36
" She loved her daughter so much that she'd give the child whatever the girl desired. One night while they were playing in the garden, the little daughter saw the full moon and wanted it. The mother tried to explain that the moon belongs up there. You can't just pluck it from the sky like you would a fruit from a tree. But like any small child, the girl didn't understand the moon isn't something you possess. She cried and cried. So what could the mother do but give her daughter the moon? She brought a bucket of water, and pointing to the reflection, said, 'Here's your moon, my love.' The little girl, delighted, plunged her arms into the bucket, and for hours she played with her moon, watching it dance and swirl. "
― Vaddey Ratner , In the Shadow of the Banyan
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" I remember my parents fought all the time. They were not angry people but they were always angry around each other, with each other, and, as a child, I always thought it was because they were different from each other and they wanted different things. My mother wanted a life in the city among shops and restaurants. My father was happiest when he was alone, away from everyone and everything. This was what I saw. What I didn't see, and why my father could have told in simple, plain language, was that he and my mother didn't love each other. They never hand, and this not only destroyed them but it destroyed us children, ripped our world asunder and tore us apart. "
― Vaddey Ratner , In the Shadow of the Banyan