‘Muna Madan’ in Mandarin
While walking on the sidewalks of the city, many residents of Kathmandu may have come across Chinese President Xi Jinping’s books on governance, neatly translated into Nepali. In all likelihood, they were translated by Current Publication, the translator and publisher of most Chinese books available in the Nepali market. A few other books in Mandarin have also been translated in Nepali. But how many of us know that Nepali literary works are also being translated into Chinese, and that some of them like Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s ‘Muna Madan’, have enjoyed modest success in China?
The goal is to enhance mutual trust and to bring the two peoples closer
Still, the Nepali-book market in China is relatively small. “The Chinese love to read about our society and culture, and if we can select the best publications and translate them properly, China can be a huge market,” says Kiran Gautam, Current Publication’s managing director.
Aneesh Malla, a lecturer of Mandarin at Kathmandu University and the translator and editor of many Current books, reckons Nepali works have excellent potential in China if there is good research into the Chinese market.
Nepal and China want to publish each other’s works, starting with literary ones, says Ganga Prasad Upreti, chancellor of Nepal Academy. Upreti says that Nepal Academy is particular about selecting books to translate and send to China, and hopes that like ‘Muna Madan’, which he says has sold over 100,000 copies in China, other well-translated Nepali books will also be popular in China.
The goal behind these translations, say those involved, is to enhance mutual trust and to bring the two peoples closer.
Books in translation
The Xinzhi Bookstore at Kamaladi, Kathmandu is among a handful of bookstores in Nepal that sell Chinese books. It mostly caters to Chinese nationals living in Nepal and to students and professionals learning Mandarin. With a huge collection of Chinese books and magazines, the bookstore also has a small section where non-Chinese customers can buy Chinese books that have been translated into English or Nepali: the section has a collection of illustrated stories and Chinese folklore translated into simple English and Nepali for beginners, as well as popular Chinese literary works for more advanced readers. On spending some time at the bookstore you learn that plenty of Nepalis are interested in Chinese works that have been translated into Nepali. (The store owners corroborate that.) But would Nepali works of fiction and non-fiction translated into Mandarin sell in China? Given China’s colossal market, could our struggling writers thrive there?
“Definitely,” says Kiran Gautam, Managing Director of Current Publication Pvt Ltd, the translator and publisher of most Chinese books available in Nepali translation. “The Chinese love to read about our society and culture, and if we can select the best publications and translate them properly, China can be a huge market,” Gautam says.
Gautam has for past 11 years been taking part in various literary conferences and book fairs in China and exploring the possibility of an exchange of publications. Current Publication is a 45-year-old family business that Gautam took charge of in 2012. He has since been publishing translations of Chinese writings and researching the demand for Nepali publications in China.
Dearth of material
“In Nepal, most of what we read is home-produced or imported from India. We have always been very influenced by India but we should not forget China is also our neighbor,” Gautam says. Working in collaboration with Chinese publishing houses, he and his team of translators and scholars started by translating children’s storybooks. They then moved on to more serious publications, including a comprehensive book on the Belt and Road Initiative.
“But the main problem is that we do not have good material to penetrate the Chinese market,” says Gautam, who this week received the “International Publishing Cooperation Friendship Award 2018” on behalf of the Current Media and Research Center in Tai’an, Shandong. “Apart from a few Nepali classics, I don’t think the bulk of what we publish would interest Chinese readers.”
Gautam, who also writes and translates, is working on a travelogue based on his journeys across China. He says Current Publications is also translating Chinese President Xi Jinping’s writings.
Aneesh Malla, a lecturer of Mandarin at Kathmandu University and the translator and editor of many of Current’s publications, reckons Nepali publications have excellent potential in China if there is good research of Chinese market. “During my stay in China as a student, I noticed that most Chinese students had the habit of reading outside their curriculum from an early age. Reading is an integral part of life there,” Malla says. He thinks Nepali books, if translated and promoted well, could tap the huge Chinese market.
Malla is also the director of the “China-Chin Editorial Department,” established this year by Current Media in collaboration with China’s state-run Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, the biggest publication in the country for foreign language translations and printing.
"We have always been very influenced by India but we should not forget China is also our neighbor"
Kiran Gautam Managing Director, Current Publication
Two-way process
“We have been translating Chinese books for the Nepali market and with this new collaboration, we will publish at least five substantial writings every year. But this is not enough. We strongly believe this should be a two-way process and we also need to spread our culture and literature in China,” Malla says. He cites the examples of Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s classic “Muna Madan” and Dharma Ratna Yami’s “Reply from Tibet” as successful Nepali publications that have been translated into Mandarin and which were well received in China. “But we can do much more,” says Malla, who is halfway through translating Diamond Sumsher Rana’s epic “Seto Bagh”. He believes the book will create an interest among Chinese readers because of its rich historical content.
