“Every week we get washed, crisp linen.
I said, ‘This I cannot get on my own anywhere.
So I better stay here.”
– Habiba Ali, a Pakistani-American woman who has
spent 28 years in Hotel Wales in New
York City. (The New York Times)
“The first time I had dosa I was
seven, and I was like, ‘Whoa!’ Then I
tried to make my mom make it, but she
wasn’t really good at it.”
–Himanshu
“Heems” Suri of Das Racist, one
of six musicians who appear in
Amrit Singh’s documentary short
Dosa Hunt — tagline: “The Greatest Hunt for South
Indian Food in NYC Ever Committed to Film!” (New York Magazine)
“The mind of an engineer, the ethics of
a scientist, the soul of a poet and the skill of
an academic—these are the attributes of a
developed person. My goals, my obligations,
and my dreams are the manifestation of a
sophisticated man.”
– The words of 18-year-old Harsha
Maddula, printed on a program at his funeral in New
York. The 18-year-old pre-med student drowned in a
harbor beside the campus of Northwestern University
in Illinois. (Newsday)
“In my days we were not allowed to use
a calculator. We used to calculate six digit
figures. And we had to get them right in the
first attempt itself!”
–M.J. Vijayaraghavan, an 80-year-old auditor in Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu, whose father, M.S. Jagannathan,
was also an auditor. (The Hindu)
“We felt that when there are
10 of you who are considered crazy
it’s a lot easier.”
–Naina Lal, co-founder of Runner Girls
India, a support network for
women runners in India. (WSJ.com)
“One day the Mumbai Gladiators will be worth more than
the New York Yankees.”
– Richard Whalen, CEO of the Elite
Football League of India, an eight-team American football
league whose inaugural season is currently being
televised. (Time)
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? Please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]