Why I love Arundhati Roy.

Arundhati Roy, for the uninitiated, is a Booker-prize winning Indian novelist, a political activist, a world citizen in the true sense of the word. Not many know that she is a cousin to Pranoy Roy, arguably the most respected and rock-solid journalist India has ever had. Of course she's courted with controversy too many times to count, calling George W. Bush a 'war criminal' back when he visited India or recently showing sympathy towards Naxals, terming them "Gandhians with guns'.
I may not agree with every word coming out of her mouth, but I applaud her courage to speak what she believes. In a country where every word can be churned into a political contest, (and not necessarily for elucidating the truth), she speaks what she wants, acts as her moral fiber directs right. Which in many ways is reminiscent of Salman Rushdie, another bold author of Indian origin. A staunch believer of social-equality and advocating against neo-imperialism of every form, she is the regally headstrong Indian woman's dream.

I mention here, some of her words, that I believe, echo with shining veracity.

"What does peace mean in a world in which the combined wealth of the world's 587 billionaires exceeds the combined gross domestic product of the world's 135 poorest countries? Or when rich countries that pay farm subsidies of a billion dollars a day, try and force poor countries to drop their subsidies? What does peace mean to people in occupied Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Tibet and Chechnya? Or to the aboriginal people of Australia? Or the Ogoni of Nigeria? Or the Kurds in Turkey? Or the Dalits and Adivasis of India?What does peace mean to non-muslims in Islamic countries, or to women in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan? What does it mean to the millions who are being uprooted from their lands by dams and development projects? What does peace mean to the poor who are being actively robbed of their resources and for whom everyday life is a grim battle for water, shelter, survival and, above all, some semblance of dignity? For them, peace is war."

"Wars are never fought for altruistic reasons. They're usually fought for hegemony, for business. And then of course there's the business of war."

"Nationalism of one kind or another was the cause of most of the genocide of the twentieth century. Flags are bits of colored cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's brains and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead."

But this, is my absolute favourite quote by her. If not my most favourite quote ever.

"... To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget. .."

Applause.
Later, then. :)