SATIS SHROFF ON LITERATURE

SATIS SHROFF ON LITERATURE

I could see Madame Defarge knitting the names of the noblemen and women to be executed. Dickens was a great master of fabulation. I was ripe for those stories and was as curious as a Siamese cat I had named Sirikit, reading, turning page for page, absolutely absorbed in the unfolding stories..

The person Satis Shroff has various faces, of a singer, author, poet, medical lecturer, artist. Which face is near to your heart?

 I like writing which means sitting down and typing what you’ve thought about. Writing is a solitary performance but when I sing with my croonies of the MGV-Kappel it is sharing our joy and sadness and it’s a collective song that we produce and that makes our hearts beat higher during concerts. When an idea moves me for days I have the craving to pen it. I get ideas when I’m ironing clothes and listening to Nepali songs or Bollywood ones. When I don’t have time, I make a poem out of it, for poetry is emotion recollected in tranquillity. When I prepare my medical lectures I’m transferring knowledge from my university past and bringing them together verbally, and I realise it’s great fun to attain topicality by connecting the medical themes with what’s topical thereby creating a bridge between the two. That makes a lecture interesting, which is like a performance, a recital in which you interact with the audience. At school I was taught art by a lean, bearded Scottish teacher who loved to pain landscapes with water-colours. Whenever I travel during holidays, I keep an ArtJournal with my sketches and drawings, and try to capture the feelings, impressions of the place and people I meet, and it’s great fun to turn the pages years later and be reminded how it was then. I like doing all these things and they’re all near to my heart. 

What does literature mean to you ? Literature is translating emotions and facts from truth to fiction. It’s like a borderline syndrome; between sanity and insanity there’s fine dividing line. Similarly, non-fiction can be transformed into fiction. Virginia Woolf said, ‘There must be great freedom from reality.’ For Goethe, art was art because it was not nature. That’s what I like about fiction, this ability of transforming mundane things in life to jewels through the use of words. Rilke mentioned one ought to describe beauty with inner, quiet, humble righteousness. Approach nature and show what you see and experienced, loved and lost.

3. Normally a scientific mind and literary heart do not go together. How do you manage that? (since you were student of zoology, botany and medicine)

 At school I used to read P.G.Wodehouse (about how silly aristocrats are and how wise the butler Jeeves is) and Richard Gordon (a physician who gave up practicing Medicine and started writing funny books). For me Richard Gordon was a living example of someone who could connect literature with bio-medical sciences. Desmond Morris, zoologist (The Naked Ape, The Human Zoo) was another example for me. He has also written a book about how modern soccer players do tribal dances on the football-field, with all those screaming spectators, when their team scores a goal. That’s ethnological rituals that are being carried out by European footballers. Since I went to a British school I was fed with EngLit and was acquainted with the works of English writers like Milton, Shakespeare, Dickens, Hardy, Walter Scott, RL Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, HG Wells, Victor Hugo, Poe, Defoe, Hemingway, and poets like Burns, Keats, Yeats, Dante, Goldsmith. Since we had Nepali in our curriculum it was delightful to read Bhanu Bhakta, Mainali, Shiva Kumar Rai and other Nepali authors. At home I used to pray and perform the pujas with my Mom, who was a great story teller and that was how I learned about the fantastic stories of Hindu mythology. At school we also did Roman and Greek mythology. My head was full of heroes. I was also an avid comicstrip reader and there were Classics Illustrated comic with English literature. I used to walk miles to swap comic-books in Nepal. It was mostly friends from the British Gurkhas who had assess to such comics, gadgets, musical instruments they’d bought in Hong Kong, since it was a British enclave then. Science can be interesting and there is a genre which makes scientific literature very interesting for those who are curious and hungry for more knowledge.

