Nepali Times ePaper

Oct 02, 2022

Dear Nepali Times Readers,

We wish all of you a Happy and Healthy Dasain. The editorial team will be taking a break for the holidays so the next print issue will be out only on 14 October. But we will have daily updates on nepalitimes.com.

If you are planning to spend a quiet Dasain this year or simply looking for some time away from the feasts, here are our picks of some Nepali movies and books to keep you company this festive season.

Nepali Books:

1) Yogmaya by Neelam Karki Niharika

Neelam Karki Niharika's 2018 Madan Puraskar-winning Yogmaya is a compelling historical fiction on women's rights and freedom of expression. Although a fictionalised narrative, Niharika's searing prose explores the themes of sati, child marriage, widowhood, caste- and sex-based discriminations, class struggle from ground-up, with sharp critique of the patriarchy and authoritarianism -- themes that remain pertinent in contemporary times.

योगमाया | Yogmaya

By Nilam Karki Niharika
Sangri~la Books, 2018

503p Rs595

2) Ramite by Jason Kunwar

The world of multi-instrumentalist and ethnomusicology scholar Jason Kunwar's 2020 novel Ramite is a fictional one. With themes of nationalism, migration, generational conflict weaved into a delicate thread, Ramite is a remarkable tale of making sense of one's world.

रमिते | Ramite

By Jason Kunwar

Red Panda Books, 2021

282p Rs850

3) Lichhavi Lipi: A Book on Epigraphy by Nayanath Paudel

Lichhavi inscriptions in Nepal are relatively rarer compared to Malla: and people who can read those inscriptions are even rarer. Now, scholar Narayan Paudel takes a step at correcting that with his astounding tome, Lichhavi Lipi. The detailed book starts with a look into the development of script from hieroglyphs to the Phoenician alphabets, the Brahmi abugida, making way to the Lichhavi script. It explains the writing system with diagrams and inscriptions, even noting where they could be found in the country, giving an authentic basis for research to an aspirant scholar or archivist in the history of Nepal, the Lichhavi period, linguistics and scripts.

लिच्छवि लिपि | Lichhavi Lipi: A Book on Epigraphy

By Nayanath Paudel

Published by Pramila Paudel, 2022

686p Rs1200

4) Pather by Shyam Sah

The second collection of stories by Shyam Sah, Pather, continue his exploration into the depths of marginalisation and rebellious consciousness in Madhes. In the style of a confident social realist, these 11 potent stories portray class struggles, exploitation, gender and caste, writing about the people living on the margins, forgotten by the government and often misrepresented. These stories are political at their core, and his aim is to bring Madhes to the forefront, examine exclusionary politics, the justice system, and inspire more such stories to claim their space in the literature of Nepal.

पथेर | Pather

By Shyam Sah

Phoenix Books, 2021

194p Rs350

5) Yambunera by Bina Theeng

Bina Theeng's third book, Yambunera, is a collection of 13 short stories set in and around the Kathmandu Valley, looking into the sense of otherness and displacement in hearts of its inhabitants entangled in the web of structural discrimination based on caste, colour, culture, religion and region.

याम्बुनेर | Yambunera

By Bina Theeng

Phoenix Books, 2020

173p Rs300

7) Mera Nau Dashak by Surya Bahadur Thapa

Five-time prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa's life and political career spanned five kings. In his autobiography, Mera Nau Dashak, Thapa's memoir is woven with the political history of modern Nepal, making sense of the possibilities and carving of a sovereign identity. Written by Ganesh Paudel with 310-hours of interviews with Thapa before he died in 2015, the book is as much one man's story as it is a country's biography.

मेरा नौ दशक | Mera Nau Dashak

By Surya Bahadur Thapa

Book Hill Publications, 2022

470p Rs1500

Nepali movies

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