Home > Work > Sugarbread

Sugarbread QUOTES

Sugarbread QUOTES

1 " I knew it was useless praying to my own God because He would not be at the First Christian Girls’ School. He would not even listen to me unless I had my head covered and I was sitting on the carpeted floor of the temple listening to the drone of Punjabi prayers. He did not understand English, which was the only language we were allowed to speak at school. It was the language of my thoughts once I left our flat every morning and stepped onto the school bus. "

― Balli Kaur Jaswal , Sugarbread

2 " The taste and the prickling of tiny bones were bad enough but fish had its own meaning in Ma's world. It was a punishment - not a punishment for me, but Ma's punishment for everything else. The stench of fish; the clumps of blood; the glassy eyes - they were all signs of Ma's frustration. Fish awakened our flat. It made us sit up straight and think about our actions. "

― Balli Kaur Jaswal , Sugarbread

3 " They asked me questions as well. “You say you’re Indian but why do you have fair skin? Why don’t you take Tamil as your Mother Tongue language like the other Indian girls?” I had heard these questions a dozen times. The questions about my last name were not new either. "

― Balli Kaur Jaswal , Sugarbread

4 " Everything overlaps in this city,” Ma said. “Do you see that? Everything merges together.” I did see it. Concrete pavements over grass, flats over hawker centres, Malay food over Indian food over Chinese food over McDonald’s. Leaves pointing towards the sky in every possible shade of green—jade; emerald; a deep sea green; a sickly yellowish-green. Beneath them, spotted branches spread in crooked lines across the sky. Behind them, buildings. Underneath those, the MRT snaked across the city. A city; an island; a state; a country. Everything overlapping. "

― Balli Kaur Jaswal , Sugarbread