Bhattarai likes to describe his writing style as fiction which is based on nonfiction as some of the characters of his story have been inspired by his experiences and interaction with people he comes across from different walks of life. [break]The character thus ranges from a student, a diplomat, a volunteer to some random musician. His stories give glimpses of abstractness and it captures the pain and sorrow that his characters witness while traveling abroad. His approach is a borderline between travel essays and stories blended out of experience with his cosmopolitan views that mix diverse characters and cultures of various countries.
Photo Courtesy : Amod Bhattarai
“I haven’t written these stories with the thought of setting a new trend and some of the stories may raise questions regarding the limitations of writing travelogue-based stories,” says the writer who attempts to strike a balance between the imaginative and the real world.
His three collections of stories in Nepali, including poems, have already been published and have been featured in magazines. His short story titled “I heard the cock crow” has even been included in a textbook of compulsory English for the Bachelors of Education students under Tribhuvan University.
For the first time in a book form, his anthology of short stories titled “Chapters,” which has been translated into English by Prawin Adhikari, is due to be published in February by Promilla & Co, an Indian publishing house, which has its publishing house in New York as well. The compiled articles include nineteen selected stories out of sixty which the author explains is basically fictional travel narratives.
The Week met the writer to talk more about his journey into writing and his writing style.
How did you venture into writing?
My great grandfather was a schoolteacher and a writer as well and had even translated The Ramayana and Shrimad Bhagwat. My father had also established The National Library in Kathmandu 45 years back. So education and writing were always considered important in my family. That’s how I was attracted to writing since my early age and it’s not like someone forced me or asked me to write but it just came naturally to me. When my article was published for the first time, I got encouragement from my family to continue.
Why do you prefer short stories and what inspires your storylines?
It takes a lot of time to write a novel, so maybe it’s also because of the time factor that I chose to write short stories. Sometimes it has also happened that I wrote something that was on my mind and it turned out to be a story. I like poetry as well but I write that very occasionally. Most of my stories have been based outside of the country where the main character goes out of Nepal to countries like China, Afghanistan, Cambodia and the US, among others. When I wrote the stories, I had never been to any of those countries although later I did visit a few places. When I started writing stories, there was no Internet to research. So I basically wrote the stories by interviewing family members or through interaction with those who have had been abroad. But I’ve also created fictional characters.
What inspires you to write?
Nothing and nobody has inspired me as such but I got a lot of encouragement from family members and editors of literary magazines. Firstly, I write for my own satisfaction. But after it’s published, that becomes a public thing. Earlier, I used to be ready to publish anything but right now I’ve become a bit critical of my own work because after you become established, fear and a sense of responsibility comes along. I still remember how an editor once told me that after you are an established writer, the blame comes to you rather than the editor. So that was something inspiring to me. I want to produce quality works. That’s why though I write poems on a regular basis, my stories come after a long span these days, after four years or even more. My recent story was published in 2011 after eight years.
How was your experience like when your story was published for the first time?
It was in 1984 when my first story was out in Madhuparka which was a very popular literary magazine back then as there were hardly two or three magazines. I was so excited that I went all the way from Kupondole to New Road on my bicycle to grab a copy of it. It was out in a special issue on young writers and my photograph was even there. The story that was published was titled “Taak” which means button and was an abstract story. There was a huge competition during those times, which is why it was a big deal for me as there are plenty of options for writers to be published now. Even today I feel happy whenever my story is published.
How has your writing evolved over the years?
I personally feel there’s been a tremendous change in my writing style over the years. Sometimes I even feel uncomfortable when I read my old stories but I have kept such stories in my new collection as well as it shows how my writing has or hasn’t improved with time. I feel that if I write now in the theme which I chose earlier, I won’t able to write more standard stories. Before, my length used to be too short and now I’ve worked on the length as well, and my stories have become more descriptive.
Do your stories have messages to convey to the readers?
My stories are not moral stories and they end abruptly and are left for the readers to decide. So what I’m trying to tell them is that the story hasn’t ended and I leave the readers to imagine and continue with their perception of what the story is about. That’s my style. Although my stories don’t convey moral messages, sometimes it captures the pain of the character and maybe people can relate to it as well.
Who are the authors that you look up to?
I was inspired by BP Koirala’s stories and Shanker Lamichhane is my other favorite writer. When I was in my twenties, such old writers inspired me and they still do. But after post-modernism, many writers emerged so the list of my favorites keeps changing. Talking about today’s writers, I feel that many youth have emerged as good writers and thus it becomes hard to pick a name since there are countless of them who have written inspiring stories.
What do you think of the literary scene?
In the context of Nepal, I’m sorry to say but I feel that even in literature there’s groupism and it sometimes becomes syndicated. It’s often that a person praises certain writers and that just revolves and is limited to a certain circle. Even in literary papers and newspapers, we can see the same circle of people being published every now and then. I feel that new good writers should get opportunity as well so that they get heard.
Do you have suggestions for aspiring writers?
I don’t know if I’m in a position to suggest. But as a writer, I believe that those who are keen about writing should continue writing what they feel like. Writing is a powerful tool to express yourself, so you should be able to explore your creative side as well. It’s also very important to read because without knowing facts, you can’t just make baseless arguments. So read to the maximum and write.
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A writer by profession, Prawin Adhikari mostly writes fiction and a couple of his screenplays have been produced while one of it is in its pre-production stage. His debut collection of short stories is due to be published in 2013 by Rainlight, a division of Rupa Publications in Delhi.
He wrote regular Sunday columns for The Kathmandu Post in 2008 and 2009 and has also translated Suvash Darnal´s "Land of our own" into English which was published by the London School of Economics. He has also translated essays for a few of the photo.circle publications.[break]
He had read some of Bhattarai’s stories in Garima and Madhuparka magazine as a child. It was through a common acquaintance that he approached him in 2008 which led him to translate Bhattarai’s short stories into English. He translated most of the stories in 2008 and rounded off the collection with a new set of stories in early 2012.
Bhattarai’s stories are atypical, compared to the sort of fiction that readers generally read. According to Adhikari, Nepali short fiction tends to follow the archetypes set by O. Henry and Maupassant. The more progressive stories are of the Marxist or Feminist bent, but it’s rare to see fiction for the sake of fiction where invention and ethics come together.
Some of Bhattarai’s stories will read like non-fiction or investigative reporting, with their details about conflicts and their humanist concerns. Some will appear still relevant – like the story on Sudan. Some will seem curiously dated – like the story on China. But all will appear as wonderfully imagined works of fiction.
Adhikari hopes that more Nepali writers will take the initiative to have their work translated, and be picked up by international publishers in future. He believes that Nepali fiction will be limited in its scope and influence if it can´t reach readers in other languages. He’s of the opinion that Bhattarai’s book will start a good trend in Nepali fiction.
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