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NEPALI CONGRESS
CALIFORNIA
सुशिल कोइराला द्वारा पुस्तक बिमोचन
क्यालिफोर्निया सम्बाददाता
जुलाई २, 2009
नेपाली काङ्रेसका कार्यबाहाक सभापति सुशिल कोइराला द्वारा आज एक बिशेष समारोहमा गड वाइफ नामक पुस्तकको बिमोचन गर्नु भयो। अङ्रेजिमा लेखिएको सो आत्माकथात्मक उपन्यास नेपाल विस्व सहयोग संघका अध्यक्ष मणी नेपाली पनेरुको सन्सनीपूर्ण जीवनमा आधारित छ। मणी नेपाली स्वयम र सम्मानित अमेरिकि लेखक डा जिम ह्युज द्वारा लेखिएको सो पुस्तकको टिप्पणी गर्दै गोन्जागा विस्व विद्यालयका प्राध्यापक डा रबर्ट वाटरम्यान ले भनेका छन ” यो पुस्तक आकर्षक र रमाइलो छ। मैले यो पुस्तक पढ्न था ले पछी यस्तो आनन्द लाग्यो कि यो पुरा पुस्तक नपढी उठ्नै मन लागेन। कल्पना र एथार्थको सुन्दर समायोजन गरिएको यो कथामा प्रसस्त हास्य रस र सम्बेगात्मक तत्व हरु पाईन्छन।”
झन्डै अढाइ सय पेजको सो पुस्तकको छपाइकी स्तर पनि उच्च छ। नेपाल विस्व सहयोग संघको प्रकाशनमा छापिएको सो पुस्तक बिक्रिबाट आएको मत्वपूर्ण अंश, सो सस्थाले सन्चालन गर्ने बिभिन्न जनहितकारी कार्यक्रमहरुमा उपयोग हुने छ । पुस्तक ए एन ए सम्मेलन को बिक्री कक्षमा बिक्री भईरहेको छ ।
Introduction of God Wife
by
Jim Hughes
In God Wife, a bus is the means by which Mani Nepali is unexpectedly transported to an enchanted world. When I along with other teachers boarded a bus, I anticipated an uneventful ride from Stanford University, where we had attended a symposium, to Pinole in California’s Bay Area, one of the cities our school district serves. I had no idea that I, too, was about to enter a world in which I had never been.
A seat was free next to a teacher new to our district. He spoke with an accent. The first exchanges consisted of polite, social pleasantries, but soon the conversation turned to his Nepalese background. I knew very little about Nepal. He had been a school principal there and was now, first as an instructional assistant, now as a teacher, starting over in the United States.
“How difficult for you!” I exclaimed, thinking of the practical and emotional issues he faced. I told him I was a writer for a magazine, Essential Teacher, and that his experiences would interest our readers.
“I’ve been writing the story of my life,” he said. “In it there is a fantastical girl who comes to me when I need help.”
“Is she real?”
“That is a very interesting question,” he answered.
He sent me his first two chapters, then showed me more. I became hooked. As we collaborated, the book took on the form of an “autobiographical novel,” one rooted in the facts of Mani’s life and the realities of Nepal but blossoming into conversations that were fictional and experiences that crossed into extraordinary dimensions of time and space.
Part of my fascination with this book was the opportunity it gave me to become immersed in Nepalese history, politics, ethnicity, physical geography, tradition, religion, language, and economic and social conditions.
“You are becoming Nepalese,” remarked Mani.
I was honored. I was gratified, too, by his acknowledging that my writing was in his voice. But it was not so hard a task. Beneath language and other differences, human beings speak and act pretty much the same.
Autobiography/Fiction
God Wife is based on the real life of Mani Nepali. Born and orphaned in a remote village in Nepal, he is befriended by Zizibisha, a goddess (or an illusion of one). When his uncles refuse to allow him to go to school, he runs away at the age of six, determined to become educated. Intelligent, talented, and with the help of sponsors, he climbs to the pinnacle of success as an educator. Along the way, he makes the acquaintance of the legendary leader of Nepal’s democratic movement, B.P. Koirala, is imprisoned by the King’s police and harassed by communist rebels, encounters Yaksha giants in the spirit world, is converted to Christianity in a Sikh temple, and marries beneath his caste the woman he loves. At the center of his life is magical Zizibisha, who inspires and
sustains him and literally transports him into the wondrous realities of Nepal’s history, culture, and geography.
”The story is fascinating and engrossing. I was captivated and could not stop reading. It all seems so plausible. The flow and prose are flawless, weaving the imaginative and the real. The humor crept up on me, balancing the serious to set just the right tone.” – Robert Waterman, Ph.D., Gonzaga University
Mani Nepali is the founder and President of the Nepal Association for Global Cooperation (NAGC). He writes in various styles – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and song lyrics – and is blossoming as a writer in English.
Jim Hughes is “one of the loveliest stylists I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.” – Marilyn Kupetz, former managing editor, TESOL Publications
Together these writers have created a story that is a tribute to the human spirit in the face of adversity.
