Dittha ang tandai uthyo ra tallo tallama gayo, jahan surachyartha tainath sipahiharu sutiraheka thiye.
“Ye thyangralto lau uthle. Birmane, Khadge, Ramchandre, tayar hau, timerlai tha chadaicha chamare baunlai Chisapanigadi katara amnuparcha. Ujyalo hunuaghi Thankot katamnai parchha.[break]
“Ko chamare banauna bhanya? Tyota pabitra hoina ra? Sapaile dherai bujheko ra janeko pabitra po bhanthe ta?” Habaldar Ramchandrele prasna garyo.
“Tesko asli nam ta pabitra Balkishna ho kyare.Tara sarkiko sangat garchha re. Sarkile chhoyeko khanchha re. Ani Siri Teen Maharajko gathgadi takera hidekothyo re.”
“Magneko chhorale Siri Tin banna khojera pamcha? Raja banna ta bhaggema lekhera lyamna parchha. Haina ta, Dittha Sap?”
– Page 2, Pretkalpa by Narayan Dhakal; edition 2067 BS (2010/11)
Read the language, the smoothness of the dialect. It’s unique. There are very few Nepali writers who have been able to capture colloquial language so effectively.
Notice the use of ‘Sap’ instead of ‘Sab.’ The words are presented by the writer exactly as they are spoken. He has put himself into the shoes of those characters and is speaking through them. It’s hard to do so without having lived in those times, when the Nepali language was spoken in such manners.
The novel is set during the Rana rule. Here, some army officers are conversing among each other over a supposed culprit named Balkrishna. Reading these lines is like overhearing a conversation, but they also give you a background to the novel.
Balkrishna is being convicted for having defied the caste system. He will soon be punished and jailed. There he will reminisce his life.
In a few lines and a few raw words, Dhakal is painting a picture of the corrupt Rana rule. The junior army officers have been brainwashed, and they live in a confined world where the lines between what is good and what is bad have been smudged by an autocratic regime.
About Usha
She calls herself a rebellious poet. Her poems might be embedded with emotional themes but she affirms that they speak against social injustice. A voracious reader, she believes in buying books rather than borrowing them. She cannot pick one among the many books she has read and says, “I’ve read a lot of books and I tend to carry an image of each one of them.”
At the annual Sajha book exhibition held at the City Hall of Exhibition Road this January, a book with a black and white blurb caught her eye. It was “Pretkalpa” by Narayan Dhakal. She is now on the seventh page of the novel and it has kept her hooked. Chuckling at the perfect dialect in the novel, Sherchan reads out her favorite part (quoted above) until now.
Usha’s five picks
Basanti by Diamond Shumsher
This novel is more than a classic. It encapsulates history. How women had to suffer in the hands of men for their beauty is shown in details in this novel. The struggle for power has been described aptly.
Mahabharat
To understand life, one must read the Mahabharat. Besides being an epic, its characters are very interesting. Each character is representative of a human vice. I’m never tired of reading this Indian classic.
Seto Khyakko Akhyan by Jagdish Shumsher Rana
If you want to improve your Nepali grammar, you should read this historical novel. Rana’s writing is fresh and informative.
Anuradha by Bijaya Bahadur Malla
The mental tension of the characters in this psychological novel touched me most. It’s a very unique love story.
Karagar by Banira Giri
I enjoy reading the novel for its fierce prose and progressive ideas. The woman protagonist is defiant of outdated social norms; her independence is inspiring.
As told to Dikshya Karki
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