'A sweeper searching country in dust'

By Avaya Shrestha,Madhyapur Thimi, Feb. 5: Former minister Keshav Man Shakya is a popular poet of Nepal Bhasa. But it has been 32 years since he stopped writing poetry. 

However on Saturday, Sanjhya Sahitya presented him as one of the three guest poets at its monthly serial in Madhyapur.

 “It has been 32 years since I quitted writing poetry,” the ex-minister for Science and Technology said. “I thought the readers have also forgotten me, but Sanjhya remembered me and revived my passion for poetry.”  

The audience loved all five poems he recited at the programme. All his poems centred on dignity and existence. He read some lines from his poem 'Gantabyahin' --

Just to know myself 

I am observing

Everyone's face 

Who is walking along the street? 

 (Translated from Nepali)

Besides, Shakya recited other four poems titled Mero Itihas Ko Euta Katha, Haraudai Gayeko Desh, Haat Bazaar and Yo Saharma. He also received great compliments from the audience when he recited this couplet, 'A Chyame (sweeper) is searching his country in the dust.'

Tanka Uprety was another guest poet who also presented five poems titled Ngyatapole, Pencil, Fingerprint, Bookmark and Ani. His poems were very short, sweet and subtle. Rich in images and symbols, his poems had the power to say a lot with a few words. They could be taken as an ocean in a drop. 

“Mines are the poems of hope and resistance,” he said. In his short poem Ngyatapole, he writes-

Why does the world 

See on my pinnacle? 

But the power 

Is in my feet

(Translated from Nepali)

Rajani Mila, who writes in Nepal Bhasa, was another guest poet representing the third generation. She seemed to be an anti-conformist poet, a defiant. Her poems utter the powerful words of resistance which uncovers the real face of the state. She uses very unique images and symbols to express her thoughts. But she uses soft words also when she writes poems on love. She also recited five poems titled Gulab (The Rose), Government, You Will Commit Suicide, This City Is Lunatic, You Are A Hanger, My Story. In her poem 'My Story', she writes-

When I return in the red box

My children will think

Their mother died of choking on the breath

(Translated from Nepali)

The motive of the Sanjhya Sahitya group is said to promote budding poets and honour the established ones.

“We generally present three poets of three generations every month. Doing that we followed the rule of inclusiveness,” Ram Gopal Ashutosh, one of the campaigners of the group, said. Based in Bhaktapur, this is a group of some promising authors including poet Ram Gopal Ashutosh, famous lyricist Harihar Timalsina, critic and poet Mahesh Paudyal, poet Nabin Prakash Shrestha who begun the campaign in November 2014. Activities of the group were postponed for some years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Sanjhya has been running in its full swing for five months now,” Nabin Prakash Shrestha, who is also a prominent poet in Nepal Bhasa, said. 

According to him, there will be a Sanjhya serial at De Beans and Bitez Cafe in Naya Thimi on the third Saturday of every month. “Meanwhile, we will organise some special poetry events now and then,” he added.