Dialectics of Life

Life of human beings is not as easy to live as one wishes for. It, unlike the world of birds, to quote John Keats, is full of "the weariness, the fever and the fret." Still we should not surrender in front of life rather "there [should] be belief in the egg, the contents of the egg, [and] the warm coal," the symbols of hope in life, as an essayist E. B. White argues in his essay "Spring."

Hulaki, a collection of eight stories, ("A Village Woman" by Chandra Gurung, "Dolma" by Sweta Gyanu Baniya, "Hulaki" by Mahesh Paudyal, "Matari" by Krishna Prasad Bhusal, "Saraswati Ravished" by Anita Dhungel, "The Search" by Eda Upadhyaya, "Those Little Things" by Nitya Pandey and "Transgression" by Pratiksha Shah) as the editor claims, is an "attempt to experience the life of Nepalese people" and an effort "to share the pains and sufferings of our society." It is a bitter truth that life consists of more problems than the experiences of happiness, but what I don’t agree with the writers is that life is not always as pathetic and sorrowful as reflected in their stories. What would have been better is, if this collection is about life experiences, to incorporate the stories with optimism in life because life becomes worth living only with hope not with frustrations, pains and pangs.

However, these stories raise some prominent issues of human life. They bring the experiences of "women and marginalized" people into the foreground by raising the issues of "identity and recognition," reflecting the oppression and displacement evolving as a product of caste, creed and poverty in both rural and urban areas.

The society where we have been living is badly crippled by the superstitious beliefs, the vicious circle of poverty, the religious dogmas, child labor exploitation and social discrimination.  In such society, the evil practice of denouncing Kaluwa, a blacksmith, as "Down with Kaluwa," and making nasty remarks like "Down with whores" for a widow and her grown up daughters belonging to "untouchable caste" in the name of festival is common but unpardonable. This bitter reality has been a part of Krishna Prasad Bhusal's story "Matari." Similarly, the tragic story of Aditya, a child labor working in a tea shop and Maya, a child widow, reminds us, the readers, to muse on such evils which are occupying our societal memory. Nitya Pandey's this story entitled "Those Little Things" has been advocating for fighting against such ill-practices for the betterment of Nepalese society.

In this project of communicating with outside world through the means of scribbled letters, the writers have assumed that this collection can function as a Hulaki----a postman---- a very effective medium of communication especially in the rural areas until the job is grossly affected by the advent of modern technology. However, we shouldn’t neglect the contribution of a postman, who was always ready with his responsibility; ever happy, ever busy. That was the reason once he was invited by every villager when there were social gatherings but was forgotten and looked as nobody when he had not much things to do as a postman. "His arrival at a doorstep could mean a new turn of life" but his departure from Sulbung, a village in Ilam district, brought no effect at all, contrary to his reception in his arrival as a special guest in Mahesh Paudyal's story "Hulaki." The mango plant brought from Coochbihar, India and reared with difficulty, the sparrows living sharing the house couldn’t stop him from leaving the village and believing a maxim "Som kheti Budha ghar," he left the house for uncertain destiny ahead. His faithful duty too couldn’t be a plus point to make others feel sympathetic towards him.

Both Saraswatis; mythical as well as fictional, representing the world of Gods' and of human beings in the story "Saraswati Ravished" by Anita Dhungel, have been shown as the victims of patriarchal society. The seductive beauty of Goddess Saraswati lured the creator Brahma himself, who "could not contain his passions, and hence, ravished her." The same fate recurred in case of fictional Saraswati but both of them could do nothing against the prejudice that they had to encounter in their respective societies. But quite positively, the character "she" of the story "Transgression," has transgressed the social codes by doing those activities which the society had suggested her not to do. The decision of Roji's grandmother in the story "A Village Woman" has also brought some rays of hope in the eyes of readers.

Though the affirmative side of life is shadowed by the characters' physical suffering and mental inflictions, the candle of hope is still burning by bringing some messages as a Hulaki does. To read these stories, in this context, is not only a pastime but understanding of lives of people who are the representative of our society, though mainly of 'the other' side of life.