| ashu |
Posted
on 17-Oct-01 05:44 AM
The reception at Yak'n'Yeti thrown by Penguin India Books to launch Manjushree Thapa's book was fabulous: Everybody who is anybody in Kathmandu's topmost literary/social/political/media circles was there -- catching up with old friends, sipping wine, exchanging business cards with new acquaintances, picking on
tasty little appetizers and so on.
(Of course, I used the party as an occasion to promote our gbnc.org site to a
few writer types, encouraging them to post their thoughts and take part in debates and discussions here . . . who knows, they may already be lurking
here!)
Sher Bahadur Deuba was the guest of honor as was Indra Bahadur Rai. Manju herself gave a short speech. All 70 signed copies of the book were immediately sold out, with the hapless Penguin people cursing themselves for not bringing a lot more copies.
A small 16-person dinner afterward -- thrown by the author's parents to celebrate the occasion -- at a Thai restaurant went on till midnight, with Himal's Basanta Thapa and drama-director Sunil Pokharel doing khatara vocal imitations of Bacchu Kailash, Deep Shrestha and Narayan Gopal.
Kudos to Manju, who now has a literary agent, on this success, and all the best
as she goes on to write more books in years to come!!
*****************
Though I was not there, Darjeeling-based writer Indra Bahadur Rai's presentation at Martin Chautari last Saturday seems to have been a disappointment. Apparently, he was attacked by some leftist writers (Bimal Nibha, Shaymal and the rest) for being too esoteric.
But my own meeting with Rai, I di not find him to be esoteric. He laughed
easily, and it was clear to me he is a well-read man who has thought hard and
long about Nepali societies. I enjoyed meeting him, and came away, on the whole, quite impressed. Indeed, it was my honor to meet him and do guff-suff with
him.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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