Vishal Khatri

“A piece of writing has to start somewhere, go somewhere, and sit down when it gets there.”
― John McPhee, Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process

“The Civil War was pre-eminently a political war, a war of peoples rather than of professional armies.”
― James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

“I was surprised by what I found; moreover, because I came away with a knowledge that I had not possessed before, I was also grateful, and surprised by that as well. I had not expected the violence to be so pleasurable....This is, if you like, the answer to the hundred-dollar question: why do young males riot every Saturday? They do it for the same reason that another generation drank too much, or smoked dope, or took hallucinogenic drugs, or behaved badly or rebelliously. Violence is their antisocial kick, their mind-altering experience, an adrenaline-induced euphoria that might be all the more powerful because it is generated by the body itself, with, I was convinced, many of the same addictive qualities that characterize synthetically-produced drugs”
― Bill Buford, Among the Thugs

“All the hardships I have endured were merely rehearsals to prepare me for this devastating pain.”
― Annie Ernaux, I Remain in Darkness