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21 " All that suffering, all that death, for nothing. I will never understand, as long as I live, how a country could change overnight from a line drawn. "
― Veera Hiranandani , The Night Diary
22 " It’s one thing to understand facts and another thing to understand why those facts are facts. "
23 " Everybody thinks they are protecting and defending their people. But we are all people, right?" -Papa "
24 " Secretly, I want the box more than the jewelry. I want it to be all mine and never have to give it back. I could find any old thing—a pebble, a leaf, a pistachio shell—and put it in the box. Like magic, these things would get to be special at least for a day. "
25 " I took in Kazi’s words, let them dance and twirl in my head, replayed them over and over like a beautiful piece of music. "
26 " How lovely would it feel to sing like that, to change the air with my voice, to fill people’s ears with such pleasure. The sound cleared its own space and made it seem like everything was okay again. "
27 " I didn’t feel like talking at all today. Watching the boys made me want to be quiet, so I could think about them. I was afraid each word I might utter would somehow fade the memory. "
28 " What is going to happen to Kazi, Mama? He’s the only one who looks at me with happy, loving eyes. No one else looks at me that way, not even Papa. When Papa looks at us, his eyes are always looking back inside his head at his own thoughts. He sees and he doesn’t see. "
29 " After I finish, it’s like the part of me that can’t fall asleep, the part that’s staring at the cracks on the ceiling, wondering and worrying, is emptied in the diary for the night. During the day I fill back up and the pages wait. I like to think you’re holding my thoughts for me until I can tend to them again. "
30 " Sometimes the world as you know it just decides to become something else. This is our destiny now. "
31 " feelings to stop boiling like a pot of dal and be cool enough for me to taste them. "
32 " At the end of the day we almost died, I was happier than I could ever remember. "
33 " I told him to count as high as he could go. “Only think of the numbers and you won’t think of anything else.” We both counted, his eyes blinking at me. Eventually he went to sleep again. "
34 " It's like I'm sick with all the words I hold on to and can't say "
35 " I wish we could go outside and play, then my mind wouldn’t have so much time to think about the bad things. "
36 " How lovely would it feel to sing like that, to change the air with my voice, to fill people's ears with such pleasure. The sound cleared its own space and made it seem like everything was okay again. "
37 " ...if you were here, would you have sat next to me and held me? Would you have loved me more than all of them? "
38 " I wondered if I pretended enough, would it become the truth? "
39 " It's just that some people are better at being than others. "
40 " I've always been afraid that if I screamed, I might break into million of pieces. "