‘Prashna’, a Rare Literary Feat

Suman Barsha

The rows of questions that someone asked me during a literary program organized by Kavidanda Sahitya Samaj in Chitwan, during our introduction while having dinner, made me run away from there as fast as I could. But today I could not run away from reading the book archived with documents of his questions. Prashna, a collection of interviews by the same invincible inquirer, Mr. Uday Adhikari, fascinated me in such a way that I could not stop myself from writing something about this book and the author. The questions and the answers included in it are so captivating that I read them over and over again, and came to the conclusion that I would never be able to stand to answer the questions asked by such an interviewer.

Yes, I am taking about the same Uday Adhikari here. When I heard his welcome speech in the aforementioned program, I got convinced that this man has treasure of knowledge and must have a vault of questions. During our conversation after the program, I asked him how many books he had contributed in the field of literature till then. He said, “I only read what others have written.” It surprised me and I said, “I don’t think so.” In reply he said, “You might be fond of liars.” And today this book has proved his point to be a lie. I would like to congratulate Mr. Uday Adhikari, the creator of Prashna, a collection of interviews with a wish that many such lies would become a rare literary dose.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Chitwan is a land where literature flourishes. Its leadership in the Reading Culture campaign also confirms that many writers are now being born in Chitwan. Uday Adhikari is a scholar of wide range of national and international literature, a fierce critic and a writer of today, who often likes to communicate in English.

After reading his book Prashna I can say that he could not confine his knowledge just to reading; so he wrote this book to give his audience a taste of his understanding. This is an important work by a significant scholar and the questions included in it are not easy to answer. This book has brought to light many serious issues of literature. This work has set a strong example in Nepali literature where the trend of interviews launched in the form of a book is very rare.

Renowned writers like Abhi Subedi, Narayan Dhakal, Sarubhakta, Shyamal, Shrawan Mukharung and Manu Manjil are the interviewees of this book and their answers to the questions asked by Uday Adhikari have left me spellbound.

“People, who tend to ask questions, think a lot and to think a lot, one has to read a lot, and people who read are usually thin like Uday,” says Abhi Subedi, as quoted by the interviewer in the book. This is so true for Mr. Uday. His personality and his book Prashna are achievements in themselves.

In the reference of Nobel Prize winner VS Naipaul’s A Bend in the River, one of the inspiring books where a character Slim struggles to live a life, we can say that the character is somehow similar to Nepalese migrants and our political instability in which people have to suffer. It is necessary to have a right question to give a right answer. This can be seen with Abhi Subedi’s satisfying answers to the question raised by the interviewer.

To understand today’s critical situation literature and art should go hand-in-hand. This was something I felt in my heart for quite a long time. To get answers by asking questions in a unique way is his skill and this can make the interviewee anxious. Giving answers on the spot is a tedious task as well.

Saying that Narayan Dhakal is a visionary shows that the interviewer is quite transparent and has tried to unearth all the loopholes of his interviewee. While praising him, he also says that a lot has been done. The sincerity of the questioner is evident in his acceptance of the fact that he had to read a lot to be close to people like Narayan Dhakal, as it can be seen in his natural questions. The person who is keen in studies understands the writer and seeks to get closer to them. This is accepted by the writer of Prashna with utmost sincerity. Otherwise, the importance of a writer among common people is acknowledged only by a few. Generally, people assume that writers are a little weird but those who understand the real  juice of literature, after acquiring knowledge by sharpening  it from wide studies, looks the gravity of such literary figures, and wants to be close to them just like Uday Adhikari.

Therefore, the interviewer of this book Prashna is a sharp and well-equipped reviewer too. That is why he has dared to pose questions with such great personalities. And to be frank, I don’t think it was easy for them to answer his questions.

Even amateur writers like us, who are just learning to write, may feel as if we have been able to pick up a lot of pearls sinking into the deep knowledge of such questions. The curiosity aroused by the questions are such that no one can avoid reading the answers which are put forwarded in the book

It is a matter of great pleasure for the entire reading community to be able to read and understand such great and unique authors in an easy way which has been made possible by Mr. Uday in his book Prashna.

Giving a book A Half-of-a-Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie to Sarubhakta, the pioneer of the Nepalese version of Egoism and Nihilism, Mr. Adhikari compelled him to express his opinion after he had finished reading it. It makes us clear what kind of relationship this interviewer wants to establish with the authors. It is not wrong to say that confronting Uday Adhikari’s questions is as much a challenge as writing a whole book. He is a person who understands the intricacies of Nepali and international literatures, so his questions are serious and compelling. Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Dixit’s Madhavi are among the most popular works as affirmed by the opinions given by the interviewees.

Mr. Adhikari portrays personalities such as poet Shyamal in the same vein as Bhupi Sherchan, and at the same time describes his wife as a person of unnatural demeanors. It is astonishing to note how he wasn’t afraid of the reaction he would face for mentioning that he didn’t receive a single cup of tea, after his wife reads of this book. The gut of expressing reality is remarkable.

In a developing country like ours, we, the people, are not endowed with everything. We have our own obligations. It is praiseworthy to see the contribution of poet Shyamal to the internationalization of Nepali literature. The harmony between Shyamal and the catalyst Uday Adhikari is noteworthy. It is funny to know that commitment had to be made by bribing the poet with drinks to make him ready for the translation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s book.

The questions put forwarded by the interviewer about the author of “Bisé Nagirchiko Bayan,” Shravan Mukarung, are quite organic and meaningful. To whom is the poet writing for in reality? Some need slogans to be written; others want emotions to be expressed. There also are some who wants to reveal their ideas, and there are others who have a philosophy of life to be propounded. I was touched when poet Mukarung says even the speech of a leader can be a good poetry if it can give new direction to lead the society in a proper way.

Only a poet like that of “Bisé Nagirchi” can give such a sweet answer to the question whether art is for art’s sake or for life. Salute to the selection of questions by the interviewer and answers by the respondent. While reading the questions and answers in it, there is an opportunity to understand and evaluate the thoughts of the writer.

The renowned poet, Manu Manzil, who is influenced by the American poet Walt Whitman, has the depth of poetic essence in his poem and the sweetness of that essence can be enjoyed more wonderfully after reading this interview. When a studious questioner finds a studious poet, what else do we need as readers? Really, the taste of national to international literature can be enjoyed in these conversations.

After reading this book, I wonder the type of questions he would ask if he got chance to interact with Pythagoras, Aristotle, Thoreau, Socrates, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Schopenhauer, Dryden, Khayyam, Anderson and Gorky in person. It is a wonder too that a person who is so attached to literature did not raise a single issue of love in the interview. His interview style can be compared to that of Oprah Winfrey who also gives her whole heart to get the perfect answers from her interviewee. She even asks questions about their relationships and love life and I wished Mr. Uday had asked a few of the interviewee about their love life too as it would have made the conservation more exciting.

My request to Uday Adhikari is that a person with such a wide range of knowledge should also be able to share his understanding to the readers in the form of books as it will be more profound and meaningful to us. Nevertheless, I congratulate him for this book, and wish for its complete success. I am also in wait for many of such books from him.