By Uday Adhikari
Shraddha Ghale, a new entry into Nepali English Literature has recently come up with a novel The Wayward Daughter. It is a Tamule family saga. Gajey is an assistant manager at the Electricity Corporation. He believes in hardworking. His belief in the Hindu pantheon and Hinduism surprises his wife Premkala alarmingly. She fails to understand how a tribal man from Lugla surrenders himself to the power of numerous gods and goddesses. Tamuleji is a self-made man. He, time and again, offers the teaching of hardworking and honesty but his life philosophy often falls on deaf ears. He doesn’t find any subscriber to his self-made philosophy even within his own family.
Tamuleji follows the pace of time well. He labors unendingly to make unfavorable situations favorable. His eyes are on Premkala, a widow landlady’s daughter and he never misses any moment to be close to her. His chance comes with certain risk when Premkala’s brother Rajan asks him to lend his room for one night as his lover, a Chettri girl Shanti, has to be hidden from her family as she knows her parents will never let her marry a matwali. Tamuleji’s favor bears fruit and his presence amid landlady’s family is accepted.
Tamuleji joins an NGO for better future. Before leaving his job with the Electricity Corporation, he contemplates deeply about the new job. New job brings a kind of prosperity a very few people are blessed with. Tamuleji’s name is taken with great respect back home. He is among the very few people from Lugla, in the far-eastern part of Nepal who made their ways in Kathmandu. He is benevolent and ready to help his people. His kind heart sometime becomes a cause of discordance between husband and wife, as Premkala has to manage the family in the city’s pace.
Tamuleji seems to be a satisfied man with his achievements. A house in the capital, a lucrative job with an NGO, a lover-turned wife Premkala, and two daughters studying at very reputed English boarding school were reasons for his joy. A successful journey from Lugla to Kathmandu demands well-planned research.
Besides narrating a very successful story of Gajey, the novel also presents a true love story. Love stories sound sweet when we read but it brings a crisis in traditional families like ours in Nepal. Gajey’s love for Premkala sours his relationship with his father forever. His father was of the opinion that Premkala’s caste does not match his own. Gajey is forgiven, as he does his best to provide some privilege to his family back home.
Premkala’s brother falls for a Chettri girl. This does not amuse Boju, Premkala’s mother who feels her son has been stolen from her by this cunning Chettri girl. Both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law come open into conflict and the mother-in-law moves to Premkala’s house permanently.
Sumnima, an elder daughter of Gajey, and Premkala starts dating Sagar Karky, a radio junky and her love story till the end of the novel is in limbo. And one thing is very surprising: why all the love stories happen to be inter-caste love stories?
It is a sociological story, too. The questions of caste and class are well thought of. Small children Sumnima or Luca become anti-Indian because of shortage of kerosene oil as they hear, it is India that blockads everything. Their hatred for the people from Tarai is biased. Political events are used like pickle in a meal. Longing for higher ranks or class runs like obsession in Gajey’s family. The writer describes Gajey’s father this way: “All his life he has struggled to attain the Brahmin’s Godliness. He belongs to the generation of Tamules who embraced the ways of high caste Hindus who ruled over their lives in their myriad avatars. Tamuleji’s father had surrendered himself with zeal of conquest.”
And surprisingly Gajey has inherited his father’s zeal intact. He is a simple or kind man who worships prosperity. He finds prosperity in projects. Here the writer comments: “Tamuleji started seeing through the eyes of foreigner and regretted being a person from a begging country.”
The tussle between Boju (mother-in-aw) and Shanti (daughter-in-law) is the product of prejudices they have for each other.
The novel covers many aspects of social life. Probably Lahure or the Army is the only lucrative term that brings all ethnic people at one place. It is the only success mantra among them. Marrying a Lahure is the prime goal. The following sentence reveals the fact: “How Parvati, so plain and past her prime, had caught such a handsome Lahure Fish!”
It is a problematic novel too. The author raises questions about caste, identity of females and systems. Premkala tries to make herself a grown-up woman by wearing a sari rather than jeans. We clearly find a very strong suppressive feminist voice in her. The following lines reveal her inner self: “She is dumbed as quiet and small whereas anyone with a thing hanging between their legs was ‘sir’ and ‘hajur’.” Another incident that reminds of her stand is this: “Premkala would ride to Kirtipur on a bus packed with men hugging a bag to her chest, wary of the hands and crotches around her.”
Sumnima, Premkala’s daughter encounters Balaram, who alone speaks same feelings as hers. Being a woman in men’s world is not easy. She raises the issue strongly. Sumnima, being a modern girl, still respects the tradition with devotion. She says strong ‘no’ to sex before marriage and her strong ‘no’ she fears, is bound to break relationships and it does.
The description of a faraway village and capital city Kathmandu grips readers’ mind but at the same time, too much detailing stops reader’s imagination and hampers the novel’s spirit too. Intermingling of Nepali words doesn’t break the flow. That is the writer’s strength. By producing such vibrant piece of social reality, Shradha Ghale has joined the main-stream of Nepali English Writing.
The novel ends without warning. It means there will be a sequel in the offing. Like other readers, I too long for Sumnima’s crush with a real boy with a somewhat bigger nose. The wait continues…
[Adhikari is an Associate Professor of English at Makuwanpur Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, and an acclaimed critic. He has published extensively in the national media and academic journals and has spoken to a wide range of audiences on various critical aspects of Nepali literature. He is also one of the advisers of The Gorkha Times.]