[Vedanshi is Mukesh Chandra Baral’s daughter. She is a ninth-grader at present and is involved in teaching and learning Nepali to children of the Nepalese community in Boston, USA. —PD]
1. What is one of your favorite memories with your father, and what was your relationship like?
One day, I asked my father to buy me a tricycle. He said, “So, you want a tricycle?” I said yes, and then soon forgot that I had asked him to buy me anything at all.
One fine morning, I woke up from a restful sleep. Although the room was still dark, the early morning light sought its way through the cracks of the wooden windows to gleam on something that shouldn’t have been there. I jumped out of bed and went to see what it was. And what a surprise! A red tricycle stood in the room with the faint light gleaming from its steel handlebars. My first reaction was to try to ride it, but it fell on me. My sisters came running into the room and then they helped me sit on the saddle and to ring the bell.
I shall never forget my father’s small acts of love. He loved not only his own children but those of the neighborhood too. He usually had candies in his pocket. Everyone knew that.
2. What was it like coming back from school to home? What would your father be doing and where would he mostly be (out of the house or in the house)?
One day, in 1958, my father and I were walking down the road towards Dhobidhara when he asked me if I was eight years old. He should have known that better than me. I didn’t know, but I said yes. He then asked me if I would like to go to school. Although I didn’t know what school was either, I said yes because I trusted my father enough to believe that it was some place good for me. The very next day he sent me to Padmodaya High School with a cousin and got me enrolled in class five. This was a turning point in my life. For a few days, my cousin used to come and pick me up. However, I was soon told to come home with our neighbor’s son, Binod, who was my classmate.
After school, I and some of our classmates who lived in the same area would walk home together. On the way, we would joke, laugh and quarrel. Somehow, our number would continue getting smaller as friends suddenly disappeared on the way to reappear in school the next day. Binod and I would be the last ones to reach home. Without even waiting for the afternoon snacks at home, I would throw my school bag somewhere in the house and run out to play. I never looked to see what my father was doing. My mother or one of my sisters would try to feed me something. After that, it was fun and play for the rest of the day.
3. Nepali speaking children in Boston are interested to know more about Devkota but we don't get a chance to learn much about him. Is there something about him that you think every Nepali- American kid must know?
This is a very good question. I can only ask: Is there any thing about any other poet—American or Nepali—that every Nepali-American kid must know? A nineteenth century poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote in “A Psalm of Life”:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime.
Very briefly, my father, Mahakavi Laxmi Prasad Devkota, was motivated, inspired and hard-working. His literary oeuvre provides, among other things, excellent insights into the roots of our culture and inspires us to love the nation, to love all human beings and to have compassion for plants and animals too.
He is a multi-faceted personality: an inspired poet, a freedom-fighter, an intellectual who lived during a time when the government punished people for wanting to open a library. He was extraordinarily generous and empathized with the poor and the down-trodden people. He also raised his voice for the upliftment of women in Nepal.
4. How was your father viewed in the community you grew up in?
He was popularly known as a great poet. The title of Mahakavi was given given spontaneously by the people. He was loved, respected, heard, and admired. This, of course, meant that myths and legends grew around him.
5. As a kid at school or even when you got a job, did people recognize you as his son? If so, how would they react?
To this day, people unfortunately see me as the son of the great poet more than as an individual struggling with his own life and dreams. In a way, this is also tragic. Nevertheless, they usually throw in a few words of love and admiration for him when they meet me.
6. My dad tells me that you yourself are a pretty accomplished person in English Literature. Is there an English Literary figure that was influenced by Devkota?
I thank your dad for the kind words.
Devkota’s literary influence, even among the younger poets and writers of Nepal, needs yet to be studied in some depth. The myths and legends that have evolved over his personality and creativity speak for themselves of his immense influence upon the general populace. His international fame is growing. His works have been translated into English, Hindi, French, German, Russian, Korean, Chinese and many other languages. I don’t know how this has resulted in literary influence elsewhere. During the poet’s own life-time, Dom Moraes, a journalist and a writer of Indian English poetry, was very influenced by Devkota and includes his meeting with the poet in Gone Away: An Indian Journal (1960).
7. You have translated Muna Madan which is considered very important in Nepali Literature. Is there any other book by your father that you are translating now?
Yes, I have collected some of my feeble attempts to translate individual poems under the title A Bouquet of Rendered Poems of Laxmi Prasad Devkota. I could have done a better job there. (Please find a sample translation of a poem for children attached herewith.)
8. What is your favorite piece from your father? If one is too hard to pick then multiple is fine!
His poem that first impressed me was “Autumnal Moon” (शरद् चन्द्र). I love practically everything he has written. “The Lunatic,” “To a Beautiful Prostitute,” “Song of the Nightingale,” and “To a Dark, Clouded Night” are some wonderful poems. He has also written essays originally in English: The Witch-Doctor and Other Essays and Coronation Day in Kathmandu and Other Essays are playful, thought-provoking, poetic pieces worth anybody’s time.
9. Do you have any journals,papers, or other unpublished handwritten notes from him with you?
Yes, there are many things he wrote that have yet to see the light of day.
10. Is there something about his legacy or reputation that you feel that people today don’t fully understand?
I would like to emphasize the discipline of regular hard work behind his success instead of accepting, as many people have done, his literary achievement as a blessing of some goddess.
11. Your father was a very talented and giving individual, if you were to give a message to the world from his behalf what would it be?
My father asked the question, “What should be the purpose of (human) life?” And he answered the question in the same line of a very popular poem: “Aim for the moon.” He wrote this when the moon was not within easy reach. Aiming for that which seems impossible in the now and making it possible in the near or distant future has remained a constant characteristic of human progress. If humans don’t find a home soon in another planet, physicists believe that the race of homo sapiens will go extinct. It sounds impossible, but Artemis II is a step into the future.
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Don’t Pluck the Buds
—Laxmi Prasad Devkota
(Translation: Padma Devkota)
1.
Oh, don’t you pluck the buds, child,
To break them is so mean.
Don’t you tear the petals, child,
Lest pity, kindness leave unseen.
2.
Oh, don’t trap the poor birds,
They’ll curse you with their tears.
Do not kill any animals,
Or death’s roar you’ll hear.
3.
Do not hurt anyone,
Their feelings will be sore.
Do not fling the dust, child,
‘Twill only cover your soul.
4.
Do not play with muck, child,
The filth will leave a stain.
Don’t hurt anyone’s feelings,
A sting brings tears of pain.
5.
Be ever like a flower
Let fragrance bring the smile.
Always cheer the world, child,
Spread good hope, rejoice.
6.
God is everywhere, believe.
Heed to thoughts like these.
Never deceive or hide the truth
Whatever happens, please.
