Rabindra Raja Shahi
Every year, to B. Ed. first year major English students, I teach a personal essay “The Teacher Who Changed My Life” by Nicholas Gage, a Mexican-American writer and journalist. In this piece, Gage expresses, in a very emotional language, his sense of infinite gratitude to his seventh-grade English teacher, Miss Marjorie Hurd who not only inspired him but also played a pivotal role in shaping his life as a writer and journalist. To him, she was an inspirational force, a mentor and muse, a role-model par excellence!
By the same token, where I am today and what I am today is thanks to the source of disparate persons who inspired hopes and encouraged me to struggle with a never-say -die spirit and a fight-to-the finish-determination during entire formative periods of my life.
Among these inspirational figures was Booker T. Washington, a renowned American educator and philosopher, whose article titled “The Struggle for Education” profoundly impacted my life. The article was prescribed in the prose course of matriculate compulsory English during my father’s time. The above- said essay I chanced to study when I was a lower secondary English teacher at the- then Thanagaun lower secondary school in Udayapur district. I was, at the time, just an intermediate degree holder. I went through the essay reading between the line and I became so stunned with Washington’s tear-shedding, poignant and moving description of his own herculean efforts therein for gaining his education that my impressionable and tender mind hung heavy for days together. Consequently, I, too, summoned up my courage and decided firmly to anyhow prosecute my BA study, no matter come what may, by quitting my teaching job! It in fact was a turning point in my life.
As for literature, I am more impressed by Leo Tolstoy and his such most widely acclaimed fictions as War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, God sees the Truth but Waits, How Much Land Does a Man Need and the like- due to the fact that these fictional works often delve deeply into questions about life, death, faith, morality and human purpose. His works are grounded on realism, portraying the hardships of ordinary life and social issues of his time and carries a sense of melancholy, depicting the beauty in tragedy and suffering. To me personally speaking, Leo Tolstoy is not a human writer, but a godly one as his writings give the impression that they are not written by a human mind, but by God Himself. I find him even outpacing, outshining and outdoing William Shakespeare, let alone other world class authors. By all means a superhuman litterateur that writes with divine inspirations! It is in this sense precisely that Tolstoy is my role-model when it comes to literature.
To tell you frankly, I am a spiritually minded person and hence into the sect of Aatma Gyan. Mr. Prem Rawat is my spiritual Guru. He can make you experience the inner bliss and peace, the divine light and self-awareness. In the material-driven world and the money-maniac present era, almost all humans are running after money; they think money is every thing and do every thing moral-immoral just for money. Nevertheless, materialism or material development alone is not going to bring you happiness and fulfillment in your life. Don’t forget the spiritualism. Without it, one leg will be long, the other short. Mr. Prem Rawat ‘s core claim is that God resides in every human heart and the individual’s need for fulfillment can be resolved by turning inward to discover a constant source of contentment, joy and peace. He offers his teachings to anyone if he or she is really willing to imbibe them without any jot of chicanery and machinations, or who comes with a child-like innocence, and irrespective of caste, religion and status, giving equal billing to all religions, quoting from Hindu, Muslim and Christian sources. He is versatile: a seasoned pilot, an ace actor, an accomplished orator, a typical philosopher, a genuine saint and what not. So, I hold him in utmost esteem.
Regarding English writing, I ignore all Nepalese writers in high preference for CK Lal. I am really under the great influence of him and with bated breath, look forward to the appearance of his op-ed articles in the Kathmandu Post every other Wednesday. His op-ed pieces are always alive, influential and insightful. The reason is- the choice of his words is so very standard that one feels tempted to read his writings more and more; every line is worth underlining, shines and scintillates with their lilt and weight, and laden with gravity of meaning. The sentences and paragraphs in his write-ups won’t let you feel let-down, rather they unfailingly proffer you scholarly insights and erudite views, transporting to a world of epistemic efflorescence. I derive my linguistic capital out of Lal’s intellectual writings to strengthen my English vocab and reinvigorate my ideological might. Therefore, Mr. CK Lal duly claims his position as a leading voice in the realm of English with immeasurable profundity of ideas about national and international affairs.
Among critics under Nepali literature, my instant preference goes to the late Bhanubhakta Pokharel- a well-known, prominent literary critic, for, his writings are by and large interspersed, intertwined and interwoven with Sanskrit language and literature that invests classical quality, and linguistic refinement and stylistic formality and formal dignity, thus producing magic in them, rendering them lucid, succulent, magnificent and ultimately effectively thought-provoking. He leaves no stone unturned to delve deep into and go over the act of his hair-splitting analysis with a fine-toothed comb and come up with accurate verdict even though his critiquing style may be old-fashioned and sorely lacking in sophisticated precision bordering on westernized approach. There are classical stirrings and tempers in his critical adventure. I owe my Nepali writing skill and finesse to his heavily Sanscritized literary output.
In conclusion, these figures I’ve mentioned earlier have been my ideal role-models who have shaped my life and literary career to my sterling satisfaction and contentment!
(Rabindra Raja Shahi is an Associate Professor at Triyuga Janata Multiple Campus, Gaighat, Udyaapur)
