The message in her commentary was powerful enough to provoke an extremist reader into displaying violent behavior. Such recognition can be gratifying in its own way. It is a complement of sorts, though a frightening one, for the power of written words.[break]
It was the element of menace in the reaction, however, that was even more disturbing. In a country where a Uma Singh can get killed or a Tika Bishta attacked for saying much less to a smaller audience, her family and friends have reasons to be worried about her personal safety. However, whoever tried to frighten Sharada probably does not know that the title of her first published poem was “Naharne yoddhalai mero badhai”—my salutations to the unbeatable warrior! That seems to have been the motto of her writing. Behind a rose-complexioned exterior, the poet-commentator hides steely determination of an indefatigable fighter.
Born in Jharkhola of Syangja in 1958, Sharada spent her childhood in the Pokhara Valley. Her sensitivities were probably sharpened in the Lake City where green hills, blue waters, dark clouds, and white peaks create a spell that forces an individual to witness, wonder, withdraw, and discover the inexhaustible sources of energy in the depths of one’s own heart and mind.
She is said to be an introvert. How else can anyone confront deities and demons within to make words flow in the form of powerful prose and poetry?
Sharada studied biology and had probably intended to become a medical doctor, like most middle-class girls of her age. But fate had other plans, and she was married to Narahari Acharya, a Nepali scholar and democratic activist. Sharada then drifted into literature and obtained her Masters Degree in Nepali, writing a thesis on female characters in the novels of BP Koirala. She has worked for various national and international organizations, but has maintained her ceaseless presence in Nepali literature.
Sharada is primarily a poet; but like other contemporary writers, she has also published a collection of short stories, “Aasthako Bhagnabashesh” (Sajha, Kathmandu, BS 2048); a work of literary criticism, “Bishweshwar Prasad Koiralaka Naripatra,” and a book of essays, “Agnisparsha” (Ekta, Kathmandu, BS 2063). Her poetry collections include “Simanta Anubhooti” and “Yudhhoparant”, but she established herself as creator of originality with powerful poems in the collection “Swarnasutra” (Nepal Rajkiya Pragya Pratisthan, Katmandu, BS 2053).
What makes her write? Her answer is simplicity itself: she says she writes to realize. She admits to be an existentialist who loves life and freedom, and seeks to reach beyond expression through the medium of words. Little wonder, she looks so distant even when one is so near her.
It is not just her stanzas; Sharada’s prose, too, is dense and often intriguing. A kind of detached sadness, tinged with optimism, emanates from her poetry. In “Simabadhha”, for example, she laments:
Akshar byartha chhan
Bani byartha chhan
Ghumaura Bataharu byartha chhan
Ankha chimlera
Sojhai ra pratyaksha
Shunyama
Ma Brahmako aadi anta dekhiraheki chhu.
Alphabet is meaningless
So is voice
Roundabout ways are pointless
Eyes closed
Direct and evident
In the void
I can see the beginning and the end of the creator.
Critical acclaim is yet to come her way, but she is perhaps more read than talked about, despite the complexity of her works that bristle with Sanskrit terms.
At a public gathering sometime ago, a young reader was heard complimenting: “Sharadaji, your writing is so poetic. You should’ve been a poet.”
That is the power and reach of newspapers in the newly literate societies. One of the most sensitive poets of our times is threatened for her commentary, and advised by readers to write poetry! Poetry cannot be written; it begins to flow when the mind is ready to receive signals from the heart. And may that happen more often to Sharada Sharma!
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