Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

, lonely years of my childhood, when my father's palace seemed to tighten its grip around me until I couldn't breathe,

whenever I had a serious question, something I couldn't ask Dhri, who was too straightforward for the knotted ways of the world, it seemed that Krishna was always there to provide an answer. And that too is a puzzle: why did my father allow him to visit me freely when he had kept me segregated from other men and women?

was genuinely fond of my brother; but I had the impression that it was I whom he really came to see. He called me by a special name, the female form of his own: Krishnaa. It had two meanings: the dark one, or the one whose attraction can't be resisted

Once a boy came running in from play and asked, Mother, what is milk? My friends say it is creamy and white and has the sweetest taste, second only to the nectar of the gods. Please, mother, I want milk to drink.
The mother, who was too poor to buy milk, mixed some flour in water, added jaggery, and gave it to the boy.
The boy drank it and danced in joy, saying, Now I, too, know what milk tastes like!
And the mother, who through all the years of her hardship had never shed a tear, wept at his trust and her deception.

And then you were called into the world, Dhri. So that what started with milk could end one day in blood.

What is the origin of the four castes?”

“When the Supreme Being manifested Himself, the brahmin was born from his head, the kshatriya from his arm, the vaishya from his thigh, and the sudra from his foot.”

“And who decided that a woman's highest purpose was to support men?” I burst out as soon as we were alone. “A man, I would wager!

Myself, I plan on doing other things with my life.”

I promised myself I'd never pray for their deaths. I'd teach them, instead, to be survivors. And why was a battle necessary at all? Surely there were other ways to glory, even for men? I'd teach them to search for those.

“In righteous war, you fight only with men that are your equal in rank. You don't attack your enemies at night, or when they're retreating or unarmed. You don't strike them on the back or below the navel. You use your celestial astras only on warriors who themselves have such weapons.”