Madan Lamsal's Bitter Sweet

KATHMANDU, April 3: “Let’s sit in shade”, Madan Lamsal, 42, editor and publisher of two business magazines in Nepal stood up at the Eden Food Court, an open rooftop lounge. “I didn’t put sunscreen today.” [break]



The writer, who recently came up with a book, on corporate humor was not being funny. He lifted his stuff and moved to the shaded part of the restaurant before his peach-milk cheeks turned pink.



“I am aesthetic,” he smiled, and his pale-pink phizog became redder with blush. Cartoonist Abin Shrestha perfectly illustrated his feature on the cover page of his book Teeto Mitho, pale and pink face with reddish henna covered toupee.



As Lamsal confessed he was not a born writer. In fact, he flunked his SLC exams. Although he couldn’t convince his father, he was sure for himself that it was for the arts sake. “I was listening to a song “˜Geet gata chal’, which was playing right opposite from our examination center. I was so immersed in the song that I forgot about the paper, completely,” he recalls his youth saga.



Sure, he faced music from his father for flunking and absconded from home one night. One-horn rhinos were rampant in the forest during those days in Chitwan, his hometown. So, he walked the longest possible way through maize fields to reach the highway.



Then, days were not easy in Kathmandu, where he came to reside. Initially, he worked at the Navarang Restaurant near by Sundhara. That is when he realized he should continue his studies.



“I completed my study with good marks thereafter.”



After that he went abroad to study hotel management. He came back to Nepal and opened his own restaurant ““ The Sekuwa Palace. It was there he came in touch with Nepali reporters and developed interest in journalism.






Lamsal, who has now become one of the voices in economic journalism in Nepal, started his career from Basudev Amatya’s The Financial Times.



Talking about his book, Tito-Mitho (translates: Bitter-Sweet), released on March 21, Lamsal said, “Several writers have attempted to write satiric piece on social and political field. But since I’m into business reporting, I wanted to write on corporate topics.”



Lamsal has gone beyond the ordinary and has bared the Nepali business and corporate trends, practices and culture. And about the governance, management, human resource, policies, to name a few.






His collection contains 90 satirical articles mostly published in his business weekly in Nepali language - Aarthik Abhiyan.



"I have read no other such engaging satirical book on Nepali corporate world," commented Biswambher Pyakurel, a senior economist and professor at the Tribhuvan University while releasing the collection.



In fact, in his first installment of the Nepali corporate satire, Lamsal has done justice to the issues that lay silent under the wrap of corporate glitz. The collection is a healthy mix of harsh reality and due satire, which incorporates the keen observation and experiences of Lamsal´s extensive career in economic journalism. It´s bitter and sweet but you will find more in between the pages.