www.fridayweekly.com.np SUBSCRIBER COPY ISSUE 28 | RS. 20 August 5-11, 2010 | >fj0f @)–@^, @)^& ������AND MORE ���������������������������������� EVENTS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY | EVERY THURSDAY FREE supplement EATINGOUT IN KATHMANDU Pocket Book 3 6 12 14 PAGE3 FEATURE HALFWAY PEOPLE Talk of The Town Kilroy’s Wine Fest Birdwatching One Question Can they talk or can Wine, wine everywhere and Kathmandu is a haven for We ask a few professionals they talk? Here are some Kilroy gives you reasons to birdwatchers and we give about one Nepali tradition memorable remarks made by drink it! Fr!day explores the you first hand knowledge on that they would like their 19 people around K-Town. 8th Kilroy’s Wine Festival. birdwatching in Kathmandu. children to always remember. The English How the evolving literary landscape of Nepal is helping the nation rise above its clichéd tags like “birthplace of the Buddha” or “the land of Mt. Everest” and gathering the attention of curious eyes. Affair— Sumina Subba anjushree Thapa field in Nepal. Published once wrote, “The books/novels like “Forget greatest chal- Kathmandu”, “Arresting God Mlenge facing con- in Kathmandu”, and “The temporary poets and writ- End of the World”, which ers, however, remains their have been widely acclaimed isolation from the rest of and popular, have shed light the world” (The insularity of on the writings of some of contemporary Nepali litera- the gifted Nepali writers of ture, State of Nepal, 2002). today who write in English. Contradicting this state- Considering such develop- ment are the recent changes ments, one could hardly observed in the literary argue the fact that the lit- erary scene is witnessing a paradigm shift. Contempo- rary literature is not only limited to the Khas Bhasa or the Nepali language as now writers are experimenting and expanding their lingual territories. The Rise of the literati For the record, the greatest Nepali literary heavyweight, Laxmi Prasad Devkota, was ECS Media the first Nepali to write in English, probably with his poem “Dedication”. Writing in English by Nepali authors is relatively young. The his- tory of contemporary writ- turn to page 2 for more of it! National Quixote At Sowing Re- what’s on Tattoo Con- Book Fair membrance vention This week, Give a gift that Catch the first the 14th Ne- grows. Be a part ever tattoo pal Education of a CSR cam- convention in and Book Fair paign and plant things to do Nepal. Meet begins and a tree in your the artists and possibly get yourself Quixote’s Cove has the best collec- loved one’s name and help the planet inked as well! tion of children’s books at the fair. go green. page 8 this week 7 August (Saturday), 10:30 am 6 August (Friday), 11 am 7 August (Saturday), 8 am 2 cover Issue 28 August 5 -11, 2010 Fr!day ing in English started with three wani Prasad Mishra, Ram Prasad has always been better than my Such trivial mistakes do not suit something is bound to go wrong. major names, Abhi Subedi, Peter Shrestha, Prem Subba, Kedar mother tongue.” writers of such caliber. Only a Gurkha can tell his story.” J. Karthak and Ramesh Shrestha. Lal Shrestha, Jitman Rai, Indra Similarly, author Manjushree Yet the fault does not entirely On top of that, qualities of They were the pioneers of this Bahadur Adhikari, David Better- Thapa completed her MFA from rest with the writers. It must be original Nepali classics like “Par- modern trend with their first pub- idge, Dhruba Krishna Deep, and the University of Washington the editor’s job to scrutinize their alko Aago” by Guruprasad Main- lished work. The multifaceted Pe- Ramesh Shrestha. and she shares, “Because my fam- work. To quote Karthak, “Edito- ali, “Sumnima” by B.P Koirala, ter J. Karthak who often calls him- From the start of the millenni- ily lived in Canada and the United rial responsibility seems to be nil.” “Basain” by Lil Bahadur Chettri self “a rustic village idiot” wrote um, there was a splurge of Nepali States when I was young, I grew It is because their knowledge about are compromised when they are his one and only magnum opus authors writing in English with up speaking English.” Sushma the subject matter is so primitive translated. The translator often “Pratyek Thau: Pratyek Maanche contributions from lesser known Joshi is a product of Brown Uni- that they tend to believe whatever misses out the main essence of (Every Place: Every Person)” in the writers like D.B. Gurung who versity who completed her Mas- comes their way. More research the novel itself. Like Sharma said, 1970s. This novel won him the wrote the novel “Echoes of the Hi- ters Degree in English literature needs to be done by both parties. “Translating is not summarizing second highest literary award in malayas”, which was published in