“As a youth, I would not resign to adopted principles of the society,” says Anil Chitrakar, 50, as he reminisces his youthful days. Though his family wanted him to be a job holder, Chitrakar always dreamt of being an entrepreneur.
He says he was born and brought up in a traditional Newar family who were quite well-off and they were against his idea of embarking on a noble venture. [break]
“But I wanted to break the stereotype and lead an independent life,” clarifies Chitrakar.
He always dissented with disparity prevalent in the society and believed that only multi-party democracy couldn’t usher in remarkable changes in the country. That’s why he actively participated in 1979 uprising aimed to eliminate the monarchy.
“I was a student of Amrit Science Campus (ASCOL) then,” recalls Chitrakar. “Sadly, the uprising failed to yield positive results and it ended in a referendum in favor of the then King Birendra.”
Studying in ASCOL, Chitrakar utilized his leisure time trekking to every nooks and crannies of the country.
“I went trekking to places as far as Pokhara,” says Chitrakar, who used to take stock of the people and society during his journey. Visiting different places, he realized how rich Nepal was in terms of natural resources and how sadly they were under-utilized.
It was this understanding that beckoned Chitrakar to opt for technology-related subject after passing out from ASCOL.
A student of physics, he was brilliant and focused in his studies that granted him a scholarship under the Colombo Plan to study engineering in India.
“While in India, I was equally interested in sports and played anything from badminton to basketball,” chuckles Chitrakar. His passion for sports developed within him a spirit to work in a team.
Today, Chitrakar credits his current achievements to the witty decisions he had made during his youthful days.
Chandrakala Kiran
Though she may be of a diminutive physical stature, Chandrakala Kiran (Gurung), 81, stands tall. For she is Nepal’s first woman Secretary since the days of the then His Majesty’s Government (HMG) of Nepal.
Born to Karna Bahadur and Pabitra Devi Mahat, she spent her initial years in the beautiful hills of Kalimpong.
“My parents moved to Kalimpong from Darjeeling after they lost their three children to dysentery,” recalls Kiran.
“I was an avid reader and therefore my mother used to hide books from me,” she adds. Her favorite writers were Shakespeare, Bal Krishna Sama, Surya Bikram Gyawali, and Roop Narayan Sinha. She also used to go to theatres during weekends.
“I was a bit of a prankster, too,” she mentions.
She recalls one incident when all of her friends planned to wear saris for a picnic. She stole a Banarasi sari from her mother’s closet and wore it as she didn’t have one of her own. It got torn to shreds and she would pretend to be studying in her room while trying to stitch the sari. But her mother found out and she was scolded for her misdeed.
A graduate from the University of Oregon, Kiran also have had the opportunity to get trained with Maria Montessori.
“After finishing my Intermediate level, I was summoned to the royal palace by the then Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana. I offered a coin before him, as palace protocol required in such an audience, and bowed to him. Thus I was appointed as a teacher at Padma Kanya Higher Secondary School in Kathmandu,” shares Kiran.
Seeing a dearth of females in the government Ministries, the then government appointed her to the newly established Kitab Khana (now Ministry of Education) and then to the Ministry of Tourism as its Secretary. She was 52 then.
Kiran believes that if civil servants are into politics, a country will have to suffer.
Indira Sapkota
Unlike today’s youth, singing to the tunes of youthful days was a far cry for her.
“We were treated like machines and we couldn’t even cross the perimeter of the house according to our wishes,” recounts Indira Sapkota, 73, who rose from scratch to become a successful entrepreneur and a social worker that she is today.
Sapkota spent her youth at her husband’s place as she was married off at the early age of 13. And by the time she was 20, she already had four children to take
care of.
She opines that she never knew what youthful days were like.
“From the early morning until late at night, I was busy in household chores. Back then, daughters-in-law had to cook sumptuous foods in order to win the hearts of the family members,” says Sapkota, who now operates Nepal Grihini Udhyog for women in Ghatte Kulo, Kathmandu.
While she used to fantasize while watching Indian film actors Rajkumar, Sunil Dutt, Nargis and Madhubala singing and dancing on the screens of cinema halls, she was never permitted to embark on such “immoral” ventures.
“Even to pay a visit to my parents at Ason, I had to wait for festivals,” wonders Sapkota. And when she was allowed, two persons –one male and one female – had to accompany her for the short trip from nearby Dilli Bazaar.
But she was daring enough to defy the odds and pave her own way.
Despite the perception that women ought to be confined to the boundary walls of the house, she started sewing and knitting in her free time. She was ill-treated many times for not resigning herself to the “set of rules.”
“I used to savor the agony by remaining quiet,” Sapkota becomes nostalgic. She had clear visions that she should not abandon her dreams of becoming independent one day at any cost.
“(But) to my utter dismay, I can see that the plights of women haven’t changed much,” sums up Sapkota.
Krishna Dharabasi
His life is much like fiction itself, from living on the streets where he shared his blanket with stray dogs, to his tragic love life, to his much celebrated books – 18 of them to date –and now a happy married life. Krishna “Dharabasi” (Bhattarai), 50, has seen it all.
However, the good old days he spent in his native Jhapa in southeast Nepal are still fresh in his mind.
“I bunked classes and didn’t miss a single movie that played in the nearby theatre,” he recalls. “Even during those days, I would be writing something or the other.” He liked to scribble stories and poems, basically anything that came to his mind from as early as being a fifth grader. Later, in his college, he took up education as his major.
His collegian days were different from today’s college days. “We didn’t dare to even look at girls or sit next to them in class.”
Young Dharabasi started working as a teacher after his college and that is when he experienced his first love.
“I had to sacrifice my love owing to the society, I hope today’s youths are stronger than me to stand by their decisions.”
Undoubtedly, he, unlike most people of his age, does not have a problem with the youth of today or “their ways.”
“Change is inevitable, and societies must change in order to prosper.” The change he is talking about here can be seen in his works, too. He says he writes because he believes literature is powerful and can bring change.
What then is the message he wishes to pass over to the younger lot? He laments that youngsters today fail to see the silver lining over dark clouds, his message being optimism.
“I hear so much news on how young people commit suicide these days. I do understand that life isn’t a bed of roses; but optimism is that one key which will eventually open doors to happiness.”
Coming from a writer of the “Leela Lekhan” school of Nepali fiction and an adherent to the “Bhranti” philosophy of thinking and attitude – a literary movement initiated by Indra Bahadur Rai of the Tesro Ayam epoch in the 1960s in Darjeeling – the convictions of Dharabasi are at least worth considering while reading his books.
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