In Kathmandu I worked as a journalist with an English newspaper The Rising Nepal. I enjoyed writing a Science Spot column. One day Navin Chandra Joshi, an Indian economist who was working for the Indian Cooperative Mission asked a senior editor and me: ‘Accha, can you please tell me who Satis Shroff is?’ Mana Ranjan gave a sheepish smile and said, ‘You’ve been talking with him all the time.’ The elderly Mr. Joshi was plainly surprised and said, ‘Judging from his writing, I thought he was a wise old man.’ I was 25 then and I turned red and was amused. As I grew older, I discovered the works of Virginia Woolf, DH Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, Authur Miller, Henry Miller, Doris Lessing and James Joyce. The lecturers from the English Department and the Literary Supplements were all revering his works: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, Finnegans Wake. His works appealed to be because I was also educated by the Christian Brothers of Ireland in the foothills of the Himalayas, with the same strictness and heavy hand. God is watching you.. Since my college friends left for Moscow University and Lumumba Friendship University after college, I started taking interest in Russian literature and borrowed books from the Soviet library and read: Tolstoi, Dostojewskije, Chekov and later even Solzinitzyn’s Archipel Gulag. I spent a lot of time in the well-stocked American Library in Katmandu’s New Road and read Henry Miller, Steinbeck, Faulkner, Thoreau, Whitman. 

Favourite books and authors:

 Bhanu Bhakta Acharya’s ‘Ramayana,’ Devkota’s ‘Muna Madan,’ Guru Prasad Mainali’s ‘Machha-ko Mol,’ Shiva Kumar Rai’s ‘Dak Bungalow,’ Hemingway’s Fiesta, For Whom the Bells Toll, Günter Grass ‘Blechtrommel,’ Zunge zeigen, Marcel Reich Ranicki’s ‘Mein Leben,’VS Naipaul’s ‘ ‘Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness,’ James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses, Stephan Hero, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Faust I, Faust II’, Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Briefe an einen jungen Dichter’ Goethe’s ‘Die Leiden des jungen Werther,’The Diaries of Franz Kafka’ Carl Gustav Jung’s ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections,’ Patrick Süskind’s ‘Perfume,’ John Updike’s ‘The Witches of Eastwick,’ ‘Couples,’ Peter Matthiessen’s ‘The Snow Leopard,’ Mark Twain ‘A Tramp Abroad,’John Steinbeck’s ‘The Pearl,’ Rushdie’s ‘Midnight Children,’ Jonathan Franzen’s ‘The Corrections,’ John Irving’s Last Night in Twisted River.

Position of Nepali as world literature in terms of standard:

 Nepali literature has had a Cinderella or Aschenputtel-existence and it was only through Michael Hutt, who prefers to work closely with Nepalese authors and publishes with them, under the aegis of SOAS that literature from Nepal is trying to catch the attention of the world. We have to differentiate between Nepalese writing in the vernacular and those writing in English. Translating is a big job and a lot of essence of a language gets lost in translation. What did the author mean when he or she said that? Can I translate it literally? Or do I have to translate it figuratively? If the author is near you, you can ask him or her what the meaning of a sentence, certain words or expression is. This isn’t the case always. So what you translate is your thought of what the writer or poet had said. I used to rollick with laughter when I read books by PG Wodehouse and Richard Gordon. I bought German editions and found the translations good. But the translated books didn’t bring me to laugh.

Tribhuvan University has been educating hundreds of teachers at the Master’s Level but the teacher’s haven’t made a big impression on the world literary stage because most of them teach, and don’t write. Our neighbour India is different and there are more educated people who read and write. The demand for books is immense. Writing in English is a luxury for people who belong to the upper strata of the Nepalese society. Most can’t even afford books and have a tough time trying to make ends meet. The colleges and universities don’t teach Creative Writing. They teach the works of English poets and writers from colonial times, and not post-colonial. There are a good many writers in Nepal but their works have to be edited and promoted by publishers on a standard basis. If it’s a good story and has universal appeal then it’ll make it to the international scene. Rabindra Nath Tagore is a writer who has been forgotten. It was the English translation that made the world, and Stockholm, take notice. Manjushree Thapa and Samrat Upadhya have caught the attention of western media because they write in English. One studied and lived in the USA and the other is settled there. Moreover, the American publishing world does more for its migrant authors than other countries. There are prizes in which only USA-educated migrants are allowed to apply to be nominated, a certain protectionism for their US-migrants. (The lecturer with his Creative Writing students in Freiburg) 

Motivation to write:

 The main motivation is to share my thoughts with the reader and to try out different genres. Since I know a lot of school-friends who dropped out and joined the British Gurkhas to see the world, it was disgusting to see how the British government treated their comrade-in-arms from the hills of Nepal. On the one hand, they said they are our best allies, part of the British Army and on the other hand I got letters from Gurkhas showing how low their salaries are in the Gurkha Brigade. A Johnny Gurkha gets only half the pay that a British Tommy is paid. Colonialism? Master-and –Servant relationship? They were treating them like guest-workers from Nepal and hiring and firing them at will, depending upon whether the Brits needed cannon-fodder. All they had to do was to recruit more Brigades in Nepal. This injustice motivated me to write a series on the Gurkhas and the Brits. I like NatureJournaling too and it’s wonderful to take long walks in the Black Forest countryside and in Switzerland. As a Nepalese I’m always fascinated and awed by the Alps and the Himalayas.

