"Samsara" by David Abramkczyk

Finished reading David Abramkczyk's debut novel "Samsara". It's the story of a junkie American Jupiter who has to run from France after his friend gets killed. Jupiter comes to Nepal courting troubles all the way. He gets caught by Nepali authorities and Maya, a mysterious woman having powerful connections, rescues him. Then he meets Jack, another junkie, and circumstances force him to run away to the western part of Nepal along with Jack and Maya. He goes to the higher regions above Humla and comes across one after another adventurous incidents. Jack turns out to be an ex-CIA operative who had helped Khampa rebels to fight against China. During this journey, many dimensions of these three characters get unfolded. One thing common among them is that all of them are suffering from problematic past. Jupiter and Maya had troubled childhood while Jack was forced to be part of an abortive mission in Nepali hinterland which changed his life forever. The novel is written in an informal style with plenty of cursewords and blasphemy thrown in. Certain American phrases were difficult to understand, though! Description of trekking in upper regions is done marvelously. However, the long talk of defecation in two places was disgusting. Account of doping in the initial pages of the novels also didn't feel well. The first person narrator Jupiter talks about Maoists here and there but I was surprised that he didn't meet any in the upper mountains. And, there are very few interactions with the local people. Some Nepali phrases are put in wrong way. This novel exoticizes the east like many other novels written by Western authors but at the same time provides a realistic account of the country as well. Buddhist concepts are aptly described. But I felt that the climax was not up to the snuff. Anyway, the writer should be applauded for writing a nice book in his first attempt. It could have been better with adroit editing, nonetheless.

I liked the following in "Samsara":

Jupiter's mental response to things in the form of funny asides.

Rich cultural references from literary books and movies.

Delightful repartees and one-liners.

Painting of a bleak picture of a weak nation that serves as the stage where powerful international forces play out their political games.

Ashwin Sanghi's "The Rozabal Line"

Finished reading Ashwin Sanghi's thriller novel "The Rozabal Line." It's a confusing and pedantic novel that takes ideas from Brian Weiss's past life regression therapy, Jesus's time in India, Jesus's crucifixion as a ruse, Jesus's bloodline (a la The Da Vinci Code), worship of the mother goddess, cloak and dagger activities of Illuminati, Islamic terrorism (terrorists mirroring Jesus and his 12 disciples), 21 December 2012 folderal and many other things. There are many (underdeveloped) characters and (dangling) stories to keep track of. Not a fast-paced book as the writer switches to non-fiction time and again. His research for the novel is questionable as his primary source is Wikipedia. Uses anagrams and other subterfuges to build the ambience of mystery but doesn't manage to hold the attention. However, the basic intention of the novel seems to suggest that all religions are basically good even if some practitioners are evil. One can proclaim, however, that Hinduism as portrayed in the novel remains unsoiled by evil in comparison to Abrahamic religions.

Amritlal Nagar's "Boond Aur Samudra"

