Quotes

"For my friends, everything; 
for my enemies, the law.”

Oscar R. Benavides, President of 
Peru from 1933 to 1939, cited 
recently on social media posts 
pertaining to crony capitalism in India

"Bombay was a huge aviation 
market in those days. It was the most obvious choice for an airline base. Back then, getting night parking stands was not difficult, having an engineering base with a hangar that can accommodate an aircraft or two was not difficult. Airlines would want to be based out of Bombay, but (today) infrastructure constraints don’t allow it.”

Parvez Damania, founder of erstwhile
 Damania Airways, The Times of 
India, May 3, 2023

"Taxis parked on our road 
(Garden Road, Colaba) are 
a help rather than a nuisance. When I needed a vehicle at 
sunrise to attend the prayers 
for someone deceased, a driver called Badruddin readily 
dropped me to Doongerwadi 
safely on time and refused the 
fare payable. Because of the 
sad situation, he said — 
very respectful of him.”

Dinoo Dordi, Garden Road resident, 
sunday mid-day, May 7, 2023

"We do not reflect that it is 
perhaps as difficult to write a 
good life as it is to live one.”

Lytton Strachey, English writer, 
cited by Bakhtiar Dadabhoy in 
Homi J. Bhabha: A Life (Rupa 2023)

"Nostalgia is the underlining 
theme for the menu of this 
38-year-old café (Ideal Corner 
run by Pervez Patel). It includes 
a dish called railway mutton. It is an old recipe from when the railways were the only mode of transport. People carried along 
a dry mutton recipe with 
roti to avoid any fuss.”

mid-day, April 19, 2023

"I’m hands-off as far as possible, but intervene when needed. I 
know what’s going on broadly. Some people thrive on being 
micro-managers; I don’t.”

Jamshyd N. Godrej, chairman and 
managing director, Godrej & Boyce, 
Business Standard, March 25, 2023

"Xerxes (Gobhai) was a great 
bass player. The way he took 
to the stage, you could sense 
the talent behind it.”

Gary Lawyer, singer, mid-day, March 8, 2023

"France  has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older
 — intelligence and good manners.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald, novelist, quoted 
by Rachel Cusk, The New York Times, 
May 2, 2023