Working on “Seto Bagh” with Malla is Xing Yun (pen name Indira), a PhD scholar at Tribhuvan University and faculty member at the Center for Nepalese Studies in Beijing Foreign Studies University. Yun has collaborated with Malla on translations of books like “Fun Reading About China,” and “Chinese Folk Tales” (a series of 10 books). Indira writes and speaks fluent Nepali and is an avid reader of Nepali literature. She names Nepali classics like “Muna Madan”, “Seto Bagh”, “Muluk Bahira”, “Basanti”, “Shirishko Phool” and modern popular bestsellers such as “Forget Kathmandu” and “Jackson Heights” as some of her favorites. “I like reading Nepali literature, but I cannot authoritatively judge Nepali books or authors,” she says. But she believes books like “Seto Bagh” that delve into Nepali culture will be a big hit in China.
Need of our times
“Although it’s fiction, I found the stories of that period fascinating. I’ve also watched a Nepali movie based on the book. The history of Nepal, the Nepali way of living, its religions and rituals, the cultures of different ethnic groups and the Nepali diaspora would interest Chinese readers,” she says. Yun acknowledges the similarities in the two neighbors’ cultures and literature, and says although the two peoples have had age-old trade exchanges, literary exchanges are vital too.
Correction: An earlier version of this article showed an incorrected map of China. Sorry.
Now you will be able to walk on Phewatal
Gandaki province government is planning three new tourist attractions on Phewatal in an attempt to develop Pokhara as a complete tourist destination. There are plans to build a multimedia-dancing fountain on Phewatal, a water-walk over the lake, and a canopy walk to enable tourists to walk over jungles of the surrounding Raniban.
According to Bikas Lamsal, Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment for Gandaki, Rs 5 million budget has been apportioned for each of the three projects.
Lamsal says the provincial government is thinking beyond developing the province capital of Pokhara and is analyzing new projects in other districts of the province as well. This is being done in the lead up to the international investment conference the province is hosting in March 2019.
The provincial government has set aside a total of Rs 80 million for the Fewa Lake Conservation Program, which includes the three projects, and is working in collaboration with Pokhara municipality, according to Diwakar Poudel, the ministry spokesperson. By 2022, the provincial government aims to welcome two million international tourists to Gandaki.
According to province government, tourists in Pokhara stay for an average of 2.5 days
The province foreign ministry informs that tourists tend to stay for an average of 2.5 days in Pokhara. By introducing new man-made tourist attractions without disrupting the natural beauty of the area, the goal is to make them stay longer. Local tourism entrepreneurs believe adventure activities such as paragliding, ultra-light aviation, bungee jumping, zip flying, canoeing and rafting have contributed to prolonging the Pokhara stay of tourists. The new attractions will persuade even more folks to do so, they say.
Gandaki needs the permission of the federal government for these endeavors as Phewatal falls under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and Raniban forests is an ecologically diverse zone. A Detailed Project Report is being prepared while waiting for the final permission.
Tour operators in Pokhara say that recently trekkers have been taking buses to Manang and Mustang from Kathmandu. They treat Pokhara only as a brief transit before their return to the national capital. Data shows that 64 percent of international tourists come to Nepal for trekking.
Lament of a Tamang woman
Kopila Tamang, 25, from Jhor Mahankal of Tokha municipality on the northern fringe of Kathmandu wakes up at 4 am at least three times a week. Before the break of dawn, she embarks on a short trip to Balaju for business. But before that, she visits a few houses in her Tamang village to collect the produce from women of her family and the larger community to sell in the local market. With a 20-liter jerry-can filled with home-made liquor, Tamang takes public transport to Balaju where her customers, usually owners of small eateries and drinking shacks, await her. They get from her the newly-designated contraband: the famous Nepali rakshi.
Women from her community have been in the business of producing and selling homemade alcoholic beverages for decades. Many families depend on it for their livelihood. But this could all change with the government preparing to impose strict rules against the consumption, production and selling of alcohol. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has announced a crackdown on home-brewed and distilled liquor made for commercial purpose and police have been confiscating and destroying thousands of liters of home-made liquor all over the country.
