My Favourite Quotations

Presenting some of my favourite quotations from some of my favourite authors which I find really relevant in this world,

“One can be in love with several people at the same time, feel the sorrow with each, and not betray any of them.” 

- Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

“What do you think? I'm not a starfish or a pepper tree. I'm a living, breathing human being. Of course I've been in love.” 

- Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

“He was still too young to know that the heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good, and that thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burden of the past.” 

- Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

“But when a woman decides to sleep with a man, there is no wall she will not scale, no fortress she will not destroy, no moral consideration she will not ignore at its very root: there is no God worth worrying about.” 

- Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

“So that's how we live our lives. No matter how deep and fatal the loss, no matter how important the thing that's stolen from us--that's snatched right out of our hands--even if we are left completely changed, with only the outer layer of skin from before, we continue to play out our lives this way, in silence. We draw ever nearer to the end of our allotted span of time, bidding it farewell as it trails off behind. Repeating, often adroitly, the endless deeds of the everyday. Leaving behind a feeling of immeasurable emptiness.” 

- Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart

“I discovered that my obsession for having each thing in the right place, each subject at the right time, each word in the right style, was not the well-deserved reward of an ordered mind but just the opposite: a complete system of pretense invented by me to hide the disorder of my nature. I discovered that I am not disciplined out of virtue but as a reaction to my negligence, that I appear generous in order to conceal my meanness, that I pass myself off as prudent because I am evil-minded, that I am conciliatory in order not to succumb to my repressed rage, that I am punctual only to hide how little I care about other people’s time. I learned, in short, that love is not a condition of the spirit but a sign of the zodiac.” 

- Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Memories of My Melancholy Whores

“Nobody likes being alone that much. I don't go out of my way to make friends, that's all. It just leads to disappointment. ” 

- Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

The "State" of Tamil Eelam

The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently visited my current sanctuary (Madhya Pradesh) to lay the foundation stone of Sanchi Buddhist and Indic Studies University on the invitation of M.P government.

Ironic , isn't it ?

The same person who has on his hands blood of thousands of Tamils killed during the so-called elimination of LTTE , laying foundation stone of a Buddhist university , the religion based on non-violence and peace. 

And on the top of it, he preaches "I think the message of tolerance and understanding is of great relevance today, as we see the tragic results of enmity and hatred towards other faiths leading to violence and destruction, and great loss to societies." Coming from a mass murderer seems more like Hypocrisy though. 

Not only responsible for killing of about 80,000-100,000 tamils ,gravely injuring thousands of Tamils in the shelling on civil areas (As per a UN Team which visited the affected areas, one can even find Tamil children having shrapnel wounds), now even when the so called War is over, Rajapaksa has kept lakhs of tamils in detention camps away from their homes under the guise of  "welfare villages" , citing the reason that army is clearing the areas for mines. A ploy to deliberately settle Sinhalese in Tamil dominated areas.

Meanwhile,a UN panel has found “credible allegations” of war crimes committed during the final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war. On the basis of which, if proven, those most responsible, including Sri Lanka Army commanders and senior government officials, as well as military and civilian LTTE leaders, would bear criminal liability for international crimes.

Agreed that the LTTE was not exactly a peaceful organization but the cause which they supported was not at all wrong. For years, Tamils in Singhalese dominated Sri Lanka have faced rampant discrimation and for decades have been treated as second grade citizens.That racism has a long history of social ostracism, economic blockades, pogroms and torture.The Sinhala only act has assured that there are no tamil government officials. Civil Services in Sri Lanka are almost entirely Sinhalese.

And what has India done ? Besides shamelessly providing aid to Sri Lanka's army, lately It has voted against Sri Lanka in the US-sponsored resolution at the UNHRC on alleged war crimes. Seems just Lip service to me. Though the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi created an environment against LTTE in India but now with LTTE almost gone, it is India's duty to come to the aid of poor Tamils in Sri Lanka who have only suffered humiliation for decades in the hands of majority Sinhalese.

It is high time that India along with the western powers and UN put pressure on Sri Lanka for an Independent Tamil Eelam which is a very valid demand after all. The humiliation of millions of Tamils can only be ended this way. 

When East Timor and South Sudan can be found then why not an independent Eelam ?