Happy international mother language day everyone.<\/p>\n
So my mother language is Nepali. While I am not a linguist some facts that I know about the Nepali language is as follows:<\/p>\n
Nepali owes its origin to the language Khas Kura which was spoken by the war tribes \u201cKhas\u201d who lived in Eastern Uttarakhand and Western Nepal. Like most languages,\u00a0 Nepali has been influenced by different dialects like Sanskrit, Tibetan etc. Thus, today it has a proximity to many other Indo Aryan languages like Pahari dialect.It gained popularity as the common language among the Nepali diaspora after Bhanubhakta Acharya translated the epic Ramayana into Nepali in the year 1836. He is regarded as the adikavi (first poet) by the Nepali diaspora.<\/p>\n
Nepali is the official language of Nepal and is one of the official languages of India.<\/p>\n
I truly believe that it is your mother language and the stories narrated by your mother, grandmother that make you fall in love with stories and storytelling. While I grew up with a healthy reading dose of Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew what made me a reader was the Nepali stories that was taught in school and which my mother used to explain the literary meaning of. Whether it was the novel Dak Bangla by Shiva Kumar Rai, Bhramar by Rup Narayan Singh or short stories like Gurkheh Jeep, Kheer by Indra Bahadur Rai I still remember these stories like I just read them yesterday.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_20190221_175712_HDR\"](\"https:\/\/booksteaandmorecom.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/img_20190221_175712_hdr.jpg?w=487&h=365\")
<\/p>\n
To people who want to read books by Nepali authors I have listed down below some of my favorite books written by some Nepali authors in English or which have now been translated to English.<\/p>\n
- \n
- The tutor of history by Manjhushree Thapa<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
The book takes place during the late 1990\u2019s in Nepal.\u00a0 The constitutional democracy is new in Nepal and the elected government has collapsed. Amidst all these fresh elections are announced and Khaireni Tar which is a small town near Katmandu and Pokhara is also impacted. Khaireni Tar suddenly sees a cacophony of political activities ensnarl\u00a0its simplicity. The major parties contesting the elections are Congress, UML (Communist), People party.<\/p>\n
As the election activities go on in this small hill town it touches every life in some manner. There is Rishi a confused history tutor who had joined UML but his still confused regarding the communist patronage of his. Binita Dahal a young widow sells tea for a living but certain desires of her come to the fore and became vivid as the election frenzy touches her tea shop.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Giridhar Adhikari chairman of People party has patronaged alcohol and is fighting his own devils.\u00a0 A popular cinema hero wishes to do something for the people this election. A contractor finds a sense of hero worship invoked in him after listening to this cinema hero.<\/p>\n
As the elections campaign undergo it reveals a facet of the political games played and the mass reality. But amidst all these, there is an unraveling of the life and history of each character.<\/p>\n
Read the full review here\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"P_20171210_125147_HDR_1_1\"](\"https:\/\/booksteaandmorecom.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/p_20171210_125147_hdr_1_1.jpg?w=427&h=280\")
<\/p>\n2. The King\u2019s harvest by Chetan Raj Shrestha\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
The book is a collection of two novellas The king\u2019s harvest and An open and shut case. Both the stories take place in the state of Sikkim. An open and shut case starts on a New year eve with a host of people traveling to different parts of Sikkim in a shared vehicle. All seem to be in merriment with plans to spend their new year but on that night Kamala comes to the police station stating that she has killed her husband Puran and has hacked him to 47 pieces. The case looks simple with the person stating guilty but as the investigations\u00a0take place different facets of the case are uncovered which is filled with deceit, unrequited love, and lies. The investigation officer Dechen faces a challenge with the truth looking blurred and multi faceted.<\/p>\n
The second novella The king\u2019s harvest is the story of a simple man who lives in isolation for 32 years with a belief in false stories and promises. He is oblivious to the developments that have taken place around the world. Then one day he plans to go and visit the king to give his harvest which has been lying idle. The story follows his travel across the forest with his children in an aim to meet a nonexistent king. In this journey, \u00a0we come to know of his childhood and his life\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
Read the full review here<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"18220722\"](\"https:\/\/booksteaandmorecom.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/18220722.jpg?w=736\")
<\/p>\n3. The light of his clan by Chetan Raj Shrestha\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Goodreads blurp-<\/strong> Kuldeep Chandanth, ex-Minister of the Government of Sikkim, leading light of his community, and foul-mouthed, caste-obsessed, ageing patriarch, is in the final siege of his illustrious life.<\/p>\n
His clanspeople are helping him in his lifelong efforts to uplift them by opposing his every suggestion, and his three children have refused the responsibility of carrying forward his life\u2019s work. Pradeep, his eldest son\u2014from his second wife\u2014is a feckless engineer with the Department of Village Roads. Pradeep is determined to protect the honour of his department\u2019s lady clerks from the attentions of his half- brother Yograj, a ladies\u2019 man committed to his pleasures. Yogita, the ex-Minister\u2019s only daughter, works in Delhi, and is eternally on the verge of returning to Sikkim to look after him. His servant Pemba is dedicated in his attempts to feel up Ai Doma, the momo-seller who lives next door. And just as the ex-Minister gives up hope from the living, the ghost of his third wife, Sumitra, dead for twenty years, returns to point an accusing finger at him.<\/p>\n
Set in Gangtok, The Light of His Clan follows\u2014over days of hail, rain, mist and sun\u2014the ex-Minister as he navigates the treachery of those once close to him, schemes for and against his children, and battles the final stiffening of his bones.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
4. Books by Prajwal Parajuly- The Gurkhas daughter,\u00a0 Land where I flee<\/strong><\/p>\n
Prajwal Parajuly is one of the most popular Nepali author today. His debut book The Gurkhas daughter was shortlisted for the 2013 Dylan Thomas prize.<\/p>\n
If you want to understand the Nepali diaspora his books should be your go to resource. His books though simple are backed by a strong story which peels layers into the Nepali culture, identity crisis and the politics of\u00a0 Sikkim and Darjeeling (these are the prominent places where the Nepali diaspora reside in India).<\/p>\n
![\"prajwal\"](\"https:\/\/booksteaandmorecom.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/prajwal.jpg?w=382&h=215\")
<\/p>\nGoodreads blurp- The Gurkhas daughter<\/a><\/p>\n
Goodreads blurp- Land where I flee<\/a><\/p>\n
5. Books by Indra Bahadur Rai- There is a carnival here today, Long night of storm\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Indra Bahadur Rai was one the most popular modern Nepali author. His literary style was unique as it was a blend of traditional styles as well as modern techniques. He won the Sahitya Akademi award. His novel Aaja Ramita cha has been translated into english as \u201cThere is a carnival here today\u201d by Manjhushree Thapa and his short stories have been translated into an anthology called \u201cLong night of Storm\u201d by Prawin Adhikari.<\/p>\n
Indra Bahadur Rai is a master storyteller who takes characters leading mundane lives but there is a depth to these characters that makes you contemplate on life and its lessons. The short story Kheer I mentioned above on the surface is a simple story of the act of making Kheer (rice pudding) by a group of people who work as labourers and how everyone has opinions regarding the ingredients and its quantity to be used.But, on deeper introspection one realises that he is talking about how every person we meet in our life will have some opinion as to how we should lead our lives.<\/p>\n
![\"Indra](\"https:\/\/booksteaandmorecom.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/indra-bahadur-rai.jpg?w=395&h=421\")
<\/p>\nGoodreads blurp- There is a carnival here today\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
Goodreads blurp- Long night of storm\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
So what is your mother tongue and which authors would you recommend?<\/p>\n