Feraj Khalid

“Literary criticism, to be precise, and when pursued beyond the boundaries of academic jargon, directly serves the collective consciousness of humanity! It should be carried out to encourage mass participation in the perusal of serious literature or to find seriousness even in the most playfully written literary works. Extending the hypothesis, every author has a thread or two hidden to conceal the life lessons that are layered beneath the entertaining episodes in the storyline. Readers, at large, given their busy and callous lifestyle bereaved of the aesthetic values, may conveniently ignore toiling to reveal those layers; it is, therefore, incumbent upon literary critics to make it happen!”
― Alok Mishra

“Only if I knew
that knowing it would bring
a burden I could seldom carry
and ferry among those I know,
only to be rejected.
Who knows what I know?
Do I know if they know?
Who knows all those who know?”
― Alok Mishra, Thoughts Between Life and Death

“Only a cold-hearted storyteller can narrate the warm exchanges of emotionally charged moments with conviction and accuracy!”
― Alok Mishra

“This observation, understanding, and appreciation, when combined with the excellence of poetic expression, produce the best poetry, steeped in poetic truth and served with a detached attitude that readers will find relatable, possibly universal, and also long-lasting, if not everlasting.”
― Alok Mishra