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Significant Tales of Insignificant Lives

: A Book Review of 'A Cry in the Wilderness and Other Short Stories'

by Sanyukta Shrestha, London

Published: The Himalayan Times Online, 01 June 2012

Translation is a challenging art in itself as there is always a high risk of loosing the

crux of a written piece. However, Nepalbhasha to English translation of 'A Cry in the

Wilderness and Other Short Stories'is credited to two of those names which leave no

ground for any further debate, - Keshar Lall and Tej R. Kansakar. That sealed with

the editing attributed to someone like Prof David Gellner, simply adds fuel in

skyrocketing readers expectation from author Srilaxmi Shrestha. Before even reading

a single line, her acid test begins in a curious reader's eyes, so this review will be

keeping things as down to Earth as possible.

The first in the collection, 'Bent But Not Broken' was written a couple of years evenbefore this reviewer was born. That it is still relevant today proves that time has not

changed for Nepalese women even till date! It is one of the shortest stories but speaks

volumes of what is to unfold in the remaining majority of pages. Readers expectation

keep rising whether or not it is doing any good to the book.

Then comes the second story 'Fickle Fortunes' as an account ofNhuChhenMaim's

tragic life. Here, of course, the main character is again a lady, again facing biggest of

life's challenges, but she keeps fighting with all odds as an ordinary and no big hero.

Basically, the characters lives are insignificant here but their tales are not. A

stereotypical climax would have in it a lot of preaching and revolt probably

establishingNhuChhenMaim as a demigod, but what we get is a much colder reality

unfolding in a few daily life sequences, and that still works. What doesn't work in the

entire package is the repeated quoting of traditional proverbs, which after a while

sounds forced. Had she carried on with this pattern, the entire collection could have

reached its monotonous low but fortunately she doesn't.

Most of Mrs Shresthas characters seem directly lifted from real life. The backdrops

change, family histories change, relationships change but what get retained are the

character's lows and highs in life, mostly in that order, dealt with a fresh new social

issue. Sometimes the story is that of a saviour daughter, sometimes a sacrificing

mother, sometimes a supportive wife, but more often a combination of these

emphasizing the importance of woman in the male-dominated Nepalese society. Thefemale lead generally follows social customs but does not hesitate to cross every

orthodox boundary when needed for herself or her family.

The other genre of stories depicting her experience of a Nepalese ladys life in the

Netherlands comes as a gust of fresh air in the enterprise. These stories not only

involve computers, Internet and pen drives, as in 'The Suspect', but also deal with

cultural differences like in 'The Funeral'. 'The Funeral' can very well be considered

her classic work as it interestingly peeps into the life of a working Nepalese

housewife in a foreign land, gradually getting to learn about the Christian society. She

cries when her Dutch friend's father dies and hugs her; the land is foreign for her but

the grief is not.

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It is not until the title-story 'A Cry in The Wilderness' that Mrs Shrestha actually

proves her mettle as a gifted storyteller. The narration opens up with a countrywoman

washing dishes. As she removes sticky food grains from the dishes, it reminds her of

overcoming life's equally stubborn obstacles. Shrestha's characters generally go

through the toughest test of time, often involving extreme poverty and/or loss of

family member(s). What makes her climax believable is not climbing back the ladderto prosperity but learning from life. Most of her happy endings generally involve

forgetting about the miseries of life in the happiness of one's children.

Mrs Shrestha, for sure, likes indulging in detail characterization but on a flip side, it

challenges the reader's patience at times. If you had enjoyed a more complex

psychoanalysis of Nepalese society handled by the likes of Vishweshwor Prasad

Koirala et al, Mrs Shresthas works may sound somewhat one-dimensional. She

mainly excels in looking at characters through the window of culture, and depicting

their social behaviour realistically. Because her stories have been translated from

Nepalbhasha, it can help the readers in two ways, - a general non-Nepalbhasha reader

can find out more about socio-cultural aspects of the Newars, whereas a more analyticobserver can draw important conclusions about the state of story writing in

Nepalbhasha literature, and that of Nepalese womens involvement in writing.

Publication details:

Title: 'A Cry in the Wilderness and Other Short Stories'

Author: Srilaxmi Shrestha

Translators: Keshar Lall & Tej R. Kansakar

Editor: David N. GellnerISBN: 978-9937-506-62-5

Publisher: Vajra Publications, 2011.