Nasreen chewed for several moments, staring at Alia before answering. “Pushing boundaries. That’s the only way to change things. You ask for more than they’ll give, but as much as you deserve. Have you learned nothing from this country?

This is what I have come to know about white privilege. The playing fields are nevel level. One can be angry about it, or weep about it. I don’t waste my emotions on bigots. I just try to outperform racists. I subscribe to former US first lady Michelle Obama’s adage - ‘When they go low, we go high’.

Don’t tell me: Hate the sin but love the sinner. I believe that if hate doesn’t find its rightful place, there’s only one place left for it to go. Where’s that? Inward.

12. Boxing the Champ In

A different reporter asked Bernstein what he thought might be the implications of signing up a convicted felon, which Ali was at that point, for a book deal with such a high payout. Having anticipated the question, Bernstein pulled his pipe from his mouth, leaned across the table toward the microphone, and replied that the day publishers refused to publish controversial books would be a bad day for democracy. Random house was no stranger to controversial authors.

Or else she would be taken over by an inexplicable rage, saying that I, the only person she loved, deserved the ugliest death because I did not love her enough. Why did you curse me so, Mother; why did you not stop her cursing, Father? Though the truth is, I do not want to know the answers. I resent even thinking about the questions—what others and the world have done should not define one as much as what one has done to oneself.