Art For Society's Sake

Bhagna Astha Ko Khandhar: An Anthology of Short Stories by Vijaya Chalise, Published by Sangrila Prakashan, Kathmandu, Price: Not mentioned, Pages 10+106.

-By Gopi Sapkota

It is good to know that we still have writers who along with getting satisfaction from writing, try to correct the wrongdoers by their pen. However, it is an irony that these write-ups are hardly read.

It is a known fact that we can not have an utopian society except wishing for that. But again, we can no longer be satisfied with the system of life we are condemned to live. When pains of dissatisfaction grow mature writers can no longer remain silent. So has Bijaya Chalise done in his newly released anthology of short stories entitled 'Bhagna Astha Ko Khandhar'.

The book has a lot to say. It has a lot to share. And they are nothing new but the problems we have been facing. It seems Chalise, an already established writer and journalist, has a purpose in his writing like that of Mathew Arnold who propounded the idea of art for the sake of society. Chalise coincides his feelings and experiences of this mundane society with that of general people and thus orients the readers towards their feelings and experiences.

The book, with a total of 18 short stories in it, portrays a true picture of the contemporary Nepalese society. It’s a pure reflection of existing social and political anomalies and aberrations. The stories in the anthology not only inform but also leave an impression of a mundane society in which we are condemned to survive with a sigh of dissatisfaction.

The first story of the collection ‘Yug Yugki Janaki’ talks about a mythical character to portray the state of women. The story is about Sita, a mythical character of the epic Ramayana. It X-rays the mental agony of Sita when she was being imprisoned by Ravana, the demon king. Sita remembers the incident when the demon king's sister, Surpanakha, had proposed Ram, Sita's husband to marry her when they were on 14-year exile. Ram and his brother Laxman had cut off the nose and ears of Suparnakha because she had taken Sita as her rival. By then, Ram’s dedication towards her had made her feel an immense sense of happiness. But now, she realises that Surpanakha was also a woman and the case of Surpanakha at that time was similar to hers.

In this story, the author has projected the feministic approach to look at the society. The story articulates the existence of women in the society from the very beginning. The society has treated women as a ‘thing’ and not as a human being. Each woman in the society, whether she is Sita or Surpanakha, is like an object. Women are compelled to accept the physical and mental torture created by men. Both Sita and Surpanakha are women, and are the victims of men.

Paru, another story of this anthology, has to talk about how traditional our society is. The story is about caste discrimination. Paru, the main figure of the story, belongs to so called untouchables. Hari, a man from upper caste society, falls in love with her. Since Hari pertains to superior level of society, his so called relatives become barrier to their love.

The story is written on flash back technique and the plot is very strong. This is the reality of women in the Nepalese society. Most of the people in the village are bound to face this situation. It is because they can neither speak against so called cultural values nor can go against them.

Another story "Harke Kehi Bujdaina" (Harke doesn’t understand anything) again is a big satire against the functionings of the government and bureaucracy and their biasness for the rich only. The story speaks for the poors and suggests the policy makers to think of poors before making plans and decisions.

The title story, meanwhile, talks about how truth, intelligence, responsibilities, peace and faith have disappeared and falsehood has ruled the society.

Many of Chalise’s stories like 'Nirdosh Prasna' (An Innocent Question), 'Sampurna Kranti' (A Complete Movement), 'Charkeko Ghar' (Wrecked House) etc. can be studied from Marxist point of view. For Marxism, society is everything and art should be for the society and it should be able to direct it. Chalise’s choice is society. The subject matter on which he writes is about society and the purpose he writes is to bring change in it.

His stories also talk about movements and police tortures. They also speak about corruption and other social injustices. Portraying the present day human miseries, the author aims to generate awareness regarding social absurdities. By creating awareness on those social absurdities, he tries to make people to get up from a sleep of Rip Van Winkle and fight against existing social maladies.

Furthermore, Chalise's stories exhibit the injustices subsisted in the society and the partiality. However, there is no diversity of thought in his stories. Many stories serve the same taste to the readers--the conflict between two classes. Having depicted the minor aspects of events in a lucid but effective manner Chalise has revealed his expert hand.

The language used in his short stories is very simple and lucid. This may be because of his journalistic background. Chalise a journalist by profession and a novelist, essayist and a storywriter by career also writes for the Children as well. He has already written six books on different genres like novel, essay, short story and six more books on children’s literature. Altogether 13 books of Chalise, including the present one, have been published so far.