 A Specific writing style?

(Satis Shroff with his Creative Writing students from the University of Freiburg)

 Every writer in his journey towards literature discovers his own style. Here’s what Heidi Poudel says about my style: ‘Brilliant, I enjoyed your poems thoroughly. I can hear the underlying German and Nepali thoughts within your English language. The strictness of the German form mixed with the vividness of your Nepalese mother tongue. An interesting mix. Nepal is a jewel on the Earths surface, her majesty and charm should be protected, and yet exposed with dignity through words. You do your country justice and I find your bicultural understanding so unique and a marvel to read.’ Reviewed by Heide Poudel in WritersDen.com.

(Satis Shroff with the Bundespräsident Gauck & the Landesvater Winfried Kretschmann) 

My suggestions to readers:

 I might sound old fashioned but there’s lot of wisdom in these two small words: Carpe diem. Use your time. It can also mean ‘seize the job’ as in the case of Keating in the book ‘Dead Poets Society.’ When I was in Katmandu a friend named Bindu Dhoj who was doing MBA in Delhi said, ‘Satish, you have to assert yourself in life.’ That was a good piece of advice. In the Nepalese society we have a lot of chakari and afnu manchay caused by the caste-and-jaat system. But in Europe even if you are well-qualified, you do have to learn to assert and ‘sell’ and market yourself through good public relations. That’s why it’s also important to have a serious web-presence. Germany is a great, tolerant country despite the Nazi past, and it’s an economic and military power. If you have chosen Germany, then make it a point to ‘do in Germany as the Germans do.’ Get a circle of German friends, interact with them, lose your shyness, get in touch with German families and speak, read, write and dream in German. If you like singing then join a choir (like me), if you like art join a Kunstverein, if you like sport then be a member of a Sportverein. If you’re a physician, join the Marburger or Hartmann Bund. Don’t think about it. Do it. It’s like swimming. You have to jump into the water. Dry swimming or thinking alone won’t help you. Cultural exchange can be amusing and rewarding for your own development.

 Current and future projects: 

I always have writing projects in my mind and you’ll catch me scribbling notices at different times of the day. I feel like a kid in a department store when I think about the internet. No haggling with editors, no waiting for a piece of writing to be published. I find blogs fantastic. Imagine the agonies a writer had to go through in the old days after having submitted a poem or a novel. Now, it’s child’s play. Even Elfriede Jelenek uses her blog to write directly for the reading pleasure of her readers. The idea has caught on. In a life time you do write a lot and I’m out to string all my past writings in a book in the Ich-Form, that is, first person singular and am interested in memoir writing, spiritual writing, medical-ethno writing and, of course, my Zeitgeistlyrik . Georg F. Will said: A powerful teacher is a benevolent contagion, an infectious spirit, an emulable stance toward life. I like the idea of being an ‘infectious spirit’ as far as my Creative Writing lectures are concerned, and it does your soul good when a young female student comes up to you after the lecture and says: ‘Thank you very much for the lecture. You’ve ignited the fire in me with your words.’ I love to make Creative Writing a benevolent contagion and infect young minds with words. 

To my Readers: 

Be proud of yourself, talk with yourself as you talk with a good friend, with respect and have goals in mind. If your goal is too high you must readjust it. My Mom used to say, ‘Chora bhayey pachi ik rakhna parchha. When you’re a son you have to strive for higher goals in life. I’d say a daughter can also adopt this. Like the proverbial Gurkha, keep a stiff upper lip and don’t give up. Keep on marching along your route and you’ll reach your destination in life. But on the other hand, be happy and contended with small successes and things. We Nepalese are attributed with ‘Die Heiterkeit der Seele’ because we are contented with small things which is a quality we should never lose. Keep that friendly Nepali smile on your face, for it will bring you miles and miles of smiles; and life’s worthwhile because you smile. 

