Sejal had not thought of her home, or of India as a whole, as cool. She was dimly aware, however, of a white Westerner habit of wearing other cultures like T-shirts—the sticker bindis on club kids, sindoor in the hair of an unmarried pop star, Hindi characters inked carelessly on tight tank tops and pale flesh. She knew Americans liked to flash a little Indian or Japanese or African. They were always looking for a little pepper to put in their dish.

I was the funny, outgoing kid who didn't understand how he could keep getting mistaken for a nerd nobody liked.

The United States was a big country where everybody wore funny t-shirts and ate too much.

I spy, with my little eye, something that starts with ... G." "Sausages.

They can't expect anyone to actually pay for a shirt that says, 'I (picture of an elephant) the San Diego Zoo.' What does that even mean?

Wherefor are you knowing it? If you stacked all of the Gorg in the galaxy on top of eachother, the Gorg would kill you.

Then it suddenly and theatrically began to clean itself in the way cats do when they want you to know what a big deal you aren't.