Secret Daughter Quotes
"Her eyes fill again with tears, and she shakes her head until they spill out."
"A nurse enters the room, smiling. 'Time for your pain meds.'"
"Somer feels a familiar pang in her chest."
"The expressions of concern from other people trickled off a few weeks after her miscarriage."
"Kavita knew, along with her daughter, she is forsaking any hope of helping her along the path of life."
"Everyone acts as if being a woman and a mother are inextricably intertwined."
"She feels Jasu firmly pulling her up by the shoulders and pushing her down the hallway toward the front door."
"It’s everything. The names she runs through as she lies in bed at night."
"She prays she will be a good mother to her son, prays she has enough maternal love left in her heart for him."
"Kavita watches Rupa speak to the old woman, but all she can hear is the ringing sound in her ears."
"Somer tries to recall what he just said."
"For the first time in a very long time, Somer feels a lightness in her chest."
"For a moment, she is struck with the disturbing thought that everything in her son’s life might be bittersweet for her."
"A quiet knock at the door rouses Somer from sleep."
"Ah, bed tea, one of the great pleasures of Indian living. You should try it sometime."
"Somer feels panic rise in her throat as she pushes through the crowd."
"These men are pathetic. How can Kris be from here?"
"What the hell were you thinking bringing meat into this house?"
"Is there nothing that’s off-limits here? Any corner of our lives that isn’t subject to intrusions by your family or servants?"
"This man—or two men, I’m not sure—they touched me, on the boardwalk."
"You should not have gone without one of us, for your own safety."
"On the flight back from India, Somer and Kris take turns staying awake to watch Asha as she sleeps."
"Nature already deemed she couldn’t be a mother, and now she wonders if they made a mistake."
"Kavita feels stifled by this city, throbbing with its people and activity and noise."
"Each day, Kavita carefully irons and folds the saris and returns them to the cupboard."
"Good morning, would you like chai, Sahib Sir?"
"The whole concoction is as smooth and white as hospital bedsheets, and about as appealing."
"Going back to his homeland had tipped the scales for him."
"Kavita and Vijay follow him. The small, windowless room is nearly bare."
"For as long as he can remember, there have been minor transgressions and major feuds erupting among his big clan."
"This is a waste of time. Don’t you see? Where does this get us, Ma?"
"In the midst of this mad place where she has only been once before, this city bursting with over ten million people, Kavita tries to make some sense."
"She sees her fear percolate into resentment toward all of them."
"She feels her fear percolate into resentment toward all of them—Manish, Jasu, and Vijay—for the anger they spray around like petrol, turning the landscape of her life into scorched earth."
"Asha can never bring herself to write in pen, either ballpoint or felt-tip. The permanency of it makes her uneasy, the way there’s no going back once something has been written."
"Kids as young as ten years old, working twelve hours a day in factories instead of going to a swanky school like this."
"We have an obligation to pursue the truth. Isn’t that the whole point of journalism? Are you saying we should censor ourselves?"
"I want to hang out with my friends, I want to go to parties and be a normal teenager. Why can’t you understand that?"
"You don’t care what’s important to me. I love working on the paper, and I’m good at it."
"It’s just not fair. I’ve spent sixteen years not knowing, sixteen years asking questions nobody can answer."
"She’s just worried about you, honey. She’s your mother. It’s her job."
"The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between."
"This place draws people like a magnet. It has the best and worst of everything India has to offer."
"It’s a five-star pile of contradictions, isn’t it?"
"You can’t protect her forever, Somer. She’s practically an adult."
"It wasn’t bravery so much, just chance we were there."
"Everyone else knows where they come from, but I have no idea."
"What do you think of our fine country? It’s a five-star pile of contradictions, isn’t it?"
"A five-star pile of contradictions, indeed."
"No matter. It’s done now. I hope it didn’t ruin the evening."
"No one speaks for several minutes. Finally, Asha looks up, her face streaked with tears."
"Asha, let’s discuss this when you come by my office—tomorrow, lunchtime."
"You can just call everyone Auntie-Uncle, Bhai-Ben."
"It’s getting harder now, with so many boys and not enough girls."
"The whole family is so excited to see you."
"We are attending a big wedding this weekend. The Rajaj girl is getting married. You’ve heard of the Rajaj family? They make nearly every auto-rickshaw and motor scooter in all of India. Anyway, it will be a lovely time, and I’ve asked Priya to come this afternoon to take you to Kala Niketan to choose something to wear." - Dadima to Asha
"I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s the perfect time to go. Asha’s there, her first trip, my whole family’s there. I haven’t been in nearly a decade. You haven’t been in…God knows how long. Why wouldn’t we go now, Somer?" - Krishnan to Somer
"Your daughter is as strong-minded as you are, perhaps even more so." - Dadima to Krishnan
"I will do anything you need, anything. Sweep floors? Clean toilets?" - Desperate man seeking a job at the factory
"You are seeing India for the first time at twenty, beti. What do you think of her?" - Dadima to Asha
"I was curious when I was younger, and then I tried to put it out of my mind. I thought it was a childish dream I would grow out of. But being here in India has brought it all back up again." - Asha about wanting to find her birth parents
"You can’t forsake your past, Asha. It’s a part of you. Trust me." - Krishnan to Asha
"Come if you want. Or don’t. Maybe it’s better that way." - Krishnan to Somer about going to India
"I thought you were worried about her, I thought you’d want to keep an eye on her." - Krishnan to Somer about visiting Asha in India
"You’re so lucky. I would love to get married in a sari. For a white girl from Kansas like me, it’s all very exciting." - Sundari to Somer
"Each new yoga pose she tried was a challenge, not only in the stretching and the twisting, but also because she had to get to know her body again, which muscles were tight, which joints inflexible."
"It was fear that kept Somer from letting her go, but by holding too tight she’d produced the opposite effect. She had driven Asha away."
"I wonder why we don’t all do that," Dadima mutters to herself as she pins Asha’s sari.
"In doing so, Somer learned to reclaim the body she felt had betrayed her so many years earlier."
"It’s as if time stands still in this inner sanctum of the temple, with no windows to the outside and the pandit’s rhythmic chanting carrying her on its waves to the past."
"And now it is her turn. Asha feels the lump rising in her throat and nods her agreement."
"Her tears flow again. Her parents haven’t been longing for her. They don’t miss her. They just discarded her."
"You see courage. Resilience. The strength of human spirit."
"He holds on to her as if it is necessary to his survival."
"Her place was with her family, and now she knew this in the deepest part of her being."
"Beta, we have some paperwork to take care of at the bank,"
"That’s okay. I’ve been trying to reach you. It’s good news, Somer. Biopsy results came back negative. It’s a benign cyst. You’re clear."
"You want to come to the Times with me today? I can show you."
"Your daughter is quite a talent. I look forward to seeing what she does next."
"Life is always changing on us, presenting us with new lessons."
"She is a journalist, at least she was when she came here."