FIFTH COLUMN

Bondage

By C K Lal

Sometimes I wonder about the reason that makes me continue writing. As I argued last week, it’s not money. Far from filling the pocket, writing burns a huge hole into it, if one takes into account the cost of buying books and periodicals required to be read to churn out thousands of words week after week.

No less a person than Kanak (Editor and publisher of Himal) once frankly admitted that honorarium to contributors constitutes the smallest expenditure-head in the cost of production of a periodical. Considering that his publications pay much more than any other competitors in the market, probably others spend more on maintaining their premises clean than in keeping their contributors contended.

It’s not that publishers are solely to blame for this skew in the priorities, where printers override writers in maters relating to payment, even though the former would have nothing to do if the latter did nothing. But dearth of publishing material is seldom a problem with Nepali publications who habitually lift materials from foreign publications straight away, or get willing social climbers to write for free.

Apart from that, politicians complicate the mater further. As Vijay, editor of the planned fortnightly magazine to be brought out by Kantipur Publications questioned, “Why pay columnists any more, when luminaries like Pashupati Shamsher are happy to contribute without expecting to be paid? Instead of wasting money after nobodies, why not oblige people like Pradip Nepal and Jay Raj Acharya for the same amount of money and space?” A very good question, something that only readers can answer, and they seldom do so.

The reason behind writing is not name or fame either. Publications of Nepal aren’t all that popular to make their columnists recognizable names. If one is reckless enough to mention that he is a columnist, the most common response at any social gathering is a blank face. Some show pity, others smirk, and most are disparaging. Columnists neither command the respect given to writers, nor the awe inspired by mainstream journalists.

Even self-satisfaction is not a motivation either, for most publications practice self-censorship of the highest degree. When it comes to spiking unpalatable opinions, private sector The Kathmandu Post is only a shade better than the government mouth-piece The Rising Nepal. The criterion of objectivity is brandished by editors who should know better than that. Objectivity and opinion are mutually excessive terms. To get any attention, an opinion has to be biased even for news reports, or analytical features, objectivity is not the right criteria, fairness is perhaps more appropriate.

Perhaps one continues writing, despite all odds, because one can’t help it. Like a dopey craving his daily fix, or an alcoholic hitting the bottle fully aware of the consequences of his addiction, a columnist writes not because he wants to, but because he has to. There is no escape, the pen is a powerful bondage.