On literature:

 When you read a novel or short-story, you can feel the excitement, you discover with the writer new terrain. You’re surprised. You’re in a reading-trance and the purpose of literature is to give you reading experience and pleasure. Literature is not the birth-right of the lecturers of English departments in universities where every author of merit is analysed, taken apart, mixing the fictive tale with the writer’s personal problems in reality. The authors are bestowed with literary prizes, feted at literary festivals and invited to literary conferences and public readings. Literature belongs to the folk of a culture, but the academicians have made it their own pride possession. Would like to hear Hemingway telling you a story he had written or an academician hold a lecture about what Hemingway wrote? I’d prefer the former because it belongs to the people, the readers, the listeners. In India and Nepal we have story-tellers who go from village to village and tell stories from the Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita.

Story-telling has always appealed to simple people and the high-brows alike, and has remained an important cultural heritage. The same holds for the Gaineys, those wandering minstrels from Nepal and Northern India, with their crude violins called sarangis. They tell stories of former kings, princes and princesses, battles, fairy tales, village stories, ballads accompanied by the whining, sad sound of the sarangi.

Literature has always flown into history, religion, sociology, ethnology and is a heritage of mankind, and you can find all these wonderful stories in your local library or your e-archive. My first contact with a good library was the American Library in Katmandu. A new world of knowledge opened to me. I could read the Scientific American, Time, Newsweek, the Economist, The New York Times, National Geographic, the Smithsonian, the Christian Science Monitor. The most fascinating thing about it was , you only had to be a member and you could take the precious books home.

OMG! It was unbelievable for a Nepalese who came from a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas. Nobody bothered about what you were reading: stories, history, new and old ideas, inventions, theories, general and specific knowledge. The sky was the limit. I had a voracious appetite, and it was like the opening of a Bildungsroman. Historical novels tell us about how it was to live in former days, the forms of society involved that the writer evokes in his or her pages. In ‘A Year in Provence’ Peter Mayle makes you almost taste the excellent French food and wine, and the search for truffles with a swine in hilarious, as well as the game of bol. On the other hand, James Joyce evokes a life-changing experience with his protagonists Leopold Bloom and Stephan Daedalus in Dublin on June 16, 1904. Ulysses is a modern interpretation of Homer’s Odyssey, an inner monologue recalled as memories of places, people, smells, tastes and thoughts of the protagonist .

The Bhagwad Gita is a luminous and priceless gem in the literary world, possesses world history character, and teaches us the unity in diversity. It is a dialogue between the hero Arjuna and Krishna, who is the chariot-driver. Krishna is an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. The Mahabharata alone has 18 chapters and the epic has 18 books with legends, episodes and didactic pieces that are connected with the main story. It is a fascinating reading about the war between relatives, written in the 4th and 3rd centuries before the birth of Christ. He who reads knows better than to be indoctrinated, for he or she learns to think, opening new worlds and lines of thought.

In my school-days I read Charles Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and it became alive when I went to the Bastille Museum in Paris with a fellow medical student. My memory of A Tale of Two Cities took shape there, as I peered at the old, historical exhibits and the guillotine. Later in the evening my friend Peter’s sister, who was married to a Parisian said, ‘Oh, Satish, there are so many things to see in Paris than a museum the entire afternoon.’

For me it was like time-travelling to the times of the French Revolution, because I’d soaked up the story in my school days. I could see Madame Defarge knitting the names of the noblemen and women to be executed. Dickens was a great master of fabulation. I was ripe for those stories and was as curious as a Siamese cat I had named Sirikit, reading, turning page for page, absolutely absorbed in the unfolding stories. Time and space and my personal demands were unimportant. It was the story that had to be read, even with a midnight candle when the local hydroelectric power supply failed. That happened to me when I read ‘The Godfather’ (Der Pate) while visiting a friend from Iceland. I couldn’t put the book down. I felt sad when a 14 year old computer-crazy schoolkid said: ‘Who reads books these days? Everything’s in the internet.’

The question is: do kids read books on their laptops and eReaders? School websites, Facebook and You Tube and their whatsapp, other apps have added new hobbies for children who’re growing up. Does the cyberspace-generation have only time for games? I tell them they should use: Google Scholar, Pubmed etc. to gather knowledge and learn to transfer it.

