For 18 year old Pradeep Swar, the past three months have been a mix of anticipation and boredom. [break] While the excitement of his debut novel which is hitting the market this fall drives this management student and would-be entrepreneur to continue his passionate hobby of writing, political uncertainty is making him seek a better opportunity abroad. Swar, who is currently sitting on his second book, says he is already working on an idea for the third and complains Kathmandu’s laid back lifestyle is making him chubby.
For one thing, Swar writes in English.
“I am not ashamed of what I want to say and just because we don’t talk about something, it doesn’t mean, it’s going to disappear,” Swar keeps it decently hip. He says he writes about the big-big world that eventually culminates into one and talks about challenging the stereotypes. “It is a personal viewpoint. My philosophy in life is that we are all different people with different perspectives and priorities and our part in the world, no matter big or small, good or bad, makes us special. And we just play our roles.”
Swar, the young author who has spent the past 12 years on and off Darjeeling, completed his high school from St. Paul’s School. For his age, this teenager who is taking some time off with his family here in Kathmandu has already surprised the wits of many including the publishing hose Pilgrim’s Press in Banaras. The production of his first work – The Beautiful People is underway, which Swar says he completed within three months. “I write faster than I read!”
Terrorism, religion, diaspora and mental delirium are some of the elements Swar reflects on a fast moving plot of his stories that span 82 chapters and soaks in the backdrop of the calm Kathmandu skyline. Swar draws his bustle from the uptight lifestyle in Baluwatar.
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A little further from Mangal Bazaar in Patan, a rooftop bachelor apartment is tucked in the truest sense of minimalism. Here, a UK returnee Rabi Thapa, 35 is contemplating his opportunities that can take care of his bills. Working as a freelance contributor for English-language Nepali dailies and a weekly, he’s also sitting on his debut book Katha Kuthungri, Tales from the Nepal Valley, which is a collection of short stories that he completed in 2007. “I am looking for a better deal,” he waits.
Katha Kuthungri will have 17 stories in 200 pages. According to Thapa, his stories revolve around the young middle class and his characters are more realistic and deal with real life instances. “I have expressed myself clearly. What I write is a representation of my experiences. Whether they’ll make a difference, I am doubtful,” says Thapa, “I might not be able to connect thus with the criticism that Nepali writers who write in English fail to address the genuine issues or representation par se.”
On ‘critical mass’, Thapa quirks. He currently freelances as an editor and runs The Last Word, an editorial company, and NepaliKukur (nepalikukur.wordpress.com), a local guide to Nepal.
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“Writers don’t belong to any boundary.” (And she asks to be quoted, specifically.) “We are the silent gods hanging upside down and what we experience, we write. Whatever is happening around us, we record it,” says Sheeba Shivangini Shah, 35, who currently landed a deal under publishing giant Rupa’s flag for her third book that’s coming out this winter. Besides, she also contributes short stories to a local magazine.
A family saga, Facing My Phantoms, which is the working title of her third book is currently being edited and has been inspired by the decade long conflict and major real-day events with her family. “I raise many questions in my third book. It is not an autobiography though,” the religious ex-princess wants to clarify. A vocal feminist, Shah’s characters are usually female protagonists who are rebellious and move beyond the traditionally set boundaries. “My stories generate mixed reactions. I do both – inspire and offend.”
Shah’s first book, Loyals of the Crown which is a historical fiction offer feministic perspectives on the political movements that led to the Kot Massacre and henceforth while her controversial second book Beyond the Illusions, a spiritual saga talks about how women are exploited in the name of Tantricism. Her first book is currently undergoing scrutiny as Rupa Publications is interested in publishing it again and Shah plans to rewrite it and is hopeful that the book will reach out to many people. She complains, “The book was not marketed properly before and I am also working on developing its script for a film.”
With her third book in cue, Shah is positive about the recent developments in the market. Though writing like any other unconventional jobs doesn’t pay much and there are royalty issues already, she is hopeful that there will be a paradigm shift in the way the market will operate five years from now. “As writers, we can’t make a living out of it but in a few years, there’ll be more writers and more readers. Hopefully, the trust between the writers and the publishers will strengthen and there’ll be more transparency in the business.”
It has been a year or so that new and young writers are coming up, book stores and publishing houses are gradually mushrooming and a literary circle, the so called ‘critical mass’ seems to have evolved alongside new publication platforms but like everything else, even this phenomenon is Kathmandu centric especially when it comes to Nepali writers writing in English. “Reading has to expand beyond this certain circle and the capital,” says the author, “I am also working on the Nepali translation of my third book for the same reason. Writing in English, I only cater to a select reading crowd.”
