Baarhakhari Books to organise largest story writing event

Kathmandu, Feb. 4:

Baarhakhari Books has announced a nation-wide modern story writing competition with the largest prize amount.

The company has said that the competition is the largest story writing event organised in the country so far which invites writers of all age group and professional height.

Best three writers will get Rs. 100,000, Rs. 60,000 and Rs. 40,000, and the winners will be selected by the two tiers of juries. The first jury will select best 25 stories which will be published in a book form and the second jury will select the best three stories. All selected stories will receive Rs. 5,000 each as the remuneration.

Interested writers can send their stories to Baarhakhari Books by March 4 in a digital form. The winners will be announced on April 19 and the story book will also be launched on the same day, said Lenin Banjade, coordinator of the event.

Story should be written in Nepali language in 1,500 to 4,000 words, however, stories written in other language can be translated and sent to the company.

Editor of Baarhakhari Rajendra Parajuli said that the event was launched to increase the attraction to story writing.

“In the past couple of years, short story writing is losing attraction. Through the programme, we aim to promote story writing in the young generation as well,” he said.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 5 February 2019. 

चोर

‘पवित्र मन्दिरको ढुंगा चोर्ने यस्ता पापीलाई त ज्यूँदो छोड्नु हुँदैन । यो त डम्बरध्वज जस्ता समाजसेवी धर्मात्माको पनि अपमान हो,’ एउटा युवकलाई मुक्का बर्साइरहेको गाउँलेले भन्यो ।

‘हो त मन्त्रीज्यूले यो गाउँका लागि भनेर कत्ति काम गर्नु भएको छ, १५ लाख रुपैयाँ खर्चेर मन्दिर बनाउनु भएको छ, यो कुजातले ढुँगा चोर्ने । हान सालेलाई,’ अर्को अधबैंसे करायो ।

पन्ध्र बीस जना गाउँलेले घेरिएको रत्नेको नाकबाट खुन बगिरहेको थियो । उ त्यसरी भकुराइमा पर्नुको कारण थियो एउटा ढुँगाको छपनी ।

उसको विपन्न बस्तीमा बल्ल बल्ल एउटा एनजीओले धारा निर्माण गरिदिएको थियो । तर, पारि गाउँको ठेकेदारले बजेटमा भ्रष्टाचार गरी धारा बनाउने पैसा खर्लप्पै खायो । उसले प्लाष्टिक पाइप बस्तीको बीचसम्म ल्याएर छाडिदियो । पानी त आयो तर वस्तीबासीले न त राम्रोसँग पानी भर्न पाए न त लुगा धुन र नुहाउन । हरेक कामका लागि पाइप समात्न एक जना मानिस चाहिन्थ्यो ।
लुगा धुन त झनै सास्ती भो । गरीब बस्तीमा लुगा धुनका लागि प्लाष्टिकको एउटा बाटा पनि थिएन । धारो पक्की भएको भए त त्यसैमा लुगा धुन सजिलो हुन्थ्यो तर त्यसको पैसा त ठेकेदारले झ्वाम पारिदियो । गाउँलेहरु सधैं आफ्नो अप्ठ्यारोको चर्चा गरिरहन्थे । सिमेण्ट किन्ने र ढलाइ गर्न सक्ने क्षमता गाउँको थिएन ।

तर, केही दिन पछि धारामा ढुँगाको गज्जबको छपनी देखियो । रत्नेले ढुंगाको ठूलो छपनी ल्याएर धारोमा लुगा धुन मिल्ने बनाइदिएछ ।

