Born and raised in Lainchaur in Kathmandu, he moved to the United States when he was 21. But his love for writing started early on since he was a child. A fiction writer, he’s passionate about writing both short stories and novels.
His first literary work was a collection of short stories called “Arresting God in Kathmandu.” It was then followed by the novel “Guru of Love,” another short story collection entitled “The Royal Ghosts,” and then a novel, “Buddha’s Orphans.”[break]
The Week’s Nistha Rayamajhi met the author to talk more about his writing venture.
Keshab Thokar
What made you go into writing?
Since I was a kid, I used to write in both Nepali and English. But I didn’t know that one could become a writer that people would want to read until I went to the States. I went there when I was 21 and thereafter went through various stages of becoming a writer. I did my under-graduation in English and then studied journalism in my Masters. But my professional writing had already started in Nepal when I worked as a journalist for two years. I worked as an assistant editor in the early 90s for a year and a half at Travelers Nepal which published a number of tourism and travel magazines. I used to write columns for The Kathmandu Post as well. So I thought I wanted to be a journalist but I ended up taking a creative writing class in Ohio University and that’s when I knew that I wanted to take up writing seriously.
What inspired you to write?
Just observing human nature inspires me. While saying so, I also wish to add that all writers do want to be published, and I have been writing articles for a long time. I also started writing stories for journals as well. Getting published in journals is pretty competitive because usually a literary journal accepts one story out of 400 or 500 submissions made to each of them.
Do you give messages through your writing?
I don’t think I write to give out any particular message, and I usually leave it to the readers to comprehend. But I do hope that they will be moved when they read about various characters that I write about even when the characters are not so good.
What kinds of subjects do you incorporate in your stories?
I’ve been interested in a lot of family issues, how family dynamics operate, and I’m also interested in how family dynamics operate within a larger, political, social sphere of a country. All this time, my backdrop has been Nepal. I’m interested in various kinds of suffering that people go through, so I think these are the issues that I want to explore more. Writers are observers of people in general, so I try to understand and also incorporate human psychology in my stories.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
I’ve stopped calling it writer’s block because I don’t find that phrase useful. When I think of that phrase, I think of a block so it becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. So when you say that you have writer’s block, you don’t write, and then that can further suppress the idea that you already have had. Some days I write well, some days I don’t write that well. There are various strategies, and it depends on how I deal with it.
Firstly, you need to know yourself as a writer. Sometimes I just walk away from what I’m writing and do something unrelated to it, like reading a book, watch TV or movies. So that helps sometimes. So, in that way, I use different approaches and there’s not one solution. But I think writers shouldn’t fear writer’s blocks because you have to go through that difficulty to find something good.
How do you manage time to read?
It’s hard because I’m a Professor, and I end up reading a lot of my students’ work and I have to prepare for my classes as well, and I read a lot for that, too. But I always have books by my bedside, and whenever I find time, I just read.
Do you prefer writing short stories or novels?
I used to consider myself a short story writer and I didn’t fully understand the novel form. So it was hard for me to write a novel. But I think I’ve learnt quite a lot and got interested in writing novels as well. My first book was a short story collection, and then a novel was published, and then came short stories and again a novel. Technically, I should be writing short stories but this time it’s a novel. I’m already done writing it and the cover is being designed now.
What were the struggles like back then when you were in a new place?
There was a lot of struggle when I was in the States as a student. After “Arresting God in Kathmandu” was published, people started to know me all of a sudden and they thought that I had it easy. I was a very (financially) poor student in America for a long time. There was a long time when I was just eating Ramen noodles, and this lasted till my graduate years. When I was in grad school, there was one time when I couldn’t pay my rent and I was crashing into my different friends’ places every two weeks.
I wouldn’t be comfortable staying in one place for long; then I would just move on. I had two suitcases at that time and I got so tired of them that I then used to carry a garbage bag and stuffed my clothes in it. I was like a homeless man walking the streets as I was a student. So I went through financial challenges for years and I also struggled with publishing later on. I had only published a few short stories and not a novel, but I never gave up.
How often do you travel to Nepal?
For the last four years, I’ve been coming to Nepal every year with two or three graduate students with a project called “Writer in the World.” So they come here with me and get cultural experiences and also accompany me to writing workshops conducted here. This time, too, I had a few workshops at colleges and it was a great experience to interact with students here.
Do you have any suggestions for upcoming writers?
I think if people want to become writers, there’s no getting around the fact that they simply have to read a lot. I encountered quite a few writers here who haven’t read that much. I was a voracious reader and that’s what helped me. I used to read everything from Nepali, Hindi to English novels, commercial literature – just everything that I could lay my hands on.
Upadhyay’s five picks
Sweetness by Torgny Lindgren
This one was a recent discovery. I have a few Swedish friends and that’s how I got to read this novel. This is about two brothers who live next door to each other but who are also arch enemies. It’s a short wonderful novel about how this particular moment comes to their lives and serves as a messenger. It has a different storyline which makes you want to read more as you turn the pages.
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Mistry is a Parsi writer who grew up in Mumbai and who now lives in Canada. This one is a thick novel and it’s about four characters forced to live together in Mumbai. It’s a great novel about the suffering of lower class in this region. I actually nominated this book for a prestigious prize of US$50,000, and Mistry won it. I had the honor of introducing him at the prize ceremony as he has been my model since I started writing and I’ve always admired him. So I was very happy when I got a chance to meet and chat with him.
Collected Stories by William Trevor
He’s an award-winning Irish writer who’s considered the master of the short story form. He’s been another great influence on me in terms of writing short stories. I find his writing similar to mine, as he also writes a lot about families and social dynamics. This collection includes profound stories that are gripping as well as entertaining to read.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
This novel has also been made into a movie featuring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It’s actually a novel about a butler who represses his own emotions while he serves his master who is a Hitler supporter. It’s a wonderful novel, not a big one, but very compact and a lot has been achieved in it in a very short period of time. I love how it’s constructed and I actually have been teaching this novel to my graduate students.
Beyond the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
It’s a non-fiction book that I read recently. She’s an author who writes for The New Yorker magazine, and this book even won the Pulitzer Prize in the States this year. The book is about this slum next to the Mumbai airport, and the writer does a marvelous job of storytelling. She selects a few characters from the slum and manages to bring them alive. Near the slum, there’s a high life that’s surrounding the airport and five-star hotels. It’s a contrast to extreme poverty that these slum dwellers are living in. It’s not just about poverty, and she makes them really hopeful, and that’s what I like.
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