Bodh Bikram Adhikari’s Lato Bungo

By Anita Dhungel

The manner in which children use language to understand as well as to express themselves, is a little different from the way an adult makes use of language. Children’s literature has to be written down with great care so that the small, yet to develop intellect, is able to grasp and connect the themes and values that an author usually places, into the form, content and subject matter of the story. To place these values in their right order is very essential for a child, says John Locke. Locke views in "Some Thoughts Concerning Education" that the child is the tabula rasa, a blank sheet upon which ideas could be impressed. For unquestionably, these values teach a child to differentiate between good and bad and to lead and conduct one’s life in a fulfilling and meaningful way.

There was a time when most of the stories were sort of a cloak for a moral. The standard principle was always unflinching, and everything else must be and was molded in accordance with it. The hearer and the reader were taught to think on matters like life, death and hell, ways and means to avoid bad company and idleness and to respect and obey parents in a parochial manner. But, time has revealed that elements that an adult sees as essential in children’s stories and what a child sees in the same, varies drastically from period to period, from place to place, from culture to culture and to top it all from a child to another child. For the adult, there is a potent mixture of nostalgia, to recapture the lost innocent rural past. For the child, the story is forward looking, even if it be rebellious in nature and manner. Forward looking in the sense, towards the hope of the fulfillment of his dreams and ambitions. And as Jean-Jacques Rousseau says, children learn best to be rational creatures through developing naturally at their own pace and by exploring the world on their own terms.

When one looks back and reflects upon Nepali folk story culture, undoubtedly one finds that it has a long ancestry to it. But initially, the country did not have proper institutions or materials, to coach and expose youngsters, to various aspects of human nature and experience. So, most of the stories were related orally by elders, under the main courtyard tree of the village, in a manner of style and language, befitting age and intellectual capacity of the audience. There is an unlimited stock of children’s literature in Nepali culture from which one can cite examples. But, that which I find very interesting and entertaining and humorous, which tickled and touched me to the utmost of my being, as a child, is the story of "Lato Bungo" by Bodh Bikram Adhikari. Late Bodh Bikram Adhikari possessed skill, tact as well as knack to express the story in a very touching and evocative manner. For, after reading the story, a child will eagerly respond and immediately experience, confront and link to the deepest of human pathos and emotions. "Lato Bungo" is a very humorous, but sad story of a naturally crippled simpleton. It is a story of a very simple, disabled fellow. He has a speech impairment, that is, he is dumb. Dumb, not by character, but as in factuality.

There are many stories of the world based on simple persons, who are simple halfwits, as for example the story of "Don Quixote". And on these doltish, dull-witted characters, people take advantage either to entertain themselves or to achieve their own selfish ends. But, this is not a story of a halfwit idiot. Rather it is a life story of a pitiable, mentally and physically retarded person. Through the weaving in of the various strands of deplorable experiences from the wretched life of the retarded "Lato Bungo," Bodh Bikram Adhikari has very cleverly achieved his intentions of making the reader aware of the pathetically sorry state of a handicapped person’s life. Through the story one understands the helplessness of a crippled person and his inability to cope with the general and normal people of the world. Through the story one conceives and grasps what is at stake and what is important in life, and also learns how one should be patient as well as helpful to these sort of mentally and physically cheated and deprived persons. One learns to respect the gift of healthy life, blessed and bestowed upon man.

As the story goes, there is a very rich mother and a son. But unfortunately the son is a dumb. He is unable to do any work, so he just sits about in the house lazing around. The mother gets tired of his lazing around. So one day she tells her son to go out into the world and to associate himself with wise men. The son goes out but falls prey to a band of robbers. The robbers feel that this dumb person would be an asset to their way of life, so include him in their gang. Thus, they go out robbing people’s houses and teach "Lato Bungo" to seek and rob and bring back with him, that which is very heavy. Feeling around in the darkness he comes across a stone grinder, and thinking that this is what his friends want, carries it with all his might back into the robbers den. The robbers embittered by his stupidity, however, teach and prepare him again for the next day to bring something which is white in color. The next night he finds a wok full of hot boiling milk and again thinking that this is what his friends want, tries to carry it away. In the process of carrying it he spills the milk onto the face of the landlady, who gets up screaming in pain. They do not catch the thieves but get hold of Lato Bungo and question him. He evades the issue by saying that he is not one of the thieves, but as he had seen the thieves at their work, being afraid that they would beat him up, had deliberately sprinkled the hot milk on the landlady’s face so as to wake her up and save their property from being stolen. The house-owners seeing him to be a dull half-witted fellow, take pity on him and let him go free.

