How we cite our quotes: (Abbreviated Title.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Shoba had thrown him a surprise birthday party last May. One hundred and twenty people had crammed into the house—all the friends and the friends of friends they now systematically avoided. Bottles of vinho verde had nested in a bed of ice in the bathtub. Shoba was in her fifth month, drinking ginger ale from a martini glass. She had made a vanilla cream cake with custard and spun sugar. (ATM 23)
If you're drinking bottles of "vinho verde" (instead of, say, wine from a box) and you're able to throw a party for over a hundred people, you're not doing too badly. Thanks to Shoba, Shukumar is most definitely not a starving grad student.
Quote #2
The grant was a great honor, but when converted into dollars it was not generous. As a result, Mr. Pirzada lived in a room in a graduate dormitory, and did not own a proper stove or a television set. And so he came to our house to eat dinner and watch the evening news. (WMPCTD 2)
Such a great example of how class works in different places: here, we have Mr. Pirzada, a highly-educated academic, unable to afford much of anything in the States. In Pakistan, he's got a 3-story house.
Quote #3
Mr. Kapasi felt insulted that Mrs. Das should ask him to interpret her common, trivial little secret. She did not resemble the patients in the doctor's office, those who came glassy-eyed and desperate, unable to sleep or breathe or urinate with ease, unable, above all, to give words to their pains. (IM 161)
The phrase "first world problems" comes to mind here when we think about Mrs. Das. Mr. Kapasi is a bit stunned by Mrs. Das's lack of perspective.