Author B.D. Tyagi, who wrote the under-review novel entitled, "Char Thumka", is not with us now. He passed away nearly sixteen years ago. Now, it must be said this posthumously published novel waited for a long time to come out even after the demise of the author.
The publisher's note to this book reveals that author Tyagi was the contributor to the then "Matribhumi" vernacular weekly newspaper. He had also a collection Nepali stories "Banda Jhyalko Shishabhitra" (Behind the Closed Glass Window) published to his credit while he was alive. Unforgettably, Tyagi was also known among friends and society as an honest literary person with spiritualism bent of mind.
However, to link up this talk about his posthumously published book with aforementioned works and personality of Tyagi, there is a point of common interest about the theme he chose to write the novel "Char Thumka". Tyagi's subjects to focus on in his writing here are from normal day to day social life.
This book has, therefore, plenty of chaotic things of the then society like the gaps between honesty and dishonesty among different kinds of people of that time, corruption, cheating, matters of loyalty and disloyalty etc.
The description of the author in it is literary and his style of writing is plainly in a conversational form.
He seeks to extend stories and also tries to make them conclusively lesson giving and while doing so he sometimes has not even cared about the connectivity of themes.
However, Tyagi is concerned to give more and more space to both material and spiritual thoughts in this novel.
We can relate this instance with Tyagi's fictional characters in this novel like Kaptan-Kaptanni (an army captain and his wife), his Puret (Punditji) and his servant Chaure.
Loyalty and disloyalty of these and other banal characters move with stories of the novel in a funny way. Some other noticeable things about this storybook are that the novelist here tries to extend conversations among his characters and with their stories Tyagi picks out some grave ills of society like corruption, cheap imitation of modern lifestyle among people, injustice, sexual abuse and tendency to hide crimes. Bina-Pravin, Kalyan-Kalyani and Ashok are some of such characters who bear trouble and tragedy of life as per the author's style of description.
It is not hard to know from this book that Tyagi had a deep interest to expose the hollowness of being religious only to act for reaching a beneficial position in our society. It is only a selfish attitude. But, mundane life moves like this and ends without any exemplary achievement for characters of the novel.
In fact, the life of society, which Tyagi saw and lived with while he was alive, is not there today. It is a novel which is built with themes of feudal social structure. But, if we come to today's subjects; it is not hard to know from which ills we are suffering. Are not the headings of poverty, corruption, sexual abuse, misuse of power and indiscrimination same as described by the novelist in the past?
We are in a different mode of life and problems have been fashionably changed to erode values of life. But, if we ponder over closely, their inside faces to confront against for us broadly are same – again corruption, poverty, misuse of power and sexual abuse. Maybe that is why Thyagi's these headings still figure in literary writings of today.
Coming to late Tyagi's literary vigour in the context of this posthumously published under review book, it is not hard to know that his passion to write with literary themes in Nepali was strong. He had already the novel "Utpat" and drama "Bairagya" published to his credit while he was alive.
But, now it is the literary work "Char Thumka" of Tyagi, which has been published for readers now by the
Kapan Baneshwor National Weekly sixteen years after the author's demise; this is certainly a praiseworthy tribute to the late litterateur.