There are a series of events that follow this incident. Once his mother teaches him to court and wheedle a wife by hitting her with soft small pebbles (until she looks around as to who is hitting her) and then to smile at her and win her. In the process he lands up killing the lady by hitting her with a big stone, because she did not turn around and hence could not be coaxed. Then next, the mother marries him to a lovely girl, and as he prepares to go and meet his in-laws, he is again taught by his mother to shout and scream on the top of his voice while travelling. For, the road he was to take to his in-laws house, was through a jungle which was full of wild beasts. So as he is walking in accordance to his mother’s advice, he succeeds in frightening a hunter’s prey. He gets a good beating from the huntsman. He goes on wailing and crying, and on the way he meets a happy marriage ceremony. All the people in the ceremony admonish him and tell him that on such a happy and auspicious occasion one does not cry but laugh out loud with all of one’s might. Then while laughing he comes across a funeral procession. Again he is beaten up and told to keep quiet. Eventually he reaches his in-laws house. Here again to everything his in-laws say, he comments

"oh! very good" as taught by his mother. So even when his father-in-law is relating to him the sad story of their loss in harvest, he makes the same remark "Oh! very good." Poor "lato bungo" knows no other way to express himself, except to say and do what he has been taught, for he does not possess the capacity to think, analyze and make comments as a normal human being.

One can see from the above story how people do not understand and further also do not care to understand the difficulties a handicapped person undergoes. All everyone wants, is the fulfillment of individual desire, selfishly, at the cost of anything or anyone. None have time nor patience to understand the unhappiness of another human being. The main thrust of the story understood, it furthermore teaches a child caution and also prepares the child to have a presence of mind towards worldly wisdom. And this story is one instance of how children’s imagination could set them on fire and prepare them to take in life with all its complexities and hardships. Bodh Bikram Adhikari’s collection of short stories has an impressive variety of reading material for those who are concerned for their children with the joys of modest reading. His stories remain as fine qualitative works, and will continue to remain as such, for children to learn the values of life and their complex manifestations even in this age of cosmic invasion.

(The essay on Nepali literature appears in the first week of every month and is coordinated by Literary Association of Nepal)

Three steps towards supreme perfection

By Dr Pushpa R Sharma

The first aphorism in the Vedanta-sutra is athato brahma-jijnasa. "Now, in the human from of life, one should inquire about Brahman, the Absolute truth". What is absolute truth? That is answered in nutshell in the second aphorism. Janmady asya yatah: "Brahman is the origin of everything". Whatever originates it must have been created, will exist and shall be destroyed. Every thing that exist, it exists with qualities. Quality has two ends. One end is the highest perfection and other end is the lowest form. This line of quality begins from the lowest level and proceeds towards the supreme perfection with different categories in between. The highest or supreme perfection is only imaginable. As we develop the qualities of perfection we try to cover it with other better layer. This process of covering over and over is a continuous process in our life. It ends only with the death. "Rama", "Krishna", "Mohammed" or "Christ" is the symbol of supreme perfection. If we are standing towards the lowest level we should try to cultivate the qualities that will help us to move ahead towards the highest. Even the evolution history tells us that the present human form came into existence after millions of year of developmental changes in animals. This process of development, which took millions of years to reach the present form, is completed in nine months in the mother’s womb. Our cell still contains the elements in sequence with some minor alterations that has connection with our primitive first existence in this universe through the DNA. This bodily existence is the truth. Our body is formed by the collections of different specialized cells containing the altered DNA of primitive’s. One of these collections of specialized cells is brain. The unique quality that exists in the brain is mind. Our mind also has the connection with the primitive’s mind. Primitive reflexes are the examples of the primitive’s mind. In nine months there is a metamorphosis of a single cell to foetus. Mind also has metamorphosis from primitive reflexes to reasoning. We can divide the different levels of mind as instinct, self attachment and soul recognition. Except the soul recognition the other two qualities exists in animals. If we do not develop this soul recognition there will be no difference between an animal and a human. It can be developed in our lifetime with practice.

One must have faith in the existence of supreme perfection. If we believe in this supreme perfection, we can see the light to reach near to it. Without faith one cannot move ahead. All these religious chants, preaching, stories and pictures were developed to help humans to develop this faith. As we need regular exercise and good diet to develop muscles similarly we need these religious chants, stories, pictures and preaching for the development of faith in our mind. The lowest level of helps comes from hearing or reading stories and chanting mantras without knowing the essence of it. The highest level of help comes if we recognize the shining light in it. This light will show us the way to faith for the supreme perfection. Once this faith exists inside us we may not need these chants, stories and pictures anymore. However this faith needs polishing again and again so that it continuously illuminates our path to reach near the supreme perfection. We need regular practices to sustain the development of faith. Therefore developing faith is the first step towards the recognition of supreme perfection.