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For Sushma Joshi though, the mass that we have now is enough to be the driving critical force. “Yes! We are already making a difference. A new wave of developments in writing and the publishing scene means we witness a diverse range of writings and young people actively involved in all kinds of projects these days,” argues the 36-year old author of The End of The World, a short story anthology and contributes to an English language daily as their columnist.
Besides the anthology, she also co edited New Nepal New Voices, another anthology of short stories and Art Matters, a collection of art reviews that she had contributed to various publications.
Joshi who is currently working on her Nepali translation of The End of the World and her fourth book to be published in 2010, a novel which is going to be a love story set in, what else but, the decade long conflict in Nepal. “I draw from reality,” she tries to defend, whose stories usually revolve around the ups and downs of the poverty and war ravaged country. “Writing can make a difference,” a staunch Joshi reasserts, “It is a diffusion mechanism in the sense of ideas and I write about the different instances of people and their perspectives. And although my works are fictional, I draw my ideas from real day events.”
With her book getting good reviews and short-listed for the Frank O Conner Awards, Joshi has also seen some of her short stories published internationally. And when there is success, there is bound to be criticisms. Already in a row with her publisher regarding the sales figures and royalty issues, this supposedly bestseller author vents, “It is blatant violation of copyrights. This is a livelihood issue and I demand things be transparent. The working culture that prevails here is solely responsible for bringing writing into standstill in this country as writers are taken for granted.”
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In the past few years, the publishing scene in the country has surely soared to new heights. With Narayan Wagle’s Palpasa Café introducing the concept of bestselling novel and a giant leap in the way books are produced and marketed, there is a new hope among young writers along with publishers who find the publishing industry a lucrative opportunity and believe that there is a future in it but like any other business enterprise, transparency and ethical issues seem to be an issue.
“I’ve heard of many unethical cases but there are people in the business who have been operating fairly and giving the writer’s their share of profit. There needs to be a consensus and a policy must come into place to monitor business hazards. There is surely a lot of room to improve,” says Bidur Dangol of Vajra Publications who believes better days are yet to come and the publishing business will be ushered to a newer height.
Writer and Publisher Ajit Baral of Fine Print says, “The quality of production that we have here now is similar to what can be seen in India. Of course the editing part is still questionable and the content needs to be beefed up for which we need to develop a system for instance, manuscript evaluation is unheard of here in Nepal.” Also with international publishing giants vying their interest in South Asia, we have a vibrant market and an international platform that we can tap into and already we have had some publications under the flag of publishing giants like Penguin & Rupa and there are more in store. This is indeed a positive development but “there is a long way to go.” Like Baral, many people in the business agree.
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“It is a good moment to be a writer. The Nepali society is in a flux. There are multiple facets of transition and conflict. If we observe carefully, there are stories all around us. What we need is a rigor to explore it,” says Prashant Jha, who is currently working on a long format non-fiction narrating the political changes and transformation of Nepali society, due to be published by Penguin next year. Jha is a political analyst and columnist for the weekly Nepali Times on current affairs. “Like every other sectors, a new generation of writers is coming out with a diverse range of texts but it is too early to call it a critical mass and the contents are at a very nascent stage too,” he adds.
Like Jha puts it, it is not that the developments have not taken place but one of the traits of this development is that the so called ‘critical mass’ is limited to a few books and few columns here and there but the collective form of this baby industry is yet to mature from the standard literary gossip. “Humiliation is the call of the hour and we should be focused on producing more. Things are already in place, the infrastructure and the market is developing and we have the imagination.”
Jha believes that there should be nothing should stop this small mass. But so far as the critical mass is concerned, it is like making the same mistake of calling Nepal a post-conflict society. It is too early, he opines.
Commenting further on the literature that’s filling mainstream space these days, Jha says, “It’s too early to dissect what the breeding circle’s ideas and aspirations are but the demonstration of a western sensibility in lifestyle, a liberal democratic stance and sympathy only to certain agendas, while otherwise protesting Maoist violence can be strongly felt.”
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Speaking in the same resonance as Jha, an amused and a little bemused Prawin Adhikari, 28 shortly before leaving for a secluded month in Kolkata says, “Let’s accept it. Firstly, there’s a dearth of writers which cannot compensate the representation factor at all and secondly, opportunities and platform even for the limited (shows quotes in air) ‘critical mass’ are non-existent.” While in Kolkata, he is set to translate a report on Dalits in the Constituent Assembly but what he’d really like to be doing is write observational prose, the kind of work that sets him aside from the rest.