हिन्दीका मूर्धन्य साहित्यकार अमृतलाल  नागरको  सन् १९५६ मा प्रकाशित काव्यात्मक उपन्यास "बूँद और समुद्र" पढिसिध्याएँ । लखनउको एउटा टोलका केही व्यक्तिको जीवनभोगाइको यथार्थपरक चित्रण गरेर त्यो सानो समाजमार्फत स्वातन्त्र्योत्तर भारतका समस्या तथा तिनका समाधानका उपायका बारेमा सूक्ष्म टिप्पणी गर्दछ यो उपन्यासले । सामाजिक यथार्थवादको सार बोकेको यो वैचारिक उपन्यासका जीवन्त पात्र र घटनाक्रमले पाठकलाई बौद्धिक तथा भावनात्मक आनन्द प्रदान गर्छन्  । पतिद्वारा परित्यक्ता हिंस्रक मनोवृत्ति भएकी ताई, उच्चवर्गीय कुलीन परिवारमा जन्मेर पनि निम्नवर्गको उत्थानमा रुचि राख्ने अस्थिर चित्तवाला सज्जन, भारतीय परम्पराको गहिरो ज्ञान भएको अनि निजी जीवन सुमधुर नभएको लेखक महिपाल, प्रगतिशील विचारधाराकी वनकन्या (सज्जनकी पत्नी), दयावान कर्नल, नि:स्पृह कर्मयोगी बाबाजी  र अन्य बहुआयामी पात्रले भोग्ने विभिन्न परिस्थिति तथा उनीहरूबीचको बौद्धिक संवादले उपन्यासलाई ओजस्वी बनाएको छ । नारी र कामको बारेमा गहन परामर्श भएको छ । समाजरूपी  समुद्रमा बूँदरूपी मनुष्यको अस्तित्वलाई  उपन्यासले सटीक रूपमा विश्लेषण गरेको छ ।  पुँजीवादका खराबी र समाजवादका कमजोरीको पनि चर्चा छ । पुराना सडेगलेका संस्कारको विरोध र आधुनिकताको समर्थन गर्दछ उपन्यासले । आस्तिकताको  रससुधाले उँचाइ थपेको छ उपन्यासमा । विचारले थिचेर बोझिल भने भएको छैन उपन्यास । कतै कतै भने लेखकका विचार पात्रहरूका संवादमा बढी हावी भएका छन् । तैपनि हास्यचेत कायम गरिएको छ र अनेकौं मीठा कथा अनि उपकथाले पाठकीय आकर्षणलाई डग्मगाउन दिँदैनन् । मलाई गजबको लाग्यो यो उपन्यास ।                 

Subin Bhattarai's "Summer Love"