Tamang and the women of her community are also irked by police checks that have increased in frequency of late. As they carry their jerry-cans, they are frequently questioned before they reach Balaju and other designated places of sales. “I don’t know why the government wants to crack down on traditional liquor makers like us who use everything organic to make drinks we have been consuming for centuries,” Tamang says. “They should instead focus on big distilleries which use chemicals and which are thus more harmful.” She talks of the women of her community who are harassed by police for carrying liquor in public transport and feels that it is unfair on part of the government to deprive them of their traditional income source.
One 20-liter jerry-can of rakshi costs Tamang Rs 1,300 in Jhor, which she sells for Rs 2,000. That is around Rs 600 of daily profit after the deduction of transport cost. The money she earns goes to the education of her children, says Tamang, who also has a day job as a nanny.
Tamang represents potentially thousands of women around the country who are involved in the traditional trade of distilling and brewing liquors out of millet, rice and other grains to support their families. When asked of the importance of rakshi in the Tamang culture, she exclaims with a surprise, “Aamai! What are you talking about? We need rakhsi on all occasions, from birth till death. It is not considered bad in our culture and is used in religious ceremonies as well as for medicinal purposes.”
“Governments, laws, regulations, policing and disciplinary actions are part of modern society. But the existence of human beings predates everything,” says Sujin Lohorung Rai, a lecturer in anthropology at Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus. In bringing the new regulations, “the government has failed to address the human diversity, multi-cultural existence and plurality that has been present in the country since historic times.”
Hailing from an indigenous community of eastern Nepal, Rai believes that the government is neglecting the fact that alcohol, especially home-made alcohol, is a part of life and culture of many indigenous communities. Giving an example of the Lohorung Rai culture, Rai says alcohol, or “hopthiwa” in local dialect, is essential for any “rite of passage”, from birth to death.
“People have wrong notion that certain communities use alcohol only to get drunk, make merry and create nuisance. That is not true,” says Rai. “They see people fighting after alcohol consumption but they do not see people sorting out their differences, making new friends, building relationships and bonding over alcohol.” To give it benefit of doubt, the government may have brought the new alcohol regulations with the best of intent. But it would have been wise to first consult the communities that are most likely to be affected.
Muslims campaign against dowry system
Islami Sangh Nepal, a Muslim umbrella organization founded in 1985, launched a 10-day campaign against the dowry system that is deeply rooted in the Madhesi society. This campaign, which will be run in all eight districts of Province 2, started with a rally in Birgunj on Dec 16.“In Islam religion, there is no custom of giving dowry to the groom. The groom has to actually give money and property to the bride party,” said Jelisha Suman, a Muslim woman who was taking part in the rally. “However, in recent years, Muslims have started exchanging dowries by copying ill practices of other communities.” Another participant in the road rally said, “We, Muslim women and girls, have taken to the streets to fight this evil system.”
Different types of awareness programs will be held in the 10-day campaign.
Islami Sangh Parsa chapter President Jamil Akhtar, also a participant in the demonstration, said, “In our religion it is thought Allah gets angry just hearing the word ‘dowry’. It is considered haram. If someone takes dowry, they are no longer Muslims. However, Muslim people are now demanding millions of rupees during marriage of their sons.”
President Akhtar informed that different types of awareness programs will be held in the 10-day campaign.
“This dowry system that is spreading like an epidemic has been destroying lives of women. When a girl is born into a household, she is seen as a liability,” said Mujtuwa Ansari, a Muslim leader. He added, “Muslim community is against such practices. Support from other communities and religions is also necessary for success of this campaign.”
According to 2011 census, Muslims comprise 4.39 percent of national population of 26.49 million, most them living in the Tarai belt.
Padman’ brings smiles to school girls
Birgunj : “Earlier, when we had our periods, we used to skip school for 4-5 days,” said Puja Kumari Chauhan, a Grade X student at Parsa’s Ram Charitra Bhagat Secondary School. “If we suddenly got our period in school, we would tell our teacher that we were sick and go home.”
Then along came Madhav Prasad Bhandari. He has been distributing free sanitary pads in Parsa’s rural areas after he heard that local girls missed school during their periods. He works via Rose Bahini Sirjansil Mahila Samaj, of which he is a founder. “When I heard about girls missing schools on the radio, I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” says Bhandari.
Chauhan, the Grade X student, says she is happy she no longer has to miss school.
Bhandari plans to distribute sanitary pads in 150 schools in rural areas of the district. He has already provided free sanitary pads in community schools of Rolpa, Kanchanpur, Bhojpur, Dang, Surkhet, Banke, Kailali, Nawalparasi and Dhading districts.
He says he will work with local NGOs to ensure that these girls never run out of sanitary napkins.
