No place like home

Thapa offers a mixed bag of stories on contemporary life in Nepal.

Nothing to Declare
:Stories
Rabi Thapa
Penguin
Rs 199; Pp 184
ISBN: 9780143415435

The 16 short stories in Rabi Thapa's debut collection Nothing to Declare is led by, quite aptly, “Initiation”. The story introduces the reader to the milieu of Nepalese society where adolescent Ashok is going through the thread ceremony to initiate him into adulthood, so to say. He rebels inwardly at the endless rituals but dare not protest as the relatives hover around while his cousins get their fill of pulling his legs at his scrawny and “freshly shaven body.” Ashok enjoys the sense of freedom only when he literally tries to follow his uncle Sano-mama's whispered words “Now you are man… you can leave home and go wander the whole world.”

Thapa's stories woven around a young protagonist from Nepal, whether at home or abroad, are a mixed bag. The initial promise shown in the first story is not carried through uniformly to the end.

However, the plots are interesting glimpses into the Nepalese society which is similar in many ways to neighbouring India's. In “Desire”, Subodh, the rich employer's son, falls for the charms of the maid servant but cannot reach out beyond the social hierarchy.

Full report here Hindu

Tweet lands Taslima Nasrin in controversy

Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin has willy-nilly whipped up a storm in Nepal, with a comment on social networking site Twitter that was interpreted by some as casting doubts on the republic’s sovereignty.

The 48-year-old controversial author, whose books have been banned in Bangladesh forcing her to go into exile since 1994, had been invited to Nepal to attend its first-ever literary festival held in Kathmandu valley from Friday to Sunday.

Taslima was to have released an English translation of one of her books at the Ncell Literature Festival, also attended by former BBC chief in India, Mark Tully, on Saturday.

However, she missed the flight from New Delhi, where she currently resides, as she had left her passport at home by mistake.

By way of an apology, the maverick writer wrote on her Twitter page: “My Nepali friends, I missed my flight to go to Kathmandu today. I forgot to bring my passport as I didn’t consider Nepal a foreign country!”

Full report here Hindustan Times

Taslima's passport tweet angers Nepal

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin who has been living in exile since 1994 has tweeted herself to a new controversy in Nepal. The author was to arrive in Kathmandu on Saturday to attend the country’s first literature festival, but a post on Twitter has ensured she won’t come visiting anytime soon.

Nasrin who currently resides in New Delhi missed her flight to Kathmandu on Saturday as she forgot to bring her Swedish passport. Airport authorities didn’t let her board the flight.

"My Nepali friends, I missed my flight to go to Kathmandu today. I forgot to bring my passport as I didn’t consider Nepal a foreign country!" she soon wrote on her Twitter page.

The comment offended many of her Nepali followers on the micro-blogging site who ridiculed her lack of knowledge about world geography and blamed her of thinking that Nepal was a part of India.

Nasrin was shocked and hurt that her Nepali friends were offended by her "feeling of closeness 2 (to) Nepal".

Undeterred she planned to arrive here on Sunday to take part in the last day of the festival but that also had to be shelved due to adverse reaction to the tweet and concerns about her safety.

Full report here Hindustan Times 

Taslima to add glitter to Nepal's first lit fest

Exiled Bangladeshi writer and feminist Taslima Nasrin's presence will add glitter to Nepal's first literary festival being held in Kathmandu this week inspired by the annual Jaipur litfest.

The 48-year-old, who celebrates her 49th birthday in exile next week, is appearing at the Ncell Nepal Literary Festival on Saturday evening to release the English translation of one of her books as well as speak on her writing.

Having found sanctuary for three years in Kolkata after the storm her writing triggered in Bangladesh, leading to a fatwa on her, Taslima was forced to leave after protests. She is flying from Norway through New Delhi after her Indian publisher, Vani Prakashan, connected her with the organisers of the Kathmandu fest.

Full report here Times of India 

Celebrating literature in Nepal

Two literature festivals in Kathmandu over the next month will help to spread the love of literature in Nepal.

