170919 Wonders of Nepalbhasha Sahitya Nakhaa

Razen Manandhar
It must be around two years and a half I was in Nepal (that is, Khas language) Literary Festival, and I was not only overwhelmed by the craze of the youngsters to their mother language literature but I was jealous also. I was thinking why people of my community were not interested to preserve their language and read literature in their mother language? Helpless and restless, I jotted a fantasy essay, with all satirical elements that I visited a Nepalbhasha literary festival in my dream.

Now, the news came as a pleasant surprise that Nepalbhasha Times, a daily in Nepalbhasha finally was venturing a similar event in near future. I was more than excited. I had a reason to be. I wanted to see writers, readers and other activists coming to the same pedestal, for the same reason and with the same goal - of preserving and promoting our literature.

A meeting was held, may be a month ago and I was also invited. The tentative programme was out; something would have to be changed later, still. I suggested them to make it more inclusive, with more participants from Patan and Bhaktapur. And I took some initiative to promote it, at least from Facebook, which was in my hands and I could reach thousands in seconds.

I read about that historic literary conference, organized by Chwasapasa, in around 1952 in Hanumandhoka. That was indeed grand and historic but I didn't know if that was also a festival or not. Nevertheless, this was really first festival and had to be historic too.

Gone are the days when our previous generation used to devote their whole life for their language and literature in misery, neglecting their career, future or even their children. Now, time has changed, people first give priority to career, "economic status" and socialization before thinking about things like mother language, community etc. In this connection, bringing people from all classes and generations in something prosaic like literature is not an easy task. Even children of many of highly esteemed writers of Nepalbhasha don't speak their mother language. This is bitter reality. Now, in this situation, organizing a literary festival is just little more than a fantasy, I must say. The task was to make it some showy, extravaganza, to attract younger generation with limited budget and human resources, and also to show off, may be, to the Newars who look down at our own mother language and of course, to the people from other community and the state. That was the reason, the historic royal palace of Patan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was chosen, though it was extremely expensive. At least that has to be done, as much as possible.

The day came. It was quite sunny and exciting. Young volunteers of Nepalbhasha Times were busy from early hours. The pedestal was set, chairs with purple covers were arranged and some half a dozen tables were arranged outside for book-stalls, and, of course, some food stalls were also made in the inner courtyard.

The usual dhimey melody echoed in the historic palace. The merry-loving Newars play their drums almost every day, this is not a new thing. But this time, the musical troupe welcomed the two writers and special guests to the courtyard of the 16th century Malla palace, which was heavily modified in the course of restoration.

The formal inauguration took place. Respected Sri Staya Mohan Joshi inaugurated the event. Two lucky books, "The Poster" by Malla K Sunder and "Basanta" by Basanta Chaudhary were released. The former was released by Sarubhakta Shrestha, the chancellor of Nepal Fine Music and Performing Arts Academy and the latter by Satya Mohan Joshi and Chitta Ranjan Nepali, the chancellor of Nepalbhasha Academy.

Malla is a known writer and critic of Nepalbhasha literature, this is his third book, probably. This time he has come up with a theme of the bitter reality of corruption that comes with so-called Nepal's democracy. On the top of it, the well-known industrialist Chaudhary made a history by writing poetry in Nepalbhasha. It was in fact his poetry translated in Nepalbhasha. It is significant that few Nepali (Khas) writers have shown interested to have their works translated in local Nepali languages. And this was his daring and appreciable step. His speech was also equally impressive.

Apart from giving his appreciation for the two books, Joshi also sought people's attention to the historic, religious and cultural significance of Krishna Mandir.

Crowd to get signature from two authors was exemplary. Half a dozen stalls for books were made, but selling of books of Nepalbhasha was as depressing as ever.  We love our language but we don't love our books, I have to say. However, Madan Krishan Shrestha took opportunity to sell his book in Khas-Nepali. And interestingly, those Newar readers, who often frown to buy Nepalbhasha books, were seen buying that Khas book (which was said to be sold at higher price than usual market price). We are all hypocrites.

Quite a long and tedious waiting in the burning sun ended with Prof. Prem Shanti Tuladhar's keynote speech on the history of Nepalbhasha literature. The programme was organized in beautiful, green and historic Bhandarkhal Garden. With shades of tall trees and flovour of Newari cuisine beside the venue, the experience of talking about literature in that atmosphere was quite a new experience for all of us.

Despite of some early criticism in social media, the keynote speech was delivered in Khas Nepali language, with a hope that non-Newars also would join to know about Nepalbhasha's linguistic heritage but, quite ironically, hardly any from out-of-the-Newar community were present in the programme.

I myself had an opportunity to be one of the panelists along with senior writers like Bhushan Prasad Shrestha, Sulochana Manandhar and Dhrubha Madhikarmi; and it was moderated by Suresh Kiran. The topic was future of Nepalbhasha literature. I was asked about new trend of posting poems directly in Facebook. It was quite encouraging that we started the tradition of panel discussion. However, as it happens most of the time in similar situations, the time was short and we had so many things to discuss on this issue. We can say, it opened a door to world of discussion.

Next session was moderated by poet Nabin Chitrakar. The participants were noted writers of Khas Nepali language who belong to Newar community. Panelists were Shreeom Shrestha Rodan, Sneh Saayami and Jaleshwari Shrestha. If I understood it properly, the session meant to ask them why Nepalbhasha literature is not getting momentum in the present day society. It should not have been a place for them to justify why they did not write in Nepalbhasha. However, it gave a platform for Nepalbhasha readers to understand the reality of the "Nepali" literary world for Newar-based writers. They shared their experience of writing in Khas Nepali language. The old question - whether to stick to mother language alone or to try in other languages for the sake of wider readership - rose again.

Then started the long-awaited session - of symposium. A total of 18 writers recited their essays and poems. Among them were Durga Lal Shrestha, Purna Baidhya, Bhushan Prasad Shrestha, Narmadeshwar Pradhan,  Pratisara Sayami, Sudhir Khwabi, Rajani Mila, Shakya Suren, Saurab Shakya, Rajbhai Jakami, Sharad Kasa, Hridaya Prasad Mishra, Kesh Ratna Shakya, Nabin Prakash Shrestha, Raj Sayami, Bharat Maharjan, Suraj Bir Bajracharya and Surendra Tuladhar. We knew it was getting dark and some writers had to go back as far as Bhaktapur. But many of the writers had gone, when it was the time to give away tokens of love to them. All are busy, even poets at symposiums. They have patience just to wait for their turn to recite and earn some customary claps. But they didn't have time to listen to others and learn, or, at least, be inspired.

I was not sure how the participants were selected. What I thought was that some of them should not have been there. And, no wonder, some emerging poets showed dissatisfaction that they were not selected in recitation programme, even those, who did not frequently participated in other symposiums,  showed interest to participate. This was a positive note from the festival.

And finally, as the fresh evening darkened, the band "Kutumba" completed their stage preparation. Unexpected mass gathered at the courtyard, from where, god knows.

Pabira Kasaa and Rita Maharjan added flavour in the crowded audience with some sizzling numbers, mainly by Durga Lal Shrestha. And, finally, the audience was rocked with the traditional drums, played differently by artists of Kutumba. Some popular folk-numbers like Rajamati turned the whole courtyard into a dance floor. Congratulations, the organizers and the participants !