yesterday evening it was raining kukur and biralo in patan for sometime.. and just as 1730hrs drew near the clouds parted to reveal a deep blue evening sky... that was when the launch of sandaji's new book "peace politics of nepal: an opinion from within" was being launched in the courtyard at yala maya kendra. this is sandaji's (kanak mani dixit) 300-page tome in english.. following close in the heels of his book dekheko muluk in nepali last year
the cover of the book on the banner... it features the closeup image of the
'beni ko khamba'-- the electricity pole that bore the brunt of the crossfire during the overnight seige of beni ko bajar in 2004. the pole is currently in the same courtyard in yala maya kendra as part of the
shanti sanghralaya (peace museum) exhibits...
sandaji probably wondering what to say.. just as the programme began...
... and he's on the side with the organisers and publishers...
the programme begins with aastha thapa calling upon the three
mukhya manchheys of the evening- bhim bahadur tamangji, rameshwor khanalji and kul chandra gautamji. the empty seat is where sushil pyakuryelji should have been, had he not been taken ill.
the threesome...
deepak thapa spoke briefly on behalf of himal books...
... followed by an extrememly short and sweet
dui shabda by the veteran nepali congress leader from
'purba dui number', bhim bahadur tamangji
then came kul chandraji's excellent speech.. about the book and its author too. he said that if he were to gove another title to the book it would be called "the inconvenient truths" and talked about three chapters-- one that made his sad, one that he found very courageous and revealing; and one 'on which no matter where we stand on the ideological spectrum, we would all agree if we think of ourselves as just human beings with human empathy'...
... kulji talked about sandaji being "very partisan – he is partisan and non-apologetic in favour of non-violence, liberal democracy and pluralism – which many of us would not find as big sins..."
kulji ended with reference to the north korean constitution as one that seems to be be very democratic and pluralistic on paper, and his fears that it could be the same for the "multi-party system suggested in the UCPN(M) draft, without the acceptance of pluralism."
then it was time for the launch of the book...
... done jointly by khanalji and tamangji...
after that it was the erstwhile finance secretary rameshwor khanal... who was amused with the fact that he had become a 'hero' enough to be asked to launch kanak's book-- when he had wanted to slip out of the hullabaloo into a quiet retired life.. and how he already had over 2500 followers on facebook.. a jump from the 35 he had before he resigned!
...khanalji talked about the multi-split personalities who said one thing and did another, spoke different things on different occasions or to different people, which made it hard for him to work sanely. he talked how he'd been receiving messages from nepalis all across the globe for a need for someone to shake the country and make it 'take-off'... he urged people to constantly raise their voice against injustice, it would help to 'batter' and thus change the current 'money-based-politics' of today and to start a much needed economic jumpstart for the country...
... then it was sandaji's turn to speak. he thanked various people... from the publishers to the press people who burnt the midnight oil to take this book out in a haste...he talked about how he had originally started with the intention of make it is 40 page monograph... and how it actually grew and grew to a 300 page book!
... he said he found it necessary to write this book so that the intellengentsia inside nepal and outside can be given a certain foundation of facts on which they can then make better informed views for themselves at a stage when "the peace process stalls, the constitution-writing flounders, and democracy is endangered..."
... he also thanked the three people who have shaped his thinking in the past couple of years.. suhilji, kulji, hari sharmaji and nilambar acharyaji...
he also talked about what sushilji would have talked about if he'd been present... of the peace process in el salvador, which showed how we (nepalis) in our rush to get a democratic elections bungled up the proper sequencing that should have been followed ... of first tidying up the peace and reconciliation and other bits before rushing headlong with the elections...
after the ceremony we all queued up for sandaji's autograph...
... we family members lingered for a bit...
... including the soon to be family too...
.. as well as pasrt of the "highway" team and min 'in jeans,' ...
