Gandhi Raj Kafle

Themes of life are often decorated in the mature craftsmanship of words by author Bhagirathi Shrestha. This craftsmanship, which has made her a popular writer, is her own loved-beat of story writing. She keeps doing it because it is her passion. She has plenty of her readers who love to read from her time to time not only her book but also her pieces of stories published in literary magazines and vernacular dailies of the country. But, now the fresh publication of Bhagirathi Shrestha, which is being reviewed here, is an anthology of Nepali short stories.
The title of the book is “Rato Gulaf” and it is that piece, which carries a powerful message of love in this collection. Why has “Rato Gulaf”(Red Rose) among the seventeen stories in the collection been selected as the title of the book? It may be a question of curiosity.
But, the answer to it does not come unless one tries to understand the complex nature of love in this story. Feelings of love in words of silence of main characters, which just happened while participating in a training programme despite of having different religious backgrounds, speak a lot and this secret thing does nor erase even through their marriage and dutifully made bond of relationship in later life.
The ‘Rato Gulaf,’ which was a thing of birthday gift presented by the silent hero to his love, is symbolic because it becomes evergreen gift for the female protagonist in this story. Author Shrestha has beautifully described the message that some loves are special.
In the first story of this book, a mother suffers betrayal from her own son, who takes her to old age home and leaves there falsely saying she needs medical treatment in hospital. In the second story entitled “Be Ready,” the storyteller, has produced two opposite arguments and both seem to be right in their views because psychology of being beautiful and ugly itself is ephemeral if we try to see them with inner eyes and quality of persons as described by the author. The arguments of author Shrestha here is powerful. The number three story teaches a lesson about how shocks and agony of life should be faced bravely and objectively. In fact, this is a story about a bold and educated mother and a daughter, who courageously take right decision in right time.
However, these are only a few sample themes from this collection. In fact, the author has decorated all themes artistically because they are appealing from the viewpoint of themes, context and characterizations.
Another point to be noted is the author has equally been skillful and representative to select contemporary themes of our societies. These stories are stories through which readers can remember what troubles we have going through or how we have been compelled to bear the suffocations of society. In fact, we cannot forget our socio-political and economic problems of past and, similarly, problems of today – whether they are individual, family-related, social or political – they, too, should be focused on writing for all-around development of society in the long run. The happy thing to note here is that author Shrestha has decorated her feelings from within the themes of our societies and has presented them to readers as stories.
It is the job of literary critics to compare or make critical evaluation about the difference in characterization of female or male characters in literary works of woman authors or male authors. But, here in this anthology, there is prominence of female characters. To put up views of woman, champion their genuine cause and argue in favor of them to enhance values of societies as per vision of equality is a praiseworthy literary act. Shrestha here has served this literary purpose with her skills and talent.
No doubt, short story beat of literature is a powerful means to spread public messages. It has been popular from the viewpoint of readership also. So, how can this beat remain unutilized, when there are quite a lot of messages to spread in the country? Bhagirathi Shrestha has presented these messages genuinely the way stories do knock the mind and soul for truth and she has been a skillful messenger through the medium of voiceless imaginary characters like Rachana, Maiyan Devi, Asha Didi, Tara Aama and Sharad etc in this anthology of stories.
Author Shrestha deserves kudos for the publication of the “Rato Gulaf.”