(A critical observation of Dr. Govinda Bhattarai's novel ' Sukaratko Diary')
What sort of life the fiction has written so far?
Should it be continued or to be written a new level of reality of life?
What is the demand of (our) time ? What is the demarcation for new one?
Shall we prefer focussing on our nation or shall we guide the various activities of humanity in the world?
(P.201)
These are some the questions from Sukaratko Diary that make us ponder over the facts that writing is not just an effusion.It's a responsibility.
'Time is both, a greatest writer as well as an eraser.'
This is a call to be aware of signified that we often feel trapped in.What makes us choose things beyond our predilection ? Most of the time, the answer is swallowed by the silences. Our silences are more prickly than the piercing words we hear. Things not said but indicated or driven to, is the essence of signified.
One of the striking things I see in this novel is that it is full of names of other novels and books. Can a bibliography be a form of any sorts novel indeed? The answer is experimentally 'yes' for Dr. GRB. The bibliographical novel like this, perhaps singularly existed so far in our context, can surely help the students of literature for the extensive study.
Dr. GRB feels a burden for learners to guide and nurturing them.Unlike putative superiority of quantification, the qualitative writing which can serve the national identity is what he aspires to see in the literary figures of Nepal, specially, those who are shining in the horizon.'As long as the fundamentalists' remnant is there, Nepali fiction can not rise higher' says he.(P.245) Identity is being annihilated by the power of non-places. He startles at every child being ravished by its time.sobbing inside and unnoticed, he laments the state of being lost but at the same time, urges the new generation (Ananta) to be cautious of this predicament.
Fiction becomes power when a responsible reader or writer purposefully knows from where the sun rises and to where it sets down. However, the phenomenon is merely a quotidian for many of us. Socrate in the novel teaches Ananta many aspects of the fictions e.g., theme, language, style and some exercise to do as well. The bull's eye is not other than the new generation of fiction, so to speak. My conviction is that, enlarging others makes him larger; larger than before.
To me, the major theme of the novel is Non-places, basing on my cursory reading up to this far. The dilemma of Ananta whether or not to pick his character(Purnima) after her decision of going to Australia is a predicament of non-western writers. Non-places is the situation created by the capitalistic mode of life.
The writer is a place of authority (p.168) but it is ripped asunder now. Partiality is seen even in the writing. I feel sorry for Ananta deciding to replace Nilima in the place of Purnima. Enchanted by her vibrant presence and blurred memory of Purnima, Ananta's choice is governed by the principle of governmentally.(p.238 & 241) The theory of economics reveals the fact that there is a consistency of choice.It is, therefore, a predicament that a writer has to face rather an error of choice. Socrate is even disturbed with the thought of possible immorality between Ananta and Nilima. So, he too, has been victimized by her leaning towards Ananta for he is driven away by her enchantment.Why does Socrate feels gripped by her at midnight?
'Socrate, I wish I would die before I can imagine your absence!'(P.239).
He feels himself caged inside the grip of Nilima. then there is a reference of the lost of his diary. It is an age; a today's time which has have been being lost in every single day in the university. The authorial reticence, here at this point, presents a mute picture which portrays a poem. The lost identity is not a menial subject matter to talk of. It's a realization of non-places experience in one's life.Life is shaped by historical push and shoves. What one feels avoiding has actually become the part of one's life. The more shining a light and enlightenment the more pursuing shadow witch hunts. Colonization is not seen in the territory nowadays rather it is realized in the mind. Purnima could have been local and natural setting for Ananta's writing but his choice is a solid proof of the fact that writing can be bias. Being affectionate with one and getting married to another, and vice-versa. I wish I could find an author pure in his mind who would not hide his leg when one intends to cut off the thief's leg.
The concept of multi-genre: the novel of novels, diary, anti-novel,analysis, autobiography etc, and even to the extent of no-genre for some, in one package, also gives this work a postmodern silhouette. The postmodernists have no ethics than revealing the fact that people misconceive the ideas they belong to. For them,truth is something like a cat being seen like a tiger.There's where the dissolution of distinction lies.But my entreaty to the readers is this: Beware of tigers for they are not cats!
Lalitpur-14, Nakhipot
