| ashu |
Posted
on 10-Jan-01 09:31 PM
The second MONTHLY sahitya discussion series,
this time featuring Darjeeling's Indra Bahadur
Rai's novel "Aja Ramita Cha" went well at Martin
Chautari the other night.
Some of the discussants
were: Khagendra Sangraula, C K Lal, Bimal Nibha,
Manjushree Thapa, Basanta Thapa, Narayan Dhakal
and others. Established though these writers are,
they later said that they appreciated hearing
the free, frank and brutal first-hand-impressions of non-sahityakaars on reading this famous novel.
This series, deliberately run by NON-sahitykaars
(i.e. economists, bankers, etc) to acquaint
themselves and their peers with
the best works of Nepali literature on a
one-book-a-month basis, is now gearing up for its
third presenation in February with
BP Koirala's novel "Narendra Dai".
Though at first, I found "Aja Ramita Cha" tough
going, I was able to appreciate it, in part
because of SJP's urging, the second
time around.
Rai is indeed a master writer,
and the novel reminded me of a Robert Altman
movie: with multiple casts, complex, simultanously
running multiple stories within the main plot,
and lyrical language. Reading the novel the
second time around, I felt as though I were
living in the same neighborhood in which
the characters lived: observing their families,
interests and twists and turns in their lives.
Rai's achievment is remarkable indeed. I now
strongly recommend this book -- written well
before Rai's Aayemli movement in 1961 --
to all.
oohi
ashu
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