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On Galvanizing Social Progress Through Literature: Satis Shroff

Sharing Lit at the Fair (Satis Shroff)

Writers from across Europe at the Frankfurter Book Fair 2016 were of the opinion that literature cannot move mountains, but does have the ability to galvanize social progress. The annual book fair in Frankfurt is a place for dialogues and exchange. Europa! Was the motto of this year’s reception for it was also a cultural and political platform.

Flanders and the Netherlands are a cultural and language region and these two countries, together with Germany, have the North Sea in common. This is where barriers disappear and common denominators replace them; where literature, belief in freedom in the word and the exchange of ideas and the friendship of nations take over.

References and differences: Mercedes Monmany, the author of ‘Through Europe’s Borders, a Trip Through Narratives from the 20th and 21st centuries introduces readers to European literature. She shows that the borders, at present guarded zealously by Frontex, are permeable. Her plea is the Europe should not only be an economic idea and zone, but a cultural and spiritual one. She’s of the opinion that we should think about common references and not differences. One thing we have in common is literature. To enjoy culture in the form of literature, we don’t need any visa or passport.

Just buy a book from the nearest bookshop or borrow from the next library, eh?

Seeing further than Europe: Paola Soriga comes originally from Sardinia and her novel La Stagione che verral (The Season That’ll Come) deals with the lives of three Italians born in 1979, who live in a European world, a generation that speaks several languages, benefits from the Erasmus Exchange Programme, low cost flights and enables travels to most European countries. Paola Soriga quotes a fellow Sardinian writer Sergio Atzeni, who is on record as having said: ‘ I am a Sardinian, Italian and European. We are European, but we should also see further than Europe.’

What’s happening in Europe? Stormy days ahead with the influx of refugees from North Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the lack of cooperation among the EU countries about the fair distribution of people seeking asylum, incapable bureaucrats in Brussels and the resulting In Germany is has become normal to curse alien-friendly politicians, burn asylum homes, bash refugees and talk about national socialism. Hoyerswerda and Mölln have been outdone in recent times and racism is gathering momentum. Neighbour Britain is bent on Brexit because they are fed up of the almost dictatorial demands of the bureaucrats from Brussels. Quo vadis Europa?

Brexit: Britains exit from the European Union is the theme that is discussed in politics and economics not only in Brussels, but also in the streets and pubs in Continent and the UK. As a visitor to the Fair, you can experience the cultural exchange in engaged, provocative and thought-provoking debates, especially talks with the central theme: how can we live together in Europe? Some of the others themes were: publishing in France, Literary Migration in Europe? The Turkey and Europe: How about my freedom of speech and art? Gehen, Kam, Geblieben—Flucht und Migration als historische Normalität, European Crisis and the intellectual debate—in the deadend?

The Jungle: The refugee camp called ‘the Jungle’ in Calais (France) has been dismantled and some refugees set the abandoned tents on fire as a symbol. Most of the desired to go to England. The refugees have been whisked away in buses by the French police to other refugee camps in France, where they can apply for asylum. On the one hand the EU says it has a major problem with refugees, a crisis. On the other hand, the EU invests billions of euros in development aid in African countries. There is yet another important reason why Africans head towards Europe to make a living.

Fishing flotillas from China, Russia and European Union countries have been robbing the means of existence in the coasts of West Africa and elsewhere. An African activist put it aptly when he said: ‘The EU says, we give you development aid and destroys at the same time our fishing-industry.’

A Germany-based Weltspiegel report reveals the situation in Kayar, a fishing town in Senegal. EU countries like Spain use the fishing-license of the Senegalese government and use mega-trawlers to plunder the African resources. Through this sort of illegal fishing West African countries lose 1,2 billion euros per annum. If the world doesn’t stop plundering the livehood of West African and other poorer countries, it will be the children who won’t find jobs in their countries and will dream of new lives in Europe across the English Channel or other points of entry to the so-called prized, rich Continent.

A Cultural Mixed Literature: Shumona Sinha, who comes originally from Calcutta (Kolkota), is the author of ‘Let’s Beat Up the Poor!’ in French (2012) She admits she had Europe in her head even when she grew up in West Bengal’s capital. Writing in French liberates her from her original Bengali culture and from the weight of being a woman.

