“None of the wives mention the security guards by the door, who will probably tackle us to the ground if we try to leave without our husbands.”

“If parliament and owners have locked the door to liberty, then we don't beg to be given the key, or get shot in the street trying to wrest it from them. We build our own liberty, and leave them as fools, guarding an empty room.”

“I love you," someone says, and instantly we begin to wonder - "Well, how much?" - and when the answer comes - "With my whole heart" - we then wonder about the wholeness of a fickle heart.) Our lovers, our husbands, our wives, our fathers, our gods - they are all beyond us.”

“We cannot without depraving our minds endeavour to please a lover or husband but in proportion as he pleases us.”

“None of us lie or guard our secrets when we sing, and India is a nation of singers whose first love is the kind of song we turn to when crying just isn’t enough.”

“Because if I see you defeated, then I think I will see Alban defeated, and if that happens, none of us can go on. To guard you is to guard the heart of this land of ours.”