Ashish Khetarpal

“The women were emboldened by the first opportunity that had ever presented itself in their lives; the chance to take off the yoke and look back at the long slavish distance they had walked. How else could they count their losses? The neck of an ox, carrying a wooden yoke, cannot turn.”
― Ashish Khetarpal, Pushing Gods Out

“Why did I cite these texts? Because otherwise I would be deemed madder than I already am. By whom? Well, first of all, by myself. How dare I propose amputation prior to indicating relevant signs of gangrene? Who am I to stand against thousands of years of culture and civilization? I can protect myself either in my madness or in actual evidence.”
― Ashish Khetarpal, The Watchdog and Other Stories

“If Kabir had been a Muslim, he would have been certain to receive the promised jannah; if he had been a Christian, he would have been bestowed with whatever eternal treasures are stacked in heaven (or maybe a decent walk on the waters!); if he had been a Hindu or a Buddhist, he would have been granted with mukti from samsara, but his mode de vie was pealed from such religious etiquettes and he was venerated religiously because he adhered to none of these religions but to that of love and humanity alone, the religion of the same tree and the same flower but also that of the bee, for an act of kindness to fulfil there must be someone at the receiving end.”
― Ashish Khetarpal, The Watchdog and Other Stories

“In my country, our love for curtains is so incredible that we are bent on enjoying everything behind them. And just like we see no good in opening them, we tend as well to ignore the curtains drawn over our eyes.”
― Ashish Khetarpal, The Watchdog and Other Stories