Padma Venkatraman Quotes & Sayings

She is a pebble skipping
over the surface of a lake.
As I once was.
Not a deep sinking stone that leaves widening ripples behind
after it's disappeared.
As I hope to be. — Padma Venkatraman

I feel the American's eyes on me, looking as though I'm more than an amputee, a number, a chore. He crosses over to me, his strides large, a broad smile on his lips. "Veda? Did I say your name right?" "Yes, Doctor." "Call me Jim. Please." His left hand in his pocket, he holds his right hand out to me. As though we're equals. "Thank you, Doctor - I mean - just Jim," I say. He chuckles. "Haven't done anything yet." He has. No older man ever invited me to shake hands. No other adult ever asked me to call them by name. He even said "please" although I'm a patient. — Padma Venkatraman

The van lurches forward. My thoughts race back. — Padma Venkatraman

Jim was cricket practice; Govinda's the real match. Match. Get it? — Padma Venkatraman

The joyous clamor in my mind drowned out the strange sound outside the car: a humming noise that was gathering speed and growing louder, a roar that was not the waves curling up the beach. — Padma Venkatraman

Will you go out with me for a cup of coffee?" "No." "No?" "I prefer tea, thank you. — Padma Venkatraman

I'm not sure I can empty myself of wishing for those able bodies I don't own. — Padma Venkatraman

Everytime I climbed the stairs, my heart lifted. — Padma Venkatraman

My hand slips into his as though it remembers his touch and we've held hands often in a previous life. — Padma Venkatraman

The library was my only blessing. Every time I climbed the stairs, my heart lifted. All day, I looked forward to the happy hours I spent in that beautiful room. My guilt over appa's fate was too heavy to carry up there, and I learned to leave it below, somewhere on the ground floor. I left the house far behind as I walked on the path paved by the books, and every evening, baby Mangalam slept soundly on the bed I made for her on the window seat. — Padma Venkatraman

My skin tingles as I step into the music,
give in to the icy thrill of pleasure
that spreads through me whenever I dance,
the pleasure of leaping into a cool lake on a
sweltering day. — Padma Venkatraman

I want to tell the nurses no scale can measure
the pain of my dreams
dancing
beyond reach. — Padma Venkatraman

Because friendship is about laughing when the other person is joking to make you feel better. Even if you don't find her joke all that funny. — Padma Venkatraman

If a dog barks at the sun, it does not dim the sun's brightness. (44) — Padma Venkatraman

How does the new leg feel?' I don't point out their question misses a point: even this new leg doesn't feel. — Padma Venkatraman

In my mind's eye, my chess pieces had grown into lines of dark-skinned men marching forward, being beaten by a white army and crumpling one by one into my father's waiting arms, bloodstains blossoming across their shoulders. (32) — Padma Venkatraman

You don't have to climb ladders to reach God. He dances within all He creates. — Padma Venkatraman

I can dance beauty into my body — Padma Venkatraman

It feels like Shiva destroyed my universes of possibility, like He's dancing on the ashes of my snatched away dreams. — Padma Venkatraman