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1 " An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” Papa said. He had said those words before. They were Gandhiji’s words. Now I knew what they meant. So a Hindu family kills a Muslim family, who kills a Hindu family, who kills a Muslim family. It would never end unless someone ended it. But who was going to do that? "
― Veera Hiranandani , The Night Diary
2 " It feels scary to talk, because once the words are out, you can’t put them back in. But if you write words and they don’t come out the way you want them to, you can erase them and start over. "
3 " When you divide people, they take sides. "
4 " Sometimes the world as you know it just decides to become something else. "
5 " I needed all the feelings to stop boiling like a pot of dal and be cool enough for me to taste them. "
6 " Sometimes the sadness about you being gone comes and finds me after not being there for a while. Something makes me think about you and then I get sad for a long time. "
7 " I used to think of people by their names and what they looked like, or what they did. Sahil sells pakoras on the corner. Now I look at him and think Sikh. My teacher, Sir Habib, is now my Muslim teacher. My friend Sabeen is happy and talks a lot. Now she’s my Muslim friend. Papa’s friend, Dr. Ahmed, is now a Muslim doctor. I think of everyone I know and try to remember if they are Hindu or Muslim or Sikh and who has to go and who can stay. "
8 " You can't split us. You can't split love. "
9 " Making food always brings people together" -Kazi "
10 " Kazi tells me stories about you once in a while. I hardly ask him to tell me about you, though, because I’m afraid that the stories might run out. I want to save them, like a treat. "
11 " It took a lot of energy to ask that question. I wished he had answered it. I don’t know when I’ll be able to ask it again. "
12 " It's just that some people are better at being than others "
13 " I don’t ask many questions, so it would be fairer if he answered the few I ask. He should be more appreciative. I could be like Amil and ask a question every five seconds, but he doesn’t answer many of those either. "
14 " I had never wondered about being safe before. I just thought I was. "
15 " Do we have to take a side?” I asked. “I think it’s safer. That way you know who your enemy is,” Amil said, and crossed his arms tightly over his chest. “But if we don’t take a side, then we don’t have any enemies.” “I don’t think it works that way,” Amil said. "
16 " He misses the time he had with you. I miss the time I didn’t have. "
17 " Why don’t they want me to see what I already know now—that the world is broken. "
18 " Were we just at the mercy of leaders who couldn't agree? "
19 " I could tell he was trying to shake off his feelings. He didn't like to be angry. I loved that about him, that he really wanted to be happy. "
20 " It feels like we’re really in a story now. I’ve heard about stories like these, about people who flee their homes in a war with nothing but the clothes and food on their backs. Now that’s who we are, even though there’s not a war here, but it’s like a war. It seems almost like a made-up war. "
