The Namesake Quotes

On a sticky August yeting two weeks before her due date, Ashima Ganguli stands in the of a Central Square apartment, put up Rice Krispies and Planters peanuts and chopped red onion in a bowl. She adds salt, lemon juice, thin slices of green chili pepper, whishing there were moldinessard oil to add to the mix. p. 1 ? Like a kiss or a caress in a Hindi movie, a husbands severalise is something intimate and because unspoken, cleverly patched over. p. 2 ? Do yourself a favor. Before its too late, without thinking too much about it first base, pack a repose and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it.One day it will be too late. p. 16 ? He was still clutching a page of The Overcoat, crumpled tightly in his fist, and when he raised his hand the wad of papers dropped from his fingers. p. 18 ? Ashima means she who is limitless, without borders. Ashoke, the name of an emperor, means he who transcends grief. p. 26 ? On more than atomic number 53 occasion he has come home from the university to find her morose, in bed, rereading her parents letters. Early mornings, when he senses that she is lightly crying, he puts an arm around her, but can think of nothing to say, feeling that it is his fault, for marrying her, for bringing her here. p. 33 ? For thirty- trey years, she missed her life in India. immediately she will miss her job at the library, the women with whom shes worked. She will miss throwing parties She will miss the country in which she had grown to recognize and love her husband. though his ashes have been scattered in the Ganges, it is here, in this house and in this town, that he will continue to dwell in her mind. p. 279 ? When Ashima and Ashoke see their sons favorite named typed on the label of a prescription for antibiotics, when they see it at the top of his immunization record, it doesnt look right flatter names arent meant to be made public in this way. p. 36 ? The wives, homesick and bewildered, tu rn to Ashima for recipes and advice, and she tells them about the carp thats sold in Chinatown, that its possible to make halwa from Cream of Wheat They suck tea with sugar and evaporated milk and eat shrimp cutlets fried in saucepans. p. 38 ? Only then, forced at six months to confront his destiny, does he go about to cry. p. 40 ? Mrs. Jones leads a life that Ashokes set about would consider humiliating eating alone, driving herself to work in snow and sleet, seeing her children and grandchildren, at most, three or four times a year. p. 48 ? For being a foreigner, Ashima is beginning to realize, is a sort of a lifelong pregnancya invari commensurate wait, a constant burden, a continuous feeling out of sorts. p. 49 ? Each day Ashoke is pained by the half-eaten sandwiches people toss in the garbage cans on campus, apples abandoned after one or two bites. Finish it, Gogol. At your age, I ate tin. p. 55 ? The name, Nikhil, is artfull connected to the old one. not only is it a perfectly respectable Bengali good name, meaning he who is entire, encompassing all, but it also bears a satisfying resemblance to Nikolai, the first name of the Russian Gogol. p. 56 ? He is afraid to be Nikhil, someone he does not know. Who doesnt know him. p. 57 ? For their daughter, good name and pet name are one and the same Sonali, meaning she who is golden. p. 62 ? It doesnt b new(prenominal) him that his name is never an option on key chains or metal pins or refrigerator magnets Though substitute teachers at school always pause, looking apologetic when they arrive at his name on the roster, forcing Gogol to cry out out, before even being summoned, Thats me, teachers in the school system know not to give it a second thought. p. 66-67 ? Gogol is old enough to know that there is no Ganguli here. He is old enough to know that he himself will be burned, not buried, that his body will occupy no temporary hookup of earth, that no stone in this country will bear his name beyond life. p. 69 ? For by now, hes come to hate questions pertaining to his name, hates having ever to explain. He hates having to tell people that it doesnt mean anything in in Indian. p. 76 ? His parents expect him to be, if not an engineer, then a doctor, a lawyer, an economist at the very least. p. 105 ? Her appreciation for these details flatters him it occurs to him that he has never spoken of his experiences in India to any American friend. p. 112 ? That they had an arranged marriage, that his mother cooks Indian food everyday, that she wears saris and a bindi. p. 138 ? He cannot imagine his parents sitting at Lydia and Geralds table, enjoying Lydias cooking, appreciating Geralds wine selection. He cannot imagine them contributing to one of their dinner party party conversations.And yet here he is, night after night, a welcome addition to the Ratliffs universe, doing just that. p. 141 ? That they will not be able to touch or kiss each other in front of his parents, that ther e will be no wine with lunch. p. 145 ? .. the lunch is preparation out, too rich for the weather. Along with the samosas, there are breaded chicken cutlets, chickpeas with tamarind sauce, lamb biryani, chutney made with tomatoes from the garden. It is a meal he knows it has taken his mother over a day to prepare, and yet the amount of effort embarrasses him. p. 148 ? He is overly aware that they are not used to passing things around the table, or to chewing food with their mouths completely closed. They avert their eyes when Maxine accidentally leans over to run her hand through her hair. p. 149 ? One hand, five homes. A lifetime in a fist. p. 167 ? Remember that you and I made this journey, that we went together to a place where there was nowhere left to go. p. 187 ? When she was only five years old, she was asked by her relatives if she intend to get married in a red sari or a white gown. p. 213 ? Arent you going to arrange a wedding for her? p. 213 ? He thinks of his paren ts, strangers until this moment, two people who had not spoken until after they were actually wed. Suddenly sitting next to Moushumi, he realizes what it means, and he is astonished by his parents courage, the obedience that must have been involved in doing such a thing. p. 222 ? Waking up every morning with a pillow pressed over her head. p. 229 ? He admires her, even resents her a little, for having moved to another country and made a separate life.He realizes that this is what their parents had done in America. What he, in all likelihood, will never do. p. 233 ? Its the one thing about her parents lives she truly admirestheir ability, for better or for worse, to turn their backs on their homes. p. 254 ? Gogol has nothing to say to these people. He doesnt care about their dissertation topics, or their dietary restrictions, or the color of their walls. p. 237 ? Theres no such thing as a perfect name. I think human beings should be allowed to name themselves when they turn eigh teen, he adds. Until then, pronouns. p. 245 ? This assurance is important to her along with the Sanskrit vows shed repeated at her wedding, shed privately vowed that shed never grow fully dependent on her husband, as her mother has. For even after thirty-two years abroad, in England and now in America, her mother does not know how to drive, does not have a job, does not know the difference between a checking and a savings account. p. 247 ? The mindlessness soothers her nerves. As a child, she always had a hang for organization she would take it upon herself to neaten closets and drawers, not only her own, but her parents as well. p. 256 ? Youre going to break hearts, you know. p. 259 ? She wonders if she is the only woman in her family ever to have betrayed her husband, to have been unfaithful. This is what upsets her most to admit that the affair causes her to feel strangely at peace, the complication of it calming her, structuring her day. p. 266 ? Suddenly terrified, he duck s his head, feeling foolish afterword. None of the other pedestrians had reacted. p. 272 ? True to the meaning of her name, she will be without borders, without a home of her own, a resident everywhere and nowhere. p. 276