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1 " They had lived down the road from each other as children. Everyday they walked home from school hand in hand; they were childhood sweethearts, they were bestfriends. And when they came of age, in the time-honoured Sri Lankan tradition they were given in marriage. To other people. "
― Ashok Ferrey , The Good Little Ceylonese Girl
2 " In Sri Lanka, the people you lived amongst, the people you went to school with, the people in whose houses you ate, whose jokes you shared: these were not the people you married. Quite possibly they were not your religion. More to the point they were probably not your caste. This word with its fearsome connotations was never, hardly ever used. But it was ever present: it muddied the waters of Sri Lanka's politics, it perfumed the air of her bed-chambers; it lurked, like a particularly noxious relative, behind the poruwa of every wedding ceremony. It was the c-word. People used its synonym, its acronym, its antonym-indeed any other nym that came to mind - in the vain hope its meaning would somehow go away. It didn't. But if the people you chose to associate with were the very ones you could not marry, then the ones you did marry were quite often people you wouldn't dream of associating with if you had any choice in the matter. "
3 " It was all part of the Eastern system of control and appropriation, Frankie reflected philosophically. The old controlled the young, the educated the uneducated, and as for the rich, well the rich had no doubt at all that they actually owned the poor. "
― Ashok Ferrey , Colpetty People
4 " We're all forced to lead many lives simultaneously. We do it out of necessity, not choice. We don't make a virtue of it. "
5 " When a man marries, he should take a good look at his mother-in-law first, to understand where life will take him. "
6 " This world, I have often thought, would be so much a better place if only we took the trouble to misunderstand our enemies a little, give them the benefit of our doubt. In my short life I have found it never does to look too closely into the minds of people: let their actions speak louder than their words. And their inactions loudest of all. "
