P L Deshpande Quotes & Sayings

Things can never be as they were. It's astonishing how we comment on change, as if change is something remarkable. On the contrary, not to change is unnatural, against nature. — Shashi Deshpande

I don't like to call myself a feminist writer. I say I'm a feminist, but I don't write to propagate an ism, — Shashi Deshpande

To overcome your fear of death, you have to move from 'the world ends with me' to 'the world goes on without me'. It is a great leap, the biggest step a human can take. — Shashi Deshpande

A friend ... showed me the kitchen in her new home with the words, "This is my office." I knew what she meant. This is where I do the work I want to, the work I like and enjoy. — Shashi Deshpande

Self-revelation is a cruel process. The real picture, the real you never emerges. Looking for it is as bewildering as trying to know how you really look. Ten different mirrors show you ten different faces. — Shashi Deshpande

My family's tradition of 'matching-matching' names is so obsessive, it's against the order of nature. When my uncles Anil and Anant married, they took advantage of a heinous custom in Marathi weddings. After the pheras, a dish of uncooked rice is placed before the newlyweds, and whatever name the husband chooses to write in the rice becomes the new name of his wife.
Because marriage in our culture is akin to buying a puppy at a pet shop and saying, 'I am your new owner, and I shall call you Flu y.'
So Anil Adarkar brought home Asha Adarkar (nee Kiran), and Anant Adarkar brought home Anita Adarkar (nee Geeta). And to complete this picture of divine perfection they named their children Aniket, and Ashwini and Ashleysha, respectively. — Nikita Deshpande

It's not just that life is cruel, but that in the very process of our birth we submit to life's cruelty — Shashi Deshpande

Surely there comes a moment in every human's life when he or she says, like the Sibyl - I wish to die. — Shashi Deshpande

We met at Nirang Kaka's son's wedding,' Leshu prattled on. 'It was such a set-up Amu, what to tell you! Asha Kaki introduced us at the salad counter and by the time we reached the sweet dish, I knew...I just knew it inside my heart ki he was the one. — Nikita Deshpande

Marriage is a very strange thing. It's a very public institution, it's meant to tell the world that two people are going to live together, to declare that their children will be legal, that these children can inherit their property. It's meant for social living, to ensure that some rules are observed, so that men and women don't cross the lines drawn from them. At the same time, marriage is an intensely private affair, no outsider will know the state of some one else's marriage. It's a closed room, a locked room ... — Shashi Deshpande

A wife should always be few feet behind her husband. If he is an MA you should be a BA.If he is 5'4'tall you shouldn't be more than 5'3'tall. If he is earning five hundred rupees you should never earn more than four hundred and ninety nine rupees.That's the only rule to follow if you want a happy marriage ... No partnership can ever be equal.It will always be unequal, but take care it is unequal in favor of the husband. If the scales tilt in your favor, God help you, both of you. — Shashi Deshpande

Women without men, I realized then, are totally different creatures. — Shashi Deshpande