On the stage of Sama theater, Gurukul, old Baneswar are also invited other guests - Finn Thilsted--the Danish Ambassador to Nepal, Constituent Assembly Member Dharmasila Chapagain and her daughter Agrani Chapagain. [break] They all have a beautiful story to share.
Thilsted is first called on the stage. "I only met Tara yesterday in Ilam and heard her story. She invited me to her book launch and I couldn´t help coming," he says. Rehabilitation of people who have been affected by the ten-year conflict in Nepal, as he puts it, is a very important part of the peace process. He met Tara in an interaction program organized by Danish Embassy and United Nations International Children´s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in Illam.
"Stories from the ten-year-old people´s war need to be told whether they are good or bad because they chronicle what happened during the time of conflict," he stresses.
Novelist Krishna Dharabasi, winner of the Madan Puraskar for ´Radha´ is the next speaker. "I have never met the writer personally but she used to be an active participant in literary programs organized by Kanchanjunga F M where I was working," he begins. After getting a copy of the book and reading its blurb he seems to be astonished by her small age and creative abilities. "I couldn´t help comparing her to my younger son who is also 20, but both their life experiences appeared drastically different," he says.
Rai, at the tender age of 15, left her home to join the Maoist rebels in a whim to make the people´s revolution a success. She was arrested in 2005 and met Dharmasila Chapagain in the jail in Biratnagar. Chapagain was staying in jail with her six-month-old daughter ´Agrani´ at the time. Rai´s book chronicles her experiences in jail and more.
When Chapagain comes on the stage to share her experiences about Rai, her voice chokes and silence envelopes the hall. Rai is weeping and most people in the audience can´t hold back their tears. "I treat her like my daughter. I can still remember the first day she came to the jail. Sick and in ill health; none of the inmates thought she would survive," she shares. Rai had been suffering from rheumatic disease since her childhood and had to be given injections every 15 days.
"Once when she was not given the injection, we rebelled against the guards and started breaking down the prison wall," she adds. Later Rai was moved to a prison in Jhapa and they were separated. "I had nothing to give her and handed her my old petticoat on our parting," Chapagain recalls.
Durga Lal Shrestha from Sajha Pustak Bhandar congratulates Rai on the publishing of her first book and says, "I see huge prospect in her as a writer. I hope she can achieve the literary heights of Emily Bronte and Parijat."
Finally when Rai comes on the stage draped in the red shawl given to her by Shrestha, the audience is all ears. She speaks softly about her touching life experiences. It hasn´t been easy but she´s made it so far with the help of people who have supported her literary efforts.
"I hope that my book will provide a window to the life of a Maoist rebel and the new generation will never have to experience the suffering that I went through," she laments.
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