This enlightenment then shows the path to reach near the supreme perfection. This takes a long time. In this journey towards the path of supreme perfection our sensory perceptions divert us. We need to develop a will power inside us to prevent this diversion. Practicing again and again can develop this will power. Yoga, fasting and keeping oneself in the vegetarian diet are few examples for the bodily discipline and absence of anger, greed and ego are some of the examples for the mind discipline. Once we succeed in cultivating these bodily and mind discipline inside us, we develop the will power. These two ornaments, faith and will power as we wear it, will make us comfortable to move in the road to journey of supreme perfection. This is the second step towards the recognition of supreme perfection.

Every moment we are doing some thing whether it is physical or mental and this action leaves impression in our mind consciously or unconsciously. This impression will have the effect in our work. Our deeds may be of highest quality we should be guided by the supreme perfection. This can be achieved if we fix our mind in it, if we worship it, if we are disciplined by it, if we see it as our goal. When we succeed in doing this then only we will move near to it. The supreme perfection in our mind is the wisdom. We have to cultivate this wisdom in our primitive mind and flourish it. Let this wisdom cover us in every moment so that whatever and wherever we do this will be fruitful for the universe. Thus the development of the wisdom is the third step towards recognition of the supreme perfection.

When we develop these three qualities inside us then only it is possible to move towards the final destination of our life: soul recognition. This is the ultimate aim, a final step needed for the recognition of supreme perfection: "Rama", "Krishna", "Mohammed" or "Christ" and creating a peace in our life.

Development in the threshold

Over the years, after the advent of democracy, a debate has been revolved around the development issues pertaining to Nepal’s economic growth. Even after a decade of democracy, no substantial improvement has been witnessed in the lives of Nepalese people who are still shackled in poverty. Per capita income which has stagnated to little over 200 dollar indicates how badly we are governed by the people we opted to choose for our welfare. Disparity among poor and rich has grown up so much that it looks impossible to bridge the gap. Whoever come into power, the only thing they do is to fill their coffer first, then of their relatives, party workers ,and finally leftover comes into the hand of people. Keeping all kinds of prospective related to development and governance, Dr Bishwa Keshar Maskay has recently come out with a book called Development Governance- Agenda for Action.

Dr Maskay who knows inside-out of both government and private sector alike divides books into eight chapter relating to contemporary issues of development and governance. His effort has been focused to analyse the development issue of Nepal vis-a-vis world. He clearly explains the reasons behind the lacklustre performance of public enterprises in the competitive age of free market economy as he suggests that it can do better provided no political interference, debureaucratisation, financial transparency and new marketing strategy. He devotes two chapters on NGO relating to its theory and practicality in the Nepali context. Commenting on the role of NGO in new millennium in the chapter entitled ‘NGO in Nepal’, he writes, "Up till now, institutions have been demanding that people tailor their needs and aspirations to what the institutions would and could give. The State has been doing so, and now the NGOs. The new millennium will demand that development institutions need to deal with the shapeless anxiety and address the needs and aspirations of the people. Such a response cannot be forthcoming from a preconceived paradigm borrowed from ‘abroad’ or within. This, in the ultimate analysis, remains the challenge before the NGOs in the 21st century."

In the chapter social development, he demonstrates how Nepalese people are loosing their economic power due to poverty. " As the root cause of poverty and underdevelopment in Nepal is embedded in the agricultural sector which continues to engage almost ninety percent of the population, the restructuring its traditional production relationship and revamping its inegalitarian political economy is a must. This alone is expected to unleash the entrepreneurial zeal of people, besides ensuring jobs, economic activity, employment for vulnerable groups, promoting labour markets, and improving the overall economic condition," writes Dr. Maskay.

Despite the government’s commitment for overall development under the leadership of nine prime ministers in ten years, the stark reality is that the majority people are still poor and are getting poorer day by day by the international standard. The government’s development programme for the grassroots level people has remained only a slogan. The book under review provides an insight into Nepal’s development issues. About the worthiness of this book, Dr Harka Gurung, an eminent development planner, writes, "The ideas in this book should contribute towards some clarity on the discussion about a system of governance that does deliver."

Review by Sarad Pradhan

Kalutara and Galle Lanka’s golden treasures

By Nischal Nath Pandey

Probably because of the 18-year-old infighting in the Jaffna peninsula, tourists prefer the beaches of the Maldives, Mauritius and Goa to Kalutara, Bentota and Galle of Sri Lanka. Till the late 70s, the Colombo airport was one of the busiest airports in Asia. Things changed dramatically after the LTTE came into the picture. My primary belief of the island nation was that of a war torn country always in admonition of possible bomb threats and intimidation. The opinion crash-landed as fiercely as the fighting in Elephant pass itself. The Bandaranaike International airport even at 2 pm was hustling and bustling with hundreds of tourists that had arrived from all parts of the world. A guide proclaimed that in comparison to the first half of the 90s, tourist inflow had begun to mount gradually showing signs of a complete recovery of S Lankan tourism industry. Thanks to the excessively priced hotels and beach resorts of the Maldives, a tourist of moderate budget started to choose the nearby beaches of Sri Lanka. In fact, a flight from Male to Colombo is less than an hour!