जवान प्रेमका उतारचढाव
युवा उपन्यासकार सुबिन भट्टराईको ताजा उपन्यास समर लभ पाठकलाई जवान हृदयको प्रेमिल संसारमा पु¥याएर आनन्दित तुल्याउन सफल छ । प्रमुख पात्र अतीत र सायाबीचको प्रेमको उत्कर्ष अनि रहस्यमय तरिकाले उनीहरुमा आएको विग्रहलाई भट्टराईले सुललित गद्य र आकर्षक कथानक विकासमार्फत प्रस्तुत गरेका छन् ।
अतीतको दृष्टिकोणबाट यो उपन्यासको कथानक अघि बढ्दछ । फ्रेम स्टोरीका रूपमा प्रस्तावनामा नर्वेको सेटिङ छ जहाँ अतीतको भेट उपन्यासकारसँग हुन्छ र उसले आफ्नो प्रेम कहानी सुनाउँछ ताकि उपन्यासकारले यसमाथि एउटा कृति सिर्जना गरोस् । अलि कमजोरखालको अतीत र दृढतायुक्त साया वातावरण विज्ञानको स्नातकोत्तर तहका विद्यार्थी हुन्छन् । कीर्तिपुरमा दुवैको बीचमा परिचय हुनुअघि सायाको बारेमा जान्न उत्सुक अतीतको मानसिक उहापोहलाई लेखकले सुन्दरताका साथ पेश गरेका छन् । परिचय भएपछि उनीहरु बानेश्वरबाटै कीर्तिपुर जानेगरेको थाहा पाउँछन् र सहयात्री बन्छन् । यही व्रmममा उनीहरुको बीचमा मीठा घोचपेच र फ्लर्ट हुन थाल्छन् । लेखकको कला यी दुई पात्रका एक लाइनका संवाद र तीव्र गतिको हाजिरजवाफीमा झल्किएको छ । युवा प्रेमीहरुको यथार्थपरक संवाद पाइन्छ । दुवैमा प्रेम बस्दै जान्छ र अतीतको प्रेमप्रस्ताव सायाले स्वीकार्छे । अनि उनीहरुको बीचमा शारीरिक तथा मानसिक प्रेमका अनेकौं शृंखला सुरू हुन्छन् । पोखरा तथा चितवनमा अध्ययन भ्रमण गर्न गएका बेला दुवैको प्रेम अझ उद्दीप्त हुँदै जान्छ । दुवैको पढाइ पनि राम्रै हुँदै जान्छ र दुवैले उच्च अंक ल्याएर एमए सक्छन् ।
साया थप अध्ययनका लागि नर्वे जान्छे भने अतीतले धनगढीमा एउटा जागिर पाउँछ । यो भौतिक दूरीले प्रेमलाई झनै बढाउँछ र उनीहरुको अलि फिल्मी पारामा धनगढीमा विवाह पनि हुन्छ । विवाहपछि साया फेरि नर्वे फर्किन्छे र यसपछि सुरू हुन्छ उनीहरुको बीचमा विग्रह । यो विग्रहको कारण उपन्यासमा खुल्दैन र यही रहस्यमयता नै यसको सशक्त पक्ष हो किनकि पाठकले आफ्नो कल्पनालाई यसमा दौडाउने अवसर पाउँछ ।
उच्च किसिमको शास्त्रीय उपन्यास होइन यो । युवाहरुको प्रेमलाई व्यक्त गर्ने काव्यिक रचना भने पक्कै हो । यसमा दुईथरी रसको उत्कर्ष पाइन्छ । उपन्यासको पहिलो भाग शृंगार रसले भरिएको छ र दुई प्रेमीबीचको तीव्र गतिको संवादले एउटा सुन्दर चाचा नृत्य भइरहेको आभास पाइन्छ । दोस्रो भाग भने करूण रसले सराबोर छ र पीडाले भरिपूर्ण छ । सायाले बेवास्ता गर्न थालेपछि अतीत शोकको सागरमा डुबेको दृश्यले भावुकताको शिर चुमेको पाइन्छ । यो शोकको चरम अतीतले सायालाई लेखेको पत्रमा अभिव्यक्त भएको छ । पत्र तथा डायरीमा लेखकको निजात्मकता राम्ररी झल्किन्छ र यहाँ पनि यस्तो लाग्छ मानौं लेखकले आँसु खसाल्दै यसको रचना गरेका हुन् । पाठक पनि अतीतसँगै रून थाल्छ ।
उपन्यासमा मद्यपानसँग जोडिएका वमनका दृश्यले गहन अर्थवत्ता निर्वाह गर्दछन् । हाल चलचित्र दर्शनमा वीभत्सताको शास्त्र विकसित भएको छ । बर्लिन विश्वविद्यालयका जुलियन हानिचले आकस्मिक वीभत्सता र पूर्वानुमानित वीभत्सता भनी यसको वर्गीकरण गरेका छन् । यसैलाई उपन्यासमा पनि हेर्न सकिन्छ । आकस्मिक वीभत्सतामा वीभत्स वस्तु (उपन्यासमा वमन) अचानक आएर पाठकलाई झट्का दिन्छ अनि उसको ध्यान वीभत्सतामा केन्द्रित गराउँछ । पोखरामा अतीतले धेर रक्सी पिएर पचाउन नसकी छादेको दृश्य यसको उदाहरण हो । अर्कातर्फ पूर्वानुमानित वीभत्सतामा पाठक पहिल्यै वीभत्स दृश्यका लागि तयार भएर बस्छ यस्तो दृश्यको परिणामको अनुमान लगाउन थाल्छ । पछि पछि जब जब अतीतले रक्सी खाएको छ त्यहाँ प्रायः छादेकै छ । यी दुवै वर्गका वीभत्सताले पाठकलाई कथानकीय क्षणमा बाँध्न मद्दत गर्छन् र यिनले अतीतको कमजोरीलाई जोड दिँदै ऊप्रति सहानुभूति पैदासमेत गराउँछन् । यो वीभत्सताले शृंगार रसको समेत उद्दीपन गरेको छ किनकि वमनमार्फत समेत देखिएको अतीतको लूरेपना सायाका लागि प्रेम विकासको माध्यम बन्नपुगेको छ ।
शृंगार रसलाई नै जोड दिनका लागि यौनका दृश्य समेत समावेश गरिएका छन् उपन्यासमा । तर मैथुनका प्रसंग अश्लील छैनन् । कलात्मक पारामा वर्णन गरेका छन् लेखकले यसलाई । अतीत र सायाको प्रथम शरीरसुखका बेला सायाको भाईको अचानक उपस्थितिले जन्माएको तनावले पाठकमा कुतकुती तथा थ्रिल जगाउँछ । थ्रिलकै कुरा गर्दा अतीत सायालाई भेट्न दिल्लीको विमानस्थल जाँदा उसले बेहोर्ने प्राकृतिक तथम अन्य अवरोधको वर्णनले पाठकको ध्यान बाँधिराख्छ । कुनै पनि प्रसंगमा पाठकको ध्यान विचलित हुन पाउँदैन जसलाई लेखनीको बलियो पक्ष मान्न सकिन्छ ।
साहित्यिकताले भरिएका उपन्यासको कमीले ग्रस्त छ नेपाली साहित्य । राजनीति, दर्शन, नारालगायतका साहित्येतर तत्वले थिचेका छन् विशुद्ध साहित्यलाई । तर यो उपन्यासमा साहित्यिक अलंकारको राम्रो प्रयोग भएको छ । भाषामा राम्रो पकड भएका शब्दशिल्पी हुन् सुबिन र यहाँ उनको प्रतिभाको उच्च प्रस्फुटन भएको छ । युवा पाठकहरूले त यो उपन्यासको जोडदार स्वागत गर्नेछन् भने अलि उमेर पुगेका पाठकले पनि आफ्ना विगतका प्रेमिल दिनको सम्झना यसमार्फत गर्नेछन् । त्यसैले पनि यो उपन्यासको सफलता सुनिश्चित भएको हो ।

