आज चैत्र १६,२०६८ बिहिबार(March 29,2012)-THE NEW PAPER (English Daily)को मध्यपृष्ठमा छापिएको मेरो अन्तर्वार्ता । (अन्तर्वार्ताकार शिखर घिमिरे । साहित्यिक नाम-शिखर आरोहण ।)

The Narrative of borderlands

                                           By Shikhar Aarohan

(Published in March 29, 2012 in THE NEW PAPER)

When Nayan Raj Pandey was in his mid teens, his father, a schoolteacher, decided he should study science. Pandey had to struggle with his father who harbored the belief that Pandey should not be a writer. One day, his father got his diary full of poems. "What is this? What are you writing?" He asked. "Poems," Pandey said softly.  He lowered his head meekly only to see torn pages of his diary on the floor. "I was shocked, terrified and tongueless. The first manuscript of my life was torn into pieces," Pandey remembers.

The decision his parents made to send him to Kathmandu for higher studies was "a cool decision," Pandey recalls. "When I came to Kathmandu to pursue my higher studies, I started meeting poets and other writers," Pandey remembers, "The zeal for seeing my name printed in magazines made me a writer." Although his father did not want him to be a writer, his mother was in his favor. "Well," his mother said, "you can write but don’t forget to score well in exams too."

Born in Kathmandu, Pandey came back to Kathmandu again after completing his intermediate studies in Law. Before joining Law studies, he was admitted to a science college by his father. However, he did not pass any exams. He then decided to join the faculty of law without informing his parents.

"I didn't tell my father that I dropped out," he remembers, "Instead I joined the faculty of law secretly as I thought studying law was easy." But, it wasn't long before his parents came to know about it. When he wanted to go to Kathmandu for his higher studies, at the age of 20, his father opposed. "You ruined my dreams," Pandey's father said, "You don't need to go to Kathmandu."

Pandey was dismayed by his father's decision. "I remembered sufferings of heroes in the movies I had watched," Pandey says, "The patience of those heroes gave me strength." To his surprise, his father came to him the next morning and said, "I will give you only two thousand rupees if you want to go to Kathmandu. And never expect a penny from me." Pandey took off to Kathmandu in a bus with the money. He dreamt of being a hero in Kollywood, a scriptwriter, director for films and a writer with his names printed in bold in literary magazines.

"I didn't ask a penny after that from my father," He says, "I started struggling to be a writer I wanted to prove him that a writer means a lot." This self-esteem of him made him a writer. Now, Pandey is waiting to release his fifth novel, Loo. "I rewrote the novel six times," he says, "I completely surrendered to the story I wanted to tell."

"The novel is a story of a village in Terai," he explains about his forthcoming novel, "the problems of people, the culture, socioeconomic change, criminal activities, natural calamities, dirty politics, love in young age and border issues are the main themes Loo is based on." Pandey gained a huge popularity for his novel Ular, published thirteen years ago which is also based on the scenario of Terai. "Writing is something very strong," Pandey says, "It has the strength to make a writer forget himself and enjoy the characters he is developing."

"I basically wrote film-scripts for my survival," he says. However, Pandey is not satisfied with the current film industry and films made. "Nepali films are copy cat of Hindi films," he says, "Some recent films are copies of Hollywood movies." Pandey regards the poor economic status as the main reason for poor and copied Nepali films. "But the literary writing is serious," he says. His novels and stories are examples of his own statement. "I am not into literature for hand-to-mouth purpose," he clarifies, "to write scripts for films, I am always in a hurry as a result of which I can't deliver the best in me."

After Pandey signed with the publisher for his upcoming novel, he felt completely stressed. "I had just jotted the words but wasn't sure that it could be a good novel," he says, "I again remembered the hard life of those heroes of films I watched in my childhood." The patience, labor and dedication, after all, resulted to shape a book he had wished for.

"I usually pick the issues of Terai and borderlands as I spent most of my life in Nepalgunj," he says, "My writings are thus focused on stories I have experienced." Pandey writes for his own satisfaction and is more satisfied with the developing trend of Nepali literature.

"Reading culture has also drastically changed," he adds, "A writer needs to be honest in his writings to inspire his readers." Pandey remained silent for a minute. Perhaps, he thinks of the protagonist of Loo, Elaiya. Is he honest with the characters in his novel? "Yeah, I have tried my best to be honest and natural with the scenario that our borderland is facing these days," he answers. Pandey never took rewriting his novel for six times as a burden.

But, when he carried the manuscript, he remembered his father tearing his first manuscript into pieces. "I think my father would be the happiest man and change his perspectives on writing if he was alive," Pandey says.

He adds, "My dream to be a writer is fulfilled but the dream to see my father happy reading my novels remained incomplete forever."