Over the next 30 days, Kathmandu will see not one but two literary festivals. This Thursday, 18 August, is the date of the launch of the Nepal Literature Festival, being held at Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur. It will feature 61 writers, including Ira Trivedi from India and Mark Tully from the UK. Within a month of its end on 21 August, another literary festival is set to begin in nearby historical Patan Durbar Square, from 16-18 September. With 30 national, including those who write in Newari, and 10 international writers so far, the Kathmandu Literary Jatra (of which Himal is a partner), like the Nepal Literature Festival, hopes to provide a global platform to the otherwise largely isolated Nepali literary circles.

Additionally, festival directors, Ajit Baral of the Nepal Literature Festival and Suvani Singh of the Kathmandu Literary Jatra, hope that the festivals will help create a dialogue among and between the writers and readers in Nepal. Although the Nepali literary scene is vibrant and thriving, writers are often unaware of the demands of their readers. ‘With the literacy rate at around 60 percent and growing,’ says Baral, ‘intellectual hunger and demands for quality in literary works have only increased in Nepal. The writers, as well as publishers, like me, need to focus on quality delivery.’

Full report here Himal

Nepal opens new chapter in publishing

A couple of years ago in Kathmandu, a pioneering publisher organised a grand outdoor event to launch the Nepali translation of John Wood's book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. It was first time I – and many others – had seen such an event in Nepal and it was packed with book lovers, eminent personalities and the media.

The book's author was a Microsoft executive until he went on a trekking holiday in the Himalayas and developed a mission to educate underprivileged children around the world.

The launch event took a surprise turn when Pashupathi Neupane from Lamjung, who was instrumental in changing the direction of Wood's life, appeared on the stage. Wood, who had not been expecting him, was overwhelmed and jumped to embrace him. The moistened eyes of Wood and Neupane moved the audience, and the media's cameras captured that emotional moment.

Since then, more than 20,000 copies of the book have been sold and the publisher, Fine Print, has donated 1m rupees (£14,000) to build a school in Chitwan district where Maoists blasted a passenger bus with a landmine during the insurgency.

Full report here Independent

India partners Nepal to spread Krishna's voice

The Bhagvad Gita - containing Lord Krishna's teachings and regarded as the essence of the Hindu religion and philosophy - is one of the most influential books in the world, but not much is known about its sequel, the Anugita.

Janmashtami, Lord Krishna's birthday, is perhaps the perfect occasion to remember this less known sequel that will be available to a wider readership, thanks to a partnership between Nepal and India.

Comminc, a Kathmandu-based publisher, says work is in progress on a simplified Hindi as well as German version of the Anugita.

The text, now available in both Nepali prose as well as a metrical version, was formally launched here in May by President Ram Baran Yadav. The venture was funded by the Indian government under the aegis of the B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation.

Unlike the Gita, which was propounded by Krishna on the eve of violence and bloodshed, the Anugita, containing teachings about how to attain a higher life, was delivered in a time of peace and triumph.

Lamichhane, Neupane bag Padmashree award

The Khemlal Harikala Lamichhane Samaj Kalyan Pratishtan on Sunday announced to give away this year’s Padmashree Sahitya Samman jointly to Dhruva Sapkota for his novel Akalpaneeya and Amar Neupane for his work Paani ko Gham.

In his novel, Sapkota has portrayed the problems of refugees in Sikkim, Tibet and Nepal, while Neupane carried out the study of literature in Nepalgunj region.

The award carries a purse of Rs.1,50,000.

Earlier, litterateurs Ganesh Rasik, Bhanubhakta Pokharel and Krishna Baral were honoured with the award.

Full report here Himalayan Times

Love and longing in Los Angeles

A delightful read about self-discovery and search for identity.

Seasons of Flight is an account of a journey undertaken by Prema from a scenic Nepali village to a culturally and socially multi-hued metropolis in the U.S. The journey in this case is not only the geographical distance, but also the mental and the cultural one.