from Middlebury College in the Moreover, Nepali writers cannot the work; rather it is like creat- Nepal, the “Saajha Puraskar” in 2000, and his first book of poetry US. make a decent income out of their ing a new world out of the old.” 1978. When I inquired about why “Whisper” that was published earli- Samrat Upadhyay also cred- writings because of the lack of Summarization is exactly what he did not write a second one he er in 1992. Out of the blue, in 2001 its his schooling for his incli- professionalism in the publishing happened with the translation of cheerfully joked, “One is enough!” came the much hyped “Arresting nation towards English, “I at- houses. Their books are not proper- Chettri’s “Basain”. His poem “The Fever Tree and the God in Kathmandu” which marked tended St. Xavier’s School and ly edited, marketed and distributed, Although authors writing in Conqueror” recreates the dramatic the arrival of Samrat Upadhyay as I was interested in the English thus affecting book sales. Due to English always are in the lime- and nostalgic visual of Prithvi a literary figure. Manjushree Tha- language. I used to write in both this, most of the well-known writ- light, the fact agreed by most of Narayan Shah gazing down at pa also proved to be a worthy con- Nepali and English but I think ers are represented by international the writers remain, that Nepali the Valley before the invasion of tributor to this literary boom with around the 7th or the 8th grade, publishing houses like Penguin/ writers will always, as Sheeba Shah Kathmandu city. Professor Abhi her novels “Mustang Bhot in Frag- I started reading and writing Viking, Rupa and the like. Still, it says, ‘reign supreme’. They have Subedi does not need any intro- ments” (1992), “Tutor of History” more in English.” is not easy being a ‘bonded labour’ the advantage of reaching out to duction to the Nepali literary cir- (2001), but gained wider critical However, Peter Karthak ini- to the publishing industry. Writers the masses and not being restrict- cle. He is a man of many shades; acclaim through the publication tially ventured out as a writer in like Manjushree Thapa are pres- ed to the educated urban lot. Their a writer, poet, dramatist, essayist, of “Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Nepali. In his words, “For me, surized to write about ‘themes that content can be understood easily literary critic, photography critic Democracy” in 2005. In the same expressing in English picked up conform closer to market interests’. by anyone unlike English writers. and an educationist. His contri- year another lesser known novel- during the 1980s because I was A poet and translator, Yuyutsu Due to this limiting factor, writers bution to this field is tremendous ist M.K Limbu published his book, already a Lecturer of English, RD Sharma says, “The so-called like Sheeba Shah are getting their with poems like “Shabda Ko Ki- “Fragile Mountains” which largely from 1971 at Patan College, then famous Nepali writers who write works translated in simple but narai Kinar”, “Nichorera Sukayeko went unrecognized. In 2009 “The at the Institute of Engineering in English are boring. Their works non-sanskritized Nepali. Aakash”, “Strawberry Picking in End of the World” written by Su- and other campuses.” are not satisfactory.” (The Kathman- Scotland” and “Lines on a German shma Joshi was published and was du Post, dated June 28, 2010). Such Perception of the West Girl Learning Sanskrit”. For his listed for the Frank O’Connor In- Tossing the Coin claims may have found their way Sadly the West is barely aware outstanding contribution he was ternational Short Story Award. Even though, they are commend- because the stories they create are about the literary changes tak- also awarded the “SAARC Liter- ing place in Nepal. In fact, the ary Award” this year, along with “ContemporarY LITERATURE IS NOT ONLY LIMITED West knows very little about it. Sir Mark Tully. Ramesh Shrestha As Thapa aptly puts it, “What has written beautiful poems such TO THE KHAS BHASA OR THE NEPALI LANGUAGE awareness there is still tends to be as “2nd Fall in Michigan”, “Mis- AS NOW WRITERS ARE EXPERIMENTING AND limited to Western writers who sissippi Moon” and “Brain Drain EXPANDING THEIR LINGUAL TERRITORIES.” have written about Nepal, usually in Kathmandu”. To date, the trio with a nonfiction and travel bent.” maybe the only writers to have A good sign is that there is grow- produced literary work with With the passage of time, writers able writers, they have some rather simplistic in nature. Their ing interest in multiculturalism equal command and passion both like Amar B. Shrestha who wrote shortcomings. Samrat Upadhyay writings often do not stimulate the in global English literature and in Nepali and English.