Reminds me of Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland), who lives like Donna Leon in Italy and has started a second writing career in the Italian language.

Shumona Sinha says her literature is a cultural mix. She says she has become another person due to the French language and European culture, and has high hopes for literature and its place in the world.

It is a fact that not only Europeans but also diverse cultures from the former colonies and immigrants from other countries have been living in Europe since decades and the new European generation learn to live together, despite diversity and in spite of rightists in Europe. The very idea of the European Union was to get rid of man-made barriers, manned or unmanned. Although the staunch and big Berlin Wall and the Stasi check-posts with their inhuman automatic guns have been removed, countries like Hungary still build walls and profess European democracy, which is indeed a farce, as far as European rights are concerned. The common cultural values through literature and music which are precious, have to be cherished and not allowed to be undermined by rightist-thinking Europeans.

Toronto’s Annick Press has brought out a book ‘Stormy Seas—Stories of Young Boat People Refugees.’ It is aimed at young people so that they can understand the images of refugees that are shown across the world’s TV channels. The book is written by Mary Beth Leathurdale and Eleanor Shakespeare. A tale of children who have fled persecution or warzones on boats during the 20th century till now.

There is the story of 18 year old Ruth, a Jewish girl, who fled Germany for Cuba in 1939 on the steamship St. Louis. Another story is about Mohamed 13, who fled from the Ivory Coast in 2006 and landed in Italy in 2010.  There are tens of thousands of such youth who are unaccompanied migrants, like Mohamed. Children travelling alone, sans parents, sans guardians.

 Nujeen’s odyssey:  refugee from war-torn Aleppo Nujeen Mustafa brought her dramatic story to the world stage in Frankfurt with the help of Christina Lamb, who is the co-writer of ‘I am Malala.’ Nujeen Mustafa crossed eight miles of sea between Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos in a refugee boat. They’d paid $ 1,500 each instead of the usual $ 1,000 to board a dinghy with her family. A 3,500 hundred mile journey in a wheelchair. She had cerebral palsy. The countries crossed? Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and finally Germany. What an odyssey. Nujeen Mustafa said: ‘ I love writers because they are very deep people who love expressing and writing down ideas.’

Sea Poems: This is what they shared. You shouldn’t be surprised of someone comes to you and whispers a poem in your ear. In case this happens to you, you’ll be asked if you’d like to experience it again. If it hasn’t happened to you, you’ll be obliged to choose one of nine sea poems from Flanders, the Netherlands and Germany. Sit back and relax in the ‘whisper chair’ and travel to the sea in your imagination. That’s what I did and it was so fascinating. Perhaps that’s because my favourite North Sea isle is Sylt.

In the reading mirror tent on the Agora you could hear poets from the new generation read from their works: Charlotte van der Broeck and Thomas Möhlmann. Two established poets Annecke Brassinga and Oswald Egger read from their anthology ‘VERschmuggel’ which means a smuggling of verses, Polderpoesie (Junge Lyrik aus Flandern und den Niederlanden) was presented by Stefan Wieczorek and Bas Kusakman. This was a work with various poets from Germany, Flanders and the Netherlands.

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European Culture: Culture, Wine & Olives in Crispiano (Satis Shroff)

  

COME with me to Crispiano, a lovely town with fragrances and flowers from the vineyards and olive trees in the Masseria, where the sun smiles all day.  I never met such amiable people as the people in Crispiano and Taranto.  Dolche vita and amore mio, Crispiano.

It lies in the region Ampulia in the province of Taranto in the Southern Italian Zone, and has a population of 13,809 . The people are called Crispianesi and the saint of the town is: Madonna della Neve.

The flight from Zürich to Brindisi was pleasant, even though the jet was full. I had a window seat on the left side of the Finnish jet and the personnel spoke German with a distinctly Swiss accent. It was fascinating to see Lake Constance (Bodensee) and the Swiss lakes reveal themselves only to be hidden by clouds, akin to those I’d often seen on Tibetan thankas.

Clouds of all shapes and sizes marked the journey and suddenly you noticed, as we left Venice behind, we were flying over the Adriatic Sea. The islands strewn along the Adriatic coast looked lovely. The endless blue of the sea, and beyond, towards the east lay the Dalmatian Alps and to the south Albania, Greece and Crete in the Mediterranean Sea.