When Prema's name is drawn in a diversity lottery for green cards, she decides to leave her village, a caring lover, an absent sister who has joined a Maoist group, an old father and memories of her long dead mother for a place where she will be a complete stranger.

She arrives in the U.S. and finds that things are not as she imagined them to be. And so begins her struggle to survive and find her place in this totally different and new milieu.

Confused, she is never being sure about what she is doing. But one thing she is sure about is that she is not going back. As she drifts from one place to another, physically and psychologically, she meets people with different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and tries to understand the “American way of life”.

Full report here Hindu

Remembering Adikavi

AdiKavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya is the most highly renowned and famous of poets who wrote in the Nepali language. He was born on the 13th of July, 1814 in Chundi Ramgha of Tanahu district in Nepal and was educated at home by his grandfather, Krishna Acharya.

AdiKavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya wrote a great many poems. His ‘Ramayan’ became very popular among the Nepali people. He translated the Ramayan from Sanskrit to Nepali so  beautifully that every Nepali could remember the whole volume of Ramayan by heart.

AdiKavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya
Adikavi Bhanu Bhakta is considered to be the first poet to write in the Nepali language. Poets before him in Nepal usually wrote in Sanskrit. So, Bhanu Bhakta Acharay is called Adikavi (early poet) of the Nepali language Apart from this, after Bhanu Bhakta, the Nepali language gradually started to become standard and refined.

Full report here Voice of Sikkim

Bhanu Purashkar choice correct, says Singtam organizations

The Sawney-Bardang block committee of All Sikkim Schedule Caste Welfare Association has termed the decision of the Nepali Sahitya Parishad (NSP) to bestow ‘Bhanu Puraskhar 2010’ to Chief Minister Pawan Chamling ‘Kiran’ as a ‘correct choice’.

Stating that Chamling had given valuable and selfless service to Nepali literature, the organization president Nandu Dutraj said that the selection process was done in a democratic and transparent manner.

Similarly, the monthly literary forum, ‘Basibiyalo’ has endorsed the decision of NSP to award the Chief Minister with the Bhanu Puraskhar 2010.

Full report here Voice of Sikkim

NSP to confer Bhanu Purashkar to Sikkim CM

Chief Minister of Sikkim Pawan Chamling will be conferred with the prestigious Bhanu Purashkar by Nepali Sahitya Parishad during the Bhanu Jayanti celebration on July 13.

The award is being conferred to Pawan Chamling ‘Kiran’ for his outstanding contribution in the promotion and development of Nepali literature, informs a press release issued by Nepali Sahitya Parishad.

Poet ‘Kiran’ started writing at the early age of 17 including ‘Vir ko Parichay’ and several others. Some of his writings are Antaheen Sapna Mero Bipana, Mo ko Hun, Mero Sapana ko Sikkim, Damthang Hijo Aja and others.

Established in 1985, the Nepali Sahitya Parishad has been conferring this award to encourage writers who have contributed for the promotion of Nepali language and literature. About 24 literary figures have received the award so far.

Full report here Voice of Sikkim

Maid in Manhattan story gets Nepali twist

He became an instant celebrity in the US this week after an astonishing windfall brought him two multi-million dollar apartments in an exclusive neighbourhood and a priceless art collection in a plot straight from Bollywood or even Hollywood. However, in a Nepali twist to the story of butler-turned-billionaire Indra Tamang's amazing fortune, his family back home has no idea about his amazing change and continues to lead a hand-to-mouth existence.

Tamang, now in his 57, shook the dust of Nepal off his feet more than two decades ago when he left for the US to work as a domestic help for Charles Henri Ford, the gay poet-writer and artist whose co-authored novel, the Young and the Evil, created a storm in the sedate 30s. After Ford's death in 2002, he was taken under her wings by the American's sister, Ruth Ford, a model and Hollywood actress. The story became even more like pulp fiction after Ruth was estranged from her only child, daughter Shelley, and left her estate to Tamang, who had served her devotedly.

Full report here Times of India