‘आमा दिदीबैनीको कष्ट कति हेर्नु ? अब त सजिलो भो नि,’ उसले भनेको थियो ।

बस्तीबाट करीब २ सय मिटरको दूरीमा एउटा हनुमान मन्दिर थियो । त्यो मन्दिर समाजसेवी तथा पूर्व सहायक मन्त्री डम्बरध्वजले बनाएका थिए । गाउँका लागि मन्दिर गर्वको वस्तु थियो । एक दिन मन्दिरको मूलद्वारमा राखेको ढुंगाको ठूलो छपनी हरायो । गाउँलेहरु रिसाउँदै ढुंगा खोज्न थाले । यत्तिकैमा कसैले सूचना ल्यायो, ठ्याक्कै त्यस्तै ढुंगा विपन्न वस्तीको धारामा देखिएको छ । गाउँलेहरु हूल बाँधेर त्यहाँ पुगे । ढुंगा त्यही थियो । अनि उनीहरुले रत्नेलाई भकुर्न थालेका थिए । वस्तीका गरीब गाउँलेहरु नीरिह पाराले रत्ने कुटिएको हेरिरहनु बाहेक केही गर्न सकेनन् ।

रत्नेले त ज्यानको आशै मार्न लागेको थियो । यत्तिकैमा एउटा युवक परबाट दौडिंदै आयो र करायो – डम्बरध्वजलाई पुलिसले पक्राउ ग¥यो । गाउँको मन्दिर त सरकारी बजेटबाट बनेको रैछ । उनले त्यसको बजेटमै आधा रकम भ्रष्टाचार गरे अरे ।

रत्नेलाई कुटिरहेका गाउँलेहरु जडवत भए ।

उता रत्नेका खुन बगिरहेका ओंठमा मलिन मुस्कान देखियो ।

मधुपर्क मासिकको २०७५ असोज अंक ५, पूर्णांक ५१ मा प्रकाशित । 

अमेरिकामा सझिएको नेपाल

देशको माया स्वदेशभन्दा विदेशमा रहँदा बढी लाग्दोरहेछ । विदेशमा देखेका कुरासँग आफ्नो मुलुकको तुलना गर्न मन लाग्ने रहेछ । र, आफ्नो मुलुकमा सबैकुरा नराम्रो र कमसल देख्दा मन चिमोटिने रहेछ । यस्तै भावना पोखेका छन् घनश्याम राजकर्णिकारले आफ्नो नयाँ नियात्रा कृति ‘यात्रा अमेरिकाको माया नेपालको’मा । विसं २०६३ मा गरेको २ महीने अमेरिका भ्रमणलाई लेखकले सिलसिलेवार ढङ्गले पुस्तकमा उतारेका छन् । सात अध्यायमा विभाजन गरिएको पुस्तकमा उनले नेपालबाट अमेरिका जाने चाहना, तयारी र गमनदेखि अमेरिकाका सात राज्यको भ्रमण र नेपाल फिर्तीसम्मका घटनालाई बुनेका छन् । 

लेखकले अमेरिकाका विभिन्न ठाउँ र शहरको भ्रमण गर्दा त्यहाँको ऐतिहासिक पाटोलाई पनि उल्लेख गरेका छन् । कृष्ण पाउरोटीका अध्यक्ष तथा उद्यमी राजकर्णिकार त्यहाँ गर्ने हरेक खर्चमा चनाखो छन् । नचाहँदा नचाहँदै पनि उनी त्यहाँ डलरमा गरेको खर्चलाई नेपाली रूपैयाँसँग तुलना गर्छन् र दुःखी हुन्छन् । 

न्यूयोर्कको संयुक्त राष्ट्रसङ्घीय भवन, स्वतन्त्रताको मूर्तिदेखि वाशिङटनको क्यापिटोल हिल, ह्वाइट हाउस र नायगरा फल्ससम्मको भ्रमणमा आफुले अनुभव गरेका कुरा उनले स्वतन्त्र रूपमा पुस्तकमा पोखेका छन् । पुस्तकको भाषा सरल छ । 

घटनाक्रमहरू सिलसिलेवार ढङ्गमा आएकाले पुस्तक पढ्न पनि सरल र सरस बनेको छ । पुस्तकमा समावेश केही कविताका अंश पनि राम्रा छन् । खासगरी अन्त्यमा दिइएको कवितामा लेखकको राष्ट्रभाव मुखरित भएको छ । विदेशको यात्रा स्वदेशको सम्झना (२०३७), देश प्रदेशको भ्रमण केही संस्मरण (२०४३), सम्झनाको लहरमा लहरिँदै जाँदा (२०५२), पवित्र सम्झना आमाको (२०५५) र बौद्ध तीर्थयात्रा : नालन्दादेखि लुम्बिनीसम्म (२०६०) राजकर्णिकारका पूर्व प्रकाशित नियात्रा तथा संस्मरण कृति हुन् । 


