“Many of my siblings and family members were traditional Pandits (priests). They did promote education but were against sending children to English medium schools. They called English gai khane bhasa (Beef-eaters’ language). My brother had to go through many discussion series and debates to get me into school,” Manjul said.
With more than dozen of anthologies published, now 63, the prominent poet is not tired yet writing poems, essays and songs.
He was gifted with literature. He loved reading books of Rabindranath Tagore since his early childhood, though he hardly understood many of Tagore’s volumes until he was in his graduation years. As a child, Manjul loved playing football alongside other Nepali childhood games like gotta, huchhi and rumal-lukai. If he was not playing such games, he would either be found bathing twice a day at stone taps in his hometown in Bhojpur or would be found studying books inside a library.
He started writing short poems and plays since he was in class three and became a notable child-writer in his school since he was in grade six. He regards his mother and aunt as his inspirations. Brought up listening to the rhymes and songs from his mother and reading poetic letters from her aunt, Manjul started penning down his own imaginations in his own words.
While he was at high school, one of his elders changed his name from Megh Raj Sharma to Manjul. He had no clue what Manjul meant then. It was only during his intermediate days that he learnt “Manjul” meant “beautiful”.
“I neither planned becoming a poet nor a writer. While at school we used to have writing competitions. The winning prize used to be an ‘Eagle’ notebook. I wanted them dearly. So took part and luckily won most of the competitions. I got many of those notebooks,” the writer chuckled.
The more he started to write the more nostalgic he started to become. At times he even loved daydreaming while sometimes he enjoyed relating his life fictionally. Take for example, Manjul and his friend Sailendra Sakar often visited graveyards, sat besides the graves and tried to understand what the dead body would be feeling. Then they penned down their imaginations.
“I used to get carried away whenever I saw reflection of the sun in water, whenever I heard the humming of the birds inside a dense forest, whenever I saw the twinkling of the stars in a peaceful evening,” he said. “Writing became such a fun and inspirational thing to do that I loved being engrosed in the beauty of imaginations. There have been times, when my family members thought that I was going insane. They even termed me mad and wanted me to stop writing. For me, that was like stopping to breathe.”
At 63, Manjul has many things to recollect from his life. One of his fond memories is his teacher’s support in taking him toward studying literature. He had joined management at intermediate level. His brother wanted him to become a CA (Chartered Accountant). He failed in the exams. It was his teacher who convinced his family to change his faculty to humanities because Manjul was more a possible writer and was an impossible manager.
The writer, who often wrote about nature, love and emotions wrote rebellious pieces while graduating in Dharan. He was even taken to prison at times during the autocratic Panchayat regime. He however used to be released shortly. “I was taken to central jail so many times. However, I started loving to be there with politicians like Bimalendra Nidhi and other activists,” he laughed.
Another fond memory that he loves to recollect is how difficult it was for him to come to Kathmandu to sit for university’s examination.
“There were fewer highways then. To come to Kathmandu from Dharan, we had to pass through Jogmani and Rakshaul of India,” Manjul unveiled.
“God is great. I’ve so many memories to cherish. The best thing I earned so far is the love from so many people of different professions. What makes me feel best is I see dozens
of helping hands coming ahead in times of need. What could be more satisfying than that?”
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