“Here is an unusual collection of poems written over many years which sardonically portray the situation in contemporary India.”

“The poems serve as a source of inspiration to those who do not disassociate art and aesthetics from their commitment to society. Alexander Raju’s poetry springs with an irrepressible force from the abyss of his deep commitment to humanity. Humanism is the flesh and blood of his poetry.”

“The apparent frivolity in the treatment of certain themes, the ironical playfulness with which he laughs off the pain, only serves to accentuate their seriousness. There are poems which unrestrainedly celebrate the poet’s epicurean immersion in the pleasures of life, but there too he is all out to nakedly project what domestic life is.”

“Rather than Songs of Innocence, they are Songs of Experience”.

Born on April 1^st, 1952, Alexander Raju began his career as a freelance journalist as early as 1974. Touring almost every nook and corner of India, he acquired afirst-hand knowledge of the Indian ways of life among various ethnic groups who differed totally in their culture, religion and language. In 1981, after serving as a lawyer for a short while, he joined the Faculty of English at Baselius College, Kottayam, Kerala, his own alma mater, as a lecturer. He served as a Research Guide registered under Mahatma Gandhi University, Teacher Trainer under the Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman and Professor in the Universities Libya and Ethiopia. A bilingual writer in Malayalam and English, he has been writing for half a century. As an Indian English poet, novelist and short story writer, he has many books to his credit. His latest work is Where They Shattered His Green Dreams, a novel based on NATO’s war against Libya and the assassination of Colonel Muammer Gaddafi.