<i>Women are not allowed. Women are not allowed. Women are not allowed. </i> Was it to protect the grave from the women or the women from the grave? - Arundhati Roy

The fact that something so fragile, so unbearably tender had survived, had been allowed to exist, was a miracle.

Ammu explained to Estha and Rahel that people always loved best what they Identified most with.

'Ammu,' Chacko said, his voice steady and deliberately casual, 'is it at all possible for you to prevent your washed-up cynicism from completely colouring everything?'
Silence filled the car like a saturated sponge. Washed-up cut like a knife through a small thing. The sun shone with a shuddering sigh. This was the trouble with families. Like invidious doctors, they knew just where it hurt.