Salman Rushdie's "Joseph Anton: A Memoir"

Finished reading Salman Rushdie's autobiography "Joseph Anton: A Memoir". Rushdie recounts his life (especially the extraordinary life under the threat of fatwa) in this tome that is more than 600 pages long. In 1989, after the publication of his notorious novel "The Satanic Verses", Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued the murderous fatwa against Rushdie charging the novel to be blasphemous of Prophet Mohammad. Now, I don't know whether the novel hurt Muslims' religious feelings or not because it was such a difficult and boring book that even after reading it twice I could not comprehend many things. But the faithful got hurt and Rushdie defended his attack against the faith on the basis of free speech. I, for one, don't subscribe to this defense as art has no right to attack the faith. (Rushdie takes arguments from that new global religion, "human rights", for his defense.) But Muslim response was equally deplorable as a person cannot be killed just because he wrote something unpalatable. The raising of the bounty money for Rushdie's head every year as shown in the memoir comes across as gross. Rushdie loves flowery language and likes to show off his command over vocabulary in his novels (calls his works, instances of pyrotechnics) and this is seen in the memoir as well. He puts French phrases in plenty. But the book overall is easy to read unlike some of his novels. He flaunts his egoism in the memoir to epic proportions and gives boring details of everyday life at times but at the same time comes across as a brilliant writer that he is by depicting interesting incidents and writing some killer lines. He quotes surrealists at one point by saying that the world itself is extraordinary but we are so habituated to it that we feel it's ordinary. The artist's duty is to wipe off the patina of ordinariness of the world and show all its true extraordinary nature. These lines pleased me a lot. And Rushdie's unconditional affection for his son Zafar is also laudable and at point he forgoes his atheism in describing his son as "god". His moments with his dying father Anis are warmly described. His description of India is also full of his love towards his birth nation. His life under the protection team with many "cloak and dagger" moments, his feeling of freedom in the US, his assumption of a new identity ("Joseph Anton" in honor of Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov), his bittersweet relationship with his ex-wives, death by diseases of his close friends (wing-beating sounds of death angels), his defense by many prominent writers and politicians—all these get ample of space in the book. Assuming a new name and forgoing his old identity reflects the themes of his own novels which portray migrants' uprooted life in cosmopolitan cities. Rushdie is a good humorist and he has used his talent in the memoir as well. His description of a Pakistani film that made him the chief villain is very funny. His love for movies is expressed here and there as the threats to his life are compared with apocalyptic blackbirds in Alfred Hitchcock's great movie "The Birds". Brian Grazer, a successful Hollywood movie producer, asks him whether he is interested in making a movie out of his life. Anyway, I liked Rushdie's memoir but felt that it could have been edited and shortened.