[Poet, playwright and storywriter Tulsi Thapa was born in 1945 to father Dil Bahadur Thap and mother Uma Devi Thapa in Hetauda, Makawanpur District, Nepal. His signature trademark as a writer lies in his minimalistic poems called ‘seed poems’. His seed poems have inspired an entire generation of poets, who are following this patter. His works published so far include Ek Nimesh (seed poems), Amar Singhko Khojima Amar Singh (plays) and Pharak Aakash (stories). For his contribution to Nepali literature, Mr. Thapa has been honored with Narayani Literary Award, Devkota Memorial Award, Tikadevi Joshi Memorial Award, Gorkha Dakshin Bahu, Education Day Award, Yeti Finance Literary Award, and Certificate of Honor from the President of Nepal. Presented herewith is an interview Uday Adhikari of The Gorkha Times had with Mr. Thapa.]
I saw you in a group photo with renowned writer Parijat in your room. Let’s start our interview with it.
Oh yes ! To me that’s a precious photo I have. Most of us were students of Shree Thakuram College , Birgunj. We curiously gathered there to meet our favourite writer Parijat. It was in 1967 A.D. when she visited Birgunj with her Ralpha friends. Photographer Ram Krishna Amatya snapped that memorable piece. Even at that time he owned an auto camera; so he himself is also seen in the group. Whenever I look at this photo, I feel Parijat is still with us and is writing a new novel.
Tell us more about the formal introduction and literary session you had with Parijat.
I first met Parijat during a literary program at Birgunj. She was escorted on a wheel chair into the hall. We welcomed her joining our hands in namaste posture and said, “Sister, so proud and happy to welcome you here!” In turn, she modestly smiled and said namaste. It was really nice of her to respond to us like that. She stayed at Birgunj for almost a month. Our friend Ganga Bahadur Thapa offered her his guest room near Maistan Square . I got an easy access to visit her and gain her intimacy. We visited her and heard her poems. She was even eager to listen to poems from juniors like us. Her friendly behaviour inspired me a lot. She kept on suggesting us that we should be careful about our skill and efficiency.
Oh, that happened almost five decades back. How was her personality then? Had she already attained her due literary recognition that time?
It is true that no one can reflect his or her identity from appearances. But to our surprise, Parijat’s bright face reflected her literary aura. She had the charm of a lovely flower on her face. After the publication of Sirisko Phool (Mimosa Sirisa) she had become a star writer and we, the youngsters, had become big fans of her writing. Whenever I met her I felt I was with the future of Nepali writing. And I say now I was right then.
Govinda Bhatta, a progressive critic, calls her novel Sirisko Phool ‘a paper flower’. It means a lifeless novel. Did such comment change Parijat’s course of writing ?
It was a damn satire against the desperate feeling woven in the theme of the characters and events in her novel Sirisko Phool. Why can’t human life take the proper course as desired by everyone? Why does it always follow an adverse route? This may be analysed in more than one ways. But people living in adversity do have their own stories too. And here Bhatta Sir goes wrong.
No one can be progressive nor regressive by birth. It depends upon the socio-economic system of a nation. It is said that Parijat’s early life began with all sorts of depressing experiences around her. The miserable condition compelled her to feel her own life meaningless. Her leaning towards Marxism freed her from such depression. She explored her life minutely, her new energy supported Ralpha movement and later she became an inspiration for all.
In her life her Sister Sukanya took the responsibility of a mother, nurse, guardian and friend, all at the same time.
I forgot to ask: Why did Parijat come to Birgunj ?
Most probably to avoid the chilly climate of Kathmandu and nonetheless to free herself from noisy crowd and polluted atmosphere there. Ralpha team accompanied her it had arranged a musical show at Birgunj.
Ralpha, the name itself, sounds peculiar. Does it have any literal meaning? It’s not a Nepali word for sure.
Yeah, it’s a strange word. It is meaningless and the word ‘meaningless’ also has a meaning. They defined the group and movement that way.
They believed that actions like cry, sob, shout, chuckle and giggle also express feelings and human sentiments.
