars. They smelled bad and were selfish and told lies, especially to themselves.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“When they left for South Africa to work on a farm, she thought they were escaping. She thought, as many of them did, that it was a way out. The new land showed promise: Indian indentured labor had been abolished, opportunities were arising in the growing Indian settlements in Natal and Transvaal, neighbors and friends were all leaving. They said it was better in Africa for them. But her family realized too late, the British were the same whether they were in South Africa or India; their brown skin would always hold the same currency. Her family still lived in poverty, they were punished for their skin color, and they were still answerable to the white man for everything they did.

It was still slavery, just in different packaging.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years

“When the door opens, everything inside huddles together like long-forgotten creatures. The room begins to unlodge its limbs slowly, the spine of it cracking in a rhythmic stutter as it unravels itself and wakes up, adjusts to a time new and unfamiliar.”
― Shubnum Khan, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years