Flying over Lake Zurich, past the Canton Schwyz and Klöntaler lake over the Glaner  Alps. To the east the Albula Alps and Engadin, overflying St. Moritz and the bernine mountains to the east and Oberhalbstein to the west.

Crossing Bellinzona and over Lake Como and the town of Chiasso on our way to Italy. We left Lake Maggiore, with its lakeside towns Ascona and Locarno, behind. It was fascinating to note that the jet took course over the Adriatic Sea, where you could see myriads of islets. The water was glistening like diamonds caused by the reflection of light on the blue water surface. An amazing natural phenomenon as the jet descended on its way to the airport of Brindisi on the east coast of the Italian boot, behind Sicily.

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Here I am on my way to Crispiano to attend the Neruda Awards 2017. How did it happen? I was happily writing articles and when I didn’t have much time I’d write poems or prose poems. I’ve been writing for internet websites since decades. Some websites exist still and some like the American Chronicle and gather.com have been sold and gone commercial. However, Blogspot.com and Wordpress.com are still marching on and now you have Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Boloji.com and a host of others. My experience is not to put all your eggs in one   basket so that if one goes defunct, the others are still there.

Prof. Saverio Sinopoli, Director e Il Presidente Neruda Association, Poetess Leyla Isik (Turkey), Direttrice Letteraria Dr. Maria Miraglia and Amy Barry (Ireland) and Dichter, Dozent Satis Shroff (Germany)

One day an Irish poetess, Amy Barry, chatted on FB and she introduced me to Maria Miraglia from the Neruda Associazione Lit Club and soon I asked to be the Director for Germany of the Writers International Foundation under the leadership of Preeth nambiar, based in South India. Two German newspapers Freiburg’s Badische Zeitung and Kirchzarten’s Dreisamtäler picked up the story and I was interviewed by Anja Bochtel and Christine van Herk regarding the nomination for the Pablo Neruda Award 2017.

German reporters are very critical and sceptical about prizes for literature other countries and Ms. Anja Bochtel asked particularly about the standard of the poems in the internet. Sometimes, I do admit the standard of the poems aren’t up to the mark because some poets don’t bother to double-check their poems and are poorly edited at times. At other times, there are painstakingly edited and re-edited verses which are a delight to read. Didn’t someone say journalism was literature in a big hurry? Hope this doesn’t hold for poetry in general.

I appreciate the work that is involved in organising such a big poetry and cultural festival in Crispiano this year, and in Taranto last year. This time there are five international poets and poetesses and the others protagonist, as they are called in Italian, are from Italy itself. Behind the scenes there are a lot of translations being done, which is a great contribution to world literature. The world literature has gone digital and it’s time that internet writers are taken seriously. Whether you publish on Amazon, neobooks.com, Lulu.com, Kindle or any standard publisher, the books are now offered online as cheaper e-books or standard paperbacks. Not only the internet publishers do it but also the traditional publishers to reach more people. Much like Neruda Lit Club, Pentasi B based in Manila and others like Roula Pollard and Dimitris Krakaitios based in Larissa (Greece), there are a good many websites that have been contributing towards the dissemination, popularity and popularity of literature around the world.   

* * *

Here was I, originally a Nepalese, resident in the Schwarzwald town of Freiburg, on my way to Italy at the invitation of the Assoziazione Pablo Neruda in Crispiano to be presented the Neruda Award 2017. What an honour and delight after all those years of teaching Creative Writing at the University of Freiburg (ZfS) and poetry at the University of Education as well as the Volkshochschule in Freiburg and Dreisam Valley (Kirchzarten)  and other workshops on Creative Writing for International Writers in Zähringen.

It’s really amazing how it really began. At school in the foothills of the Himalayas, I’d had English language and literature taught by the Christian Brothers of Ireland. It was a boarding school and was like a fortress, a state within a state, with the principal as the chief. The Brothers never told us which part of Ireland they were from though they’d make jokes about the Protestants and say: ‘What are they protesting about anyway.’ The Brothers knew everything about us school-kids but never talked about themselves. You couldn’t be warm with them and they wanted to keep it that way. In the days of the East India Company it was master-and-servants and in the school it was masters-and-charges, who paid for their schooling. No protests were tolerated and the school-kids had to stand like soldiers during the early morning inspection in impeccable school uniforms a hand stretched out with a clean, ironed handkerchief. If someone didn’t come up to the standards set the Irish principle could say to him in a gruffy, whiskey-driven voice and beef-red face: ‘Come to the office!’ That meant benders: whacks on his bottom with a leather strap. If you went out of bounds for even a second you were obliged to get benders. I had my share of it.