Their songs were against exploitation and injustice.
And the backbone of the Ralpha team was Parijat. She was the mentor and Ralpha period happened to be a turning period in her life.
Well Thapa Sir, you came quite late into the literary scene. Was there any specific reason ?
I must confess that even today, I am rather a dim figure in literature lagging far behind. My poems were sparsely published in papers like Gorkhapatra, Himani and Naulo Bihan from Kathmandu and Birganj in twenties, but I appeared in book-size much later.
It means you restrained yourself for quite a long period. What caused you to remain behind the scene so long?
To me, literature is never a passing fad. It shouldn’t be created in whims. It is dishonesty to boast of one’s own writing. We have to study intensely the genuine cause of our existence. We need to dive deep down the oceanic depth to explore the reality. I didn’t have the courage to write even a few lines on a pages and claim it as my poem without having mature knowledge and experience on the vast topic of literature. Most probably I lacked creativity those days.
After the publication of Ek Nimesh Ananta Ko (A Moment inn Eternity), a poetry collection that contains short poems in a few lines, you came to limelight. Your short poems are bound to have special recognition. They appear similar to haiku, tanka or muktak in size. How do you define these poems?
Those are ‘seed poems’. My friend Nabaraj Sharma has rightly named these short poems ‘seed poems’.
As you know seeds are quite small in size. Once you plant and rightly nurture them, they naturally grow into large trees with their own inherent potentiality.
Seeds poems also have three lines that make them compact as a poetic form. The micro-shaped ‘seed poems’ can make us graze on a wider space and make us travel on a long voyage through the poetic lane.
I respect Japanese haiku. It’s perfect in Japanese language, may be in English and other languages too. But I hesitate to mention that the constrain of 5,7,5 word structure in Nepalese language is not exactly applicable as the expression remains incomplete and needs much more explanation which Haiku can’t accept. Thus a seed poem isn’t Nepal version of haiku. It differs in its form.
A seed poem starts with a topic. The topic itself is the root of the seed poem.
The structure has three lines, but less words are preferred.
The first line introduces the subject, the second elaborates it and the third line expresses the main theme of the poem as conclusion, exploding the topic. Simplicity of words is preferred but there is no compromising in lyrical quality.
Your involvement with theatre seems to have been very old. Once, Rameshor K, a lecturer from MMC, told me that he played the role of King Duncan in Macbeth under your directorial venture. That was almost five decades ago. You have written dramas, translated a few from English and have staged them under your own direction. Would you like to share about your association with the performance?
Yea, at Rapti Club, Bhaise my dramas Suicide, Deserted Family and The Children of Mechi Kali were performed. They were all in Nepali. As you mentioned, I translated Macbeth into Nepali and performed. At the same time we staged famous playwright Bijay Malla’s dramas too. I was very young then. Other actors were students on vacation. I was an amateur director. I still feel the thrill of the stage. Sometimes, enthusiasm works and I think it worked then perfectly for me.
Later my own drama Deserted Family was staged at Tribhuvan University and other colleges of Birgunj and Palpa.
In a drama, I always look for lyrical quality of the dialogues. In Shakespeare , I am fascinated by his dialogues that contain a lot of lyricism. Even our foremost playwright Balkrishna Sama’s dramas explore this quality at a deeper level. We can find dramatic elements even in our Sanskrit epic Mahabharata.
My latest play Amar Singhko Khojima Amar Singh (Amar Singh in Search of Amar Singh) gave me a certain kind of satisfaction. It was staged across Nepal. It was selected for performance at the National Drama Festival. Even in my home town Hetauda, it ran for dozens of shows. I still recall you addressing the audience about the drama at my request.
Long back, you told me that you had been planning to write a novel on Chepangs and their culture. It has already been two decades. Meanwhile your story collection Farak Akash (A Different Sky) was published and got some good critical acclaims. But the question about the promised novel is still looming over. What happened to that project ?
Yea, it has been quite long. Probably it has been too late to begin with the sprit of the time when it was conceived. That was a dream. It seems, my time-frame has been a bundle of lies.
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