पुस्तक : यात्रा अमेरिकाको माया नेपालको (नियात्रासङ्ग्रह)
लेखक : घनश्याम राजकर्णिकार
प्रकाशक : डिकुरा पब्लिकेशन, काठमाडौं
प्रकाशन : २०६९,
पृष्ठ : २०८
मूल्य : २ सय ५० रूपैयाँ

August 25, 2012 Published in Aarthik Abhiyan Daily

I am sorry not to ask her name!

I forgot from where she got into the bus. All the seats were occupied, so I was standing along with other three people. I was on the way to my Rotaract Club’s meeting at Tripureshwor. It was Saturday.

She pushed her way through other people and came back where I was standing. I got a glimpse of her face. She was cute. Her phone rang and she picked it up. After she disconnected it she put it in the pocket of her long t-shirt. I thought to recommend not to keep the phone in the pocket of the shirt as the mouth of the pocket was too big to pick it up from. But I discarded the idea. One shouldn’t be Mr. Know-All everywhere!

As you know it’s not trouble-free to travel in a microbus standing. Sometimes you are falling this side, sometimes that side. You have to depend upon a single pipe, which is added later because the microbus doesn’t have such accessories, on the roof. The girl with the long t-shirt was just next to me. It was my hand at the end of the pipe after her. She continuously moved her hand. I ignored it thinking it’s not easy to stand easily.

But I was mistaken, her hand came upon my hand then it was off. I looked around. Two guys in the last seat were looking at our hands.

I slid my hand a little bit further. Lo and behold! She slid her hand too. Again her hand came upon my hand.

I slid my hand little bit further but still I could felt her fingers moving over mine.

I turn around. She was looking at me. I was blank. After a while I regain my consciousness and smiled. She looked away. I push my hands a bit far from hers. She didn’t make an effort again.

At Kalanki, the bus stopped. She settled herself in the last seat. I wished if only there was another seat adjacent to her. Anyway I let the idea go away. I went into the cabin. At Soltimode, I looked back to ensure she was there.

Oh Holiness! She was looking at me with something in her eyes that I didn’t know.

At Kalimati, a seat beside her became vacant. Without spending any moment in thinking, I moved there. She turned her head. Our eyes met!

The bus was moving and I was planning to ask her for a cup of coffee. Once I thought of even not attending the meeting but following her. That was a sweet and romantic feeling, I suppose. I didn’t ask her for the coffee, instead I got off at United World Trade Center, Tripureshwor – our club’s meeting venue.

I threw a departing look at her. I saw something in her eyes but it was too late by then.

I regretted the idea later. I should have asked her a cup of coffee or taken her to the meeting. I was so lost that I forget to ask her name too. I can’t say whether she would agree but that would certainly have cured my wandering feelings. Time moved very fast. It didn’t allow me a little bit more time for the decision making.

- Mod Dhakal (Kathmandu)

If only I could turn back time!

After Dashain, the great festival of Nepali people, I left for Gulmi with my younger sister, Munny. Actually it was my promise to her last year that I would take her there. She hasn’t visited her birthplace since we migrated to Nawalparasi some 15 years back. Even I could manage to go there after 12 years now. But, as I couldn’t return on time from Pakistan last year, that promise was on pending. So we two left home for Gulmi soon after the ‘Tika’.

There are hundreds of incidents worth mentioning about our visits. Specially Munny’s sentiments, her amazements and feelings could produce dozen of books. Among the myriads of things that happened to us this incident will be hunting me for a foreseeable future.

