Creative Mind

Poudel, 29, has successfully made musical instruments and statues out of paper mash

By THAKUR AMGAI

When Columbus said he would venture to find a new land, everyone discarded his claim as an utterance of a lunatic mind. So, did the people when Wright brothers said they would make a flying machine. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is not an exception. The list goes long.

Here in Nepal , at a dark, damp room of Lekhnath S

A Tourist : Need to lure more of them

ahitya Sadan, Kathmandu , is a man who, too, makes similar claims that sound impossible to a mediocre mind. When he says “It could be possible to develop a technology to transfer electricity without wire”, we prefer to disbelieve and dismiss it.

Whether this particular claim comes true or not is another thing, but young Guna Raj Poudel’s accomplishments alone are enough to prove that he is capable and will come out with some stunning innovations in future. If provided a conducive environment, the results would certainly be for the better of the entire nation.

This scribe entered the Lekhnath Sahitya Sadan, quite skeptically, on hearing that there was a man who has crafted musical instruments out of paper. However, on seeing the creative works he had developed, this scribe was easily spell-bound.

There were statues of different personalities, logos of various organizations, handicrafts of landscapes and other natural elements and musical instruments littered all over the staircases thanks to the lack of space. Here was a promising talent that could be an asset to the entire nation and his valuable creations are lying uncared for.

The statues Poudel has crafted gave a taste of natural-ness. He had made these creations using waste and scrap papers.

The musical instruments he has made are not just beautiful pieces for exhibition. He showed that they can actually be used and so feasible for mass production. “I am confident that I can make most of the musical instruments using paper,” Poudel said blowing the Shankha (Shell) he had constructed of paper. So, far he has made Khaijadi, Chhain-Chhain, Shankha, flute, among other folk musical instruments. And now he is in the process of making a guitar out of paper mash.

He has made many statues ranging from statues of litterateurs like Madhav Prasad Ghimire to international personalities like Alfred Nobel. “I am now making statues of world famous personalities Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, Mao, Volta and Albert Einstein,” Poudel informed.

A Tourist : Need to lure more of them

Although, endowed with creative mind, Poudel lacks support in his innovative endeavors. “I am doing all this at my personal expenses,” Poudel laments. “And it is quite difficult for a low range earner like me to spare money out of daily expenses for buying chemicals and other materials for researches.”

Poudel wants to develop a kind of museum of various products made out of paper. But thanks to the lack of space, his creations are lying here and there collecting dust and dampened by rainwater on the stairs of the building of Lekhnath Sahitya Sadan.

Poudel said he got inspiration to venture into something new when his attempt to make needle became successful about five years ago. “I was very much touched when people used to say that ‘not even a needle can be made in Nepal ’,” Poudel said showing needles of various sizes and kinds stuck on the wall of the Sadan. “So, I made needle to show that it can be made in Nepal .”