Kalutara, 27 miles from Colombo boasts of one of the most unspoiled beaches in the region. It also possesses the country’s famous beach resorts offering varieties of water sports like scuba diving, powerboat ride, glass bottom ferry etc to enchant the visitor and embrace him forever. It is also one of the major centres of the country’s spice trade, especially cinnamon and cloves not to mention the thriving rubber industry that it brags about. My ten days in Kalutara and Galle would not have been more luscious without the highest quality of mangos that are in abundance around this time of the year. Coincidentally, these juicy mangos are purple and of the shape of grenades or explosive shells. Reasonably priced, the fruit is brought along coconut by vendors along the golden beaches.

From shore fishing in the 50s and 60s, Sri Lankans have gone into near shore fishing in the 80s and now to deep-sea fishing. "We’ve fished away all the fishes", says Prof Sarath W Kotagama, of the Department of Zoology, University of Colombo who also happens to be the author of the draft national policy for the conservation of wet lands presented to his government. But, despite the whisking away of the fishes and the devastation of forests, Sri Lanka remains a Garden of Eden of grassy valleys, mighty rivers, breezy landfields and of course the long-exotic beaches.

Lanka’s major city is Galle (pronounced Gaul) that had a strategic location on world sea routes especially between the Middle East and the sub continent. Even today, the city shows off its Dutch heritage with forts, churches and alehouses. The original gate to the Galle fort still has a Dutch mark VOC (Vereenigde Oost Indische Campagnie) armed with a rooster crest. The affluent and wealthy population of Galle does not seem to worry of what is happening elsewhere in Lanka little else of the outside world. The things they eat, the clothes they wear, the way they live has everything Dutch embroidered in it. Probably, that is why the young lovers go ‘Dutch’ while dining out -- a custom that is still rare in the region.

A walk around the narrow streets of Galle exhibits confined lanes with restaurants, pubs, herbal bathhouses and even institutes that give diving lessons. ‘Toddy-Tappers’, that climb the coconut trees provide ‘arrack}, a favourite alcoholic drink of the common man of Lanka. The drink is strong and cuts through you as you gulp it down. On the ocean side of the long road that connects Galle with Colombo, hundreds of hotels and guesthouses have come up. Many of them are of the super deluxe and five stars categories. With a dollar retrieving more than 70 Sri Lankan Rs the tourist can hope for a dazzling experience of fun and jollity. So much so that many of them are coming in just to get married! The reason is simple. ‘It takes more than 3 thousand pounds just get properly hooked up in London with the churches, priests, cars and dresses taking up most of the cash’. In half of the money, a whole marriage procession can be arrange with elephants, garlands and champagne in Lanka. Says Keith Paling who has come with his fiancee, ‘It is a lot cheaper and hey! the honeymoon can start off immediately as well’.

Lanka is not a shopper’s paradise not is it famous for nightlife. Most Lankans still consider it the finest day to dine out in a restaurant or a hotel. There are not many discos or nightclubs in Sri Lanka although casinos are coming up in Colombo. The traditional masks painted in bright colours and gems of every variety are the typical Lankan adornments to take home. Batik shirts that vary in price and quality are the most famous. They are not tucked inside the trousers as most would bungle while wearing them.

The island is but known for its traditions, rituals and pilgrimage sites. Lanka is a Buddhist’s delight. Not a single road-junction is without a statue of the Buddha-sometimes delicately kept inside huge glasscades. There is also a famous Shiva temple in the Captain gardens in Colombo that is believed to have been worshipped by King Ravana of the Ramayana epic. Amazingly, the temple has Hindu gods and goddesses in black colour. Newara Elia, nestled in a wooded basin at more than 6 thousand feet even has the garden of Ravana where goddess Sita was kept.

To view of what people claim to be the stone bridge constructed by Lord Rama’s warring army of monkeys, one has to go to the upper side of the island. The stones never drowned as has been mentioned in the Ramayan epic. Modern day scientists assert that these stones may have been of limestones or some other mineral that does not drown in water. The whole army of Lord Rama crossed over the sea to wage a war against the devil, Ravana. This place is near the Jaffna peninsula and today there is a whole new-armed conflict going on. Hence, out of bounds for tourists.