But side projects are how Adhikari and the likes are funding themselves for their dream project and livelihood. “I have been sitting down on my previous works for a long time now but side-projects keep me occupied,” says Adhikari who just finished writing scripts for Alok Nembang and Tsering Rhitar. And yet it is hard. “My column in The Kathmandu Post is the only source of steady income and that’s a meager amount which just takes care of my transportation. There is no support, opportunity or whatsoever.”
“An entire generation is quiet,” a versatile Adhikari rather counters the idea of a critical mass. He adds, “And what is published reflects the mediocre state of our times. There is space in the media and that space needs to be filled. The quality of language and the content is a proof of that aloofness, with which the spaces are being filled. There is no room for serious, thoughtful and intense work. I am ashamed of some of my works too.”
So what is the quiet generation doing? Adhikari is quick to respond, “They are all scattered and have buried their innate passion and working for donor agencies and the likes. It’s funny how the elite circle make up the writing and reading circles and attend workshops and interaction programs while the people they have hired to do report writing and all can actually write better than them.” The frustration against the critical mass is clear. To such an extent that, Adhikari even wards off the potential market talk, new voices and royalty issues as pointless. “Don’t hope!” he says.
Adhikari, who works as a columnist, screenwriter and short-story teller comes from a typical middle class family and has gone through lots of ups and downs in his life. A US returnee, he has sacrificed many lucrative opportunities to pursue his literary dreams and a freewheeling soul and contrary to his counterparts who write only in English, Adhikari switches from native to foreign with quite an ease. “Nepali language has its own style of expressionism, the form of which is completely different from what one would find in English. Writers should understand the delivery mechanism because at the end of the day, we can only express if we understand the medium better.”
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The criticism that the Nepali writers who write in English fail to address the genuine issues or even in the case of representation is a genuine concern. For a complex make-up of our society, this criticism matters more as writers try to explore the layers that the nation and the people hold especially when we have a charcoaled background of socio-political turmoil as there could be a tendency among writers to go ‘trendy’ and glamorize their contents. Books written in English travel far and wide and help shape opinion for many people across the world and published literature of any kind become the first step of understanding and henceforth, the perception.
But for Aditya Adhikari, opinion editor of an English-language Nepali daily in Kathmandu who has been closely following the recent developments in writing, this almost ‘gimmicky’ criticism is pointless. This 28 year old feels that the English writing community is a visible population but he acknowledges the divide and the weak exposure of Nepali Literature among this circle. “English language is being internalized however and it is no different from Nepali language.” Compared to a decade back or so, the issues that the writers cover these days have surely expanded and so has the reflection of state of things and the command of language. While side-trappings of a literary development are awakening a network of writers like never before in the history of Nepal, there have been significant changes in the society itself and the roots of the current impact can be traced back to a distant past. “Writing has and will always change the society,” he adds.
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As intellects and writers speak on reaching a critical mass and think tanks draw nation stirring debates, important developments in writings, both in English and Nepali which challenge the status quo can be felt in the post election Nepal. Hegemony issues have never seen the light of the day as it does now and with the rise in the middle class and talks of a larger socio-economic setting, the flood gates have been opened and the goals set seem to be clear – achieve capital (social, cultural, economical) hegemony in a society segregated by caste, ethnicity, class and gender. But an imminent threat it seems looms under these developments as well. Jha points out, “Writing has a lot of structural micro factors which is gradually coming into place but we should not forget that for a large part of the readership, the medium of communication is still in Nepali and they form the critical mass instead.”
For the English speaking and writing circles, there are big questions yet to be answered – Are these the voices of New Nepal? Do the topics, texts and authors lend an emancipating voice of their non-English speaking counterparts? “For now, the scene is still underdeveloped, even infrastructure wise and the readership and diversity in writing are not as much as expected. Media drives the thought pattern with limited stories but the evolution can be felt,” says Aditya. Both in fiction and non-fiction, there is an increase in diversity of the voices and the themes and there are more established names which could command a potential market in the not so distant future. What we should be proud of is that the issues that once were a topic of discussion in the fringes of society have now taken center stage and there is a sincere effort to deliver systematic analytical writing, be it fiction or not. But as Marx observed, “the ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.”
And for now the young write…
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