The Longer One Doesn't Write, The More

I Don't Waste Time In Flowery Small Talk, As People Do In India.

I Discovered [joan Of Arc] Toward The Age Of Ten Or Twelve, When I Went To France. I Don't Remember Where I Read About Her, But I Recall That She Immediately Took On A Definite Importance For Me. I Wanted To Sacrifice My Life For My Country. It Seems Like Foolishness And Yet...what Happens When We're Children Is Engraved Forever On Our Lives.

I Said, I'll Put On Weight. And I Started Having Massages, Taking Cod-liver Oil, And Eating Twice As Much. But I Didn't Even Gain An Ounce. I'd Made Up My Mind That On The Day The Engagement Was Announced I'd Be Fatter, And I Didn't Gain An Ounce. Then I Went To Mussoorie, Which Is A Health Resort, And I Ignored The Doctors' Instructions; I Invented My Own Regime And Gained Weight. Just The Opposite Of What I'd Like Now. Now I Have The Problem Of Keeping Slim. Still I Manage. I Don't Know If You Realize I'm A Determined Woman.

It Is Legitimate To Have One's Own Point Of View And Political Philosophy. But There Are People Who Make Anger, Rather Than A Deeply Held Belief, The Basis Of Their Actions. They Do Not Seem To Mind Harming Society As A Whole In The Pursuit Of Their Immediate Objective. No Society Can Survive If It Yields To The Demands Of Frenzy, Whether Of The Few Or The Many.

I Like To Think I've Provided This Faith. I Also Think That By Providing Faith, I've Focused Their Pride. I Say Focused Because Pride Isn't Something You Give. It Doesn't Even Break Out Suddenly; It's A Feeling That Grows Very Slowly, Very Confusedly.