We were returning from our maternal uncle’s home in Dhanmuda, Baglung to Gulmi. My sister and nephew, Shiva, were with me. It was raining all the day. We were three and we had only one umbrella. Luckily we found some umbrellas to buy in Naya Bazaar. When we were climbing the way up to Bareng from Ghatta, the rain only stopped occasionally. In addition to it, a cold wind was blowing. We were not prepared for that kind of weather in Autumn. I, at least, had put on full sleeve shirt, so had Shiva. But our little lady had a very thin and sleeveless frock with Jeans. The air was so cold that sometimes it pierced our heart. We were shivering badly. And there was no help until we reached the Bareng Bazaar. Later we remembered that we had a fine woolen shawl in our bag. It was a gift to our mum from his brother in Dhanmudha. Munny was survived.

When we reached the 'bhanzyang', the top of the hill, we saw a grocery with a restaurant. There was not a single home there except that shop. The village was at the distance of 5 minutes walk approximately. A beautiful lady was in the shop. She was baking doughnuts. We all wanted to have something hot. I wanted to go to buy it but Shiva was insisting from the day before to buy something for us. He insisted again and I let him go.

He went to the shop and asked for the doughnuts. The lady asked him where we were from. He replied we were from Jhirbas (his village and our mamaghar). The lady smiled. I told to Munny that as the lady had smiled we might get the doughnuts free of cost. I think I had said it pretty loudly. The shop owner lady heard and laughed sweetly. Shiva came back with some hot doughnuts in a bag. The doughnuts were really fine and hot. We enjoyed it to its full. We sent our blessing to the lady all the way to Jhirbas. The story ended there. We came back to Jhirbas, enjoyed time with our Mama and family. After 2 days we returned to Koryang, our home village in Gulmi.

While we reached Koryang, our sister-in-law and children were in the courtyard of Narayan. He is my one of the finest childhood friends. We stopped there to have a chat with his mother, wife and other people. In the course of talk, Narayan’s mother asked us whether we met Sabitri didi (sister) in Bareng. She said that Sabitri didi runs a grocery shop and a restaurant there. I was startled and asked promptly the location of her shop.

When mother described the location, I was sorry to death. A vast cloud of regret came over me. The beautiful lady with whom we bought the doughnuts was our Sabitri didi. I was so sorry for not going to buy the doughnuts. I was so sorry not to recognize her from the mere distance of 50 meters. I was so sorry to miss the opportunity to meet her. If only I had gone to buy the doughnuts, I would have said we were from Koryang and that would be all. Oh! If only I had more time I could have returned to meet her.

Now more than 3 weeks passed when the incidents happened, I still miss her almost daily. We played together, laughed together and grew together. She loved both of us; Narayan and me. There are so many incidents happened when we were in our primary classed which aren’t letting me forget her. I am waiting the next opportunity to visit Gulmi so that I could manage to meet her.

The Hanumaan Story

Many of us might have seen the Hanumaan statue at Hanumaan Dhoka and the same at Patan Durbar Square. These statues are decorated with red colour- the Sindoor- the colour which is the symbol of the married women in Hindu culture. Women put it on for the long life of their husband. Sindoor also represents the devoutedness of a wife to her husband – It is another matter of fact that there is no such obligation for the husband.

So, we may wonder that while sindoor is for the women why Hanumaan – a male monkey - put it on his body.

Everybody is aware of the dedication of Hanumaan towards Lord Rama. People give example of Hanumaan when they see a person highly devouted to somebody. The term ‘Hanumaan’ is highly used in politics to denote the workers loyal to some leaders of higher position.

Once Hanumaan saw mother Sita applying sindoor on her forhead. He asked promptly why she was putting sindoor on her forehead. He wanted to know what, exactly, was the reason behind it. Mother Sita told Hanumaan that by putting the sindoor on she is wishing her husband – Lord Rama- a long life.

When Hanumaan knew the reason behind the sindoor, he collected a large quantity of it and applied it all over his body. Thus, showing his wish for the long and prosperous life of Lord Rama.

Even today people remember Hanumaan’s loyalty and dedication to Lord Rama and they praise and worship it. They worship Hanumaan, too. The statues decorated in sindoor outside the Hanumaan dhoka and Patan palace are the proof to it.