Mukti Rijal

The book reviewed in this column is presented in the form of a month long travel diary chronicled in a very systematic, purposeful and coherent way.
The writer provides an account of each and every day of the journey giving due care to keep uninterrupted flow,flair and sequence of the text to sustain readers' interest from beginning to the end. The writer of the book Ganga Shrestha shows his talent and versatility in crafting the message using simple, precise and colloquial prose producing an effective communication impact.
In fact, the more one goes browsing one paragraph after the other of the more than two hundred pages of the book, one cannot leave it abruptly in between as it keeps the reader glued to it. This is because one's own ' interest and curiosity grows further with the gripping account about the persons, places and passions contained in the book. The travel diary provides a multidisciplinary perspectives and covers geographical diversity, history, politics, culture and development of the mid hills of Nepal straddling Puspalal Lokmarga from east to the west. The month long journey as pointed out in the book had touched 28 districts trekking along a distance of 1879 KM.
The writer gives rich insights into the prevailing condition of the rural communities of Nepal. Some of the villages which he travelled across both in the Western and Eastern Nepal had been already familiar to him. Needless to say, the writer had spent considerable time of his political life as an underground Maoist leader. In those days he had travelled across the rural terrains of Nepal and organized and mobilized people for the cause of armed insurgency.
He had joined in with Dr.Babu Ram Bhattarai to form and promote new political force better known as Naya shakti Party . The Naya shakti Party has finally become an integral part of the newly formed Janata Samajbadi Party.
The long march along the mid hill about which the book gives blow by blow account was organized on behalf of the then Naya Shakti Party with a view to establish contact with the people and gather an exposure on their perceptions and perspectives on development and politics in the country.
The journey had started from Chiwabhanjyang in the east and ended in Jhulaghat in the western end Nepal. The journey from the Chiwabhanjyang in Panchthar district in the east moved to the westward holding dialogue with the people.
Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai had been the key political leader who led the march and addressed the dialogue events one after and interacted with the people Intensively .Traversing various locations in Panchthar, the march travelled to the west and took part in the dialogue events held in different locations of Tehrathum, Dhankuta, Bhojpur and Khotang districts. The books talks about Chamere Gufa (cave ) in Dhankuta which is a very promising tourist locations.
Another innovative project mentioned in the book is the sanitary landfill site constructed in Dhankuta in which lush and luxuriant gardens have been grown and developed.
The book reveals a very lesser known fact, among others, about Mira Rai – a famous athlete who has been shot into international prominence. She was an ex- Maoist combatant who had been declared unfit to integrate with the Nepal army. She came from Pouwadunga rural municipality of Bhojpur. In Khotang, a school run by Shuvam Foundation offers a model for applied vocational education especially focused on agriculture in the country. The school has been the brainchild of leading agro-scientist Madan Rai who is also credited for pushing apple farming in Mustang a few decades ago.
The book moves into Sindhuli district. It depicts several episodes and events providing tasteful description about the political dynamics characterized by partisan based polarization in local communities. Needless to say, the writer himself comes from the district itself and his association with the politics in the district gives him an advantage to know its nuts and bolts.
The book collects the glimpses of the journey from Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Gorkha, Parbat, Baglung districts where events were hosted to hold dialogue with the community people. On the 21st day of the journey, the group faced hassles due to thick snow sheet in which the vehicle was grounded to halt in Patibhanjyang lying in the border of Baglung and Rukum districts. However, the team managed to tide over the dangerous and difficult terrain lying in 3100 meters elevation.
The team reached at Lukum where a warm welcome was awaiting to the guests. The writer recollects his earlier sojourn in Rukum where he had visited there as a student leader and rues that no noticeable change and development has occurred in the district since then. The journey gains apace westward via Jajarkot, Achham, Dailekh, Dadeldhura, Doti and finally touches Jhulaghat on the 30th and concluding day of the journey.
Temporally, the book covers thirty days but spatially it encompasses the whole hill universe of Nepal. It contains a mine of information and collage of impressions gathered by the writer while travelling across the hill hinterland of Nepal. It is useful for all category of readers from students to the policy makers in the country. The foreword written by Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai adds value to the book.