‘He, of course, had nothing to be frightened of; if he died as a mujahid he was going to a paradise heaven.’
Osama was his real name, although all other names have been changed. Osama was slightly built, almost concave, and he wore checked shirts and pressed trousers, always clean and neat; he looked anonymously ordinary. His eyes were large and roamed the public places in which we met—hotel cafes, mainl…
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‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘Our globalised world of easyJet and Google Translate does not seem to have fostered any greater understanding’
‘I don’t know how to think about this. How to stretch compassion for one person into a million.’ Wendell Steavenson on Europe’s migrant-refugee crisis.
‘Thayr held out. He would not betray his country, he would not betray his leader.’
‘Ask anyone in Ayodhya, and they will say the city’s Hindu–Muslim harmony can withstand any test.’
Snigdha Poonam on the construction of a Hindu temple on the ruins of a mosque in Utter Pradesh.
‘I suppose if something moves me to write, I don't question it.’
