the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion

How many more people right now feel connected to Mumbai because of Slumdog Millionaire, or suddenly are interested in the plight of orphans on Mumbai after seeing that film? The same thing with the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

People in the countryside carry a sense of dignity. They wear it, don't they? Like a badge? I'm being genuine.

yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways and move them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with startling heroism

She passed these years in a distant corner of her mind. A dry, barren field, out beyond wish and lament, beyond dream and disillusionment. There, the future did not matter. And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and it accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion.

Was there happiness at the end [of the movie], they wanted to know. If someone were to ask me today whether the story of Hassan, Sohrab, and me ends with happiness, I wouldn't know what to say. Does anybody's? After all, life is not a Hindi movie. Zendagi migzara, Afghans like to say: Life goes on, undmindful of beginning, en, kamyab, nah-kam, crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis.

It's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.