All the books we used came from England, even the science books. In the lower classes we did adventure stories like Robinson Crusoe and Moby Dick, King Solomon’s Mines and the Lake District poets.

At home my Mom used to recite and read from the Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita and in school we did ‘Tess’ by Thomas Hardy and ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens, Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Julius Caesar’ and ‘As you like it’ and lots of poems by British and a few American authors.

The Christian Brothers expected us to recite poems, which was actually a good thing. I loved reading and reciting and doing questions from the context, writing essays, précis and analysis of stories. The final years at school went fast and suddenly there I was with a certificate from the University of Cambridge (and an Indian equivalent) in the hand and no more sitting on the hard old bench, do-da-do-da-day.

After school I went to Kathmandu for my further studies. I’d applied to the Amrit Science College in Thamel, and one fine day I received a  positive reply letter from the principal of the college, a certain Mr. Joshi, with a PhD in Physics. We had to do a subject called ‘Panchayat’ which was mostly about the glorification of the Nepalese Royal family and how the Panchayat system from the Vedic times suited Nepal in every way, because Nepal was made up mostly of villages. It was a system about the five elders of each village in Nepal and the national religion was Hinduism, with the King and Queen holding the executive, legislative and judiciary powers.

King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya of Nepal in Bonn's La Redoute

Satis Shroff with Gauri KC, Radio Nepal at the Graf Zeppelin Hotel

At my second school St. Joseph’s, North Point, I met Prince Dhirendra Shah and he was in my batch. I and my friend Tek were doing our Bachelors in Zoology, Botany and Geology and Prince Dhirendra his BA in Geography at the Tri Chandra College.

Later, I went to Germany for higher studies and Prince Dhirendra moved to the Britain. His elder brother Birendra Shah became the King of Nepal after the demise of his father King Mahendra. King Birendra had a tough time with the Congress at the beginning of his reign and later the Maoists began overrunning the police and government check-posts. The movement started in western Nepal, later moving to central and eastern Nepal. Demonstrations and strikes were staged in all parts of the Nepalese Kingdom.

After I’d done my Bachelors I worked in a so-called English Medium School. In the prospectus they mentioned a lake but it was jsut a greenish, dirty pond with algae. The two headmasters were out to make money and I pitied the students. Some of them were Gurkha children and their fathers were doing service as soldiers and guarding the Sultan’s palace in Brunei, Malaysia fighting against the communists in the jungles of Kalimantan and in North Borneo. But the kids made the best out of the situation.

One day a dear friend’s father advised me to go over to The Rising Nepal’s editorial department. I went and was met by a guy named Josse who also had a public school background. He asked me which school I’d attended. The language was English and not the lingua franca of Nepal, which is Nepali.

He said he’d gone to St. Augustine in K’pong. Then he stared  me in the eyes for a few seconds. I didn’t blink because this was a game I’d played often with my neighbour’s lovely daughter. We’d just play this staring game. And I’d always win. She’d either lower her eyes or blink. I remember a similar situation in Doris Lessing’s ‘The Second Hut’ in which a Major  Carruthers hires an Afrikander named Van Herdeen. Did the editor look at the width of my eyes, the shape of my skull and how my legs were apart? How I stood there, a young guy fresh from college and stared at him in his eyes. He must have thought: this bloke’s okay, good character, good public-school-product, a gentleman.

‘Okay, you can start tomorrow,’ he said.

So I started working with the Rising Nepal, writing the second editorial and letters to the editor when there weren’t any, correcting articles written and submitted by Nepalese and foreign residents of Catmandu Valley.

Josse had said: ‘You’ll reach more readers that your school class.’

He was right.

I started writing a regular science spot column every Thursday and one day a Mr. Pandey from the External Service of Radio Nepal came to the office and said:

 ‘I read your ‘Bustle of Basantapur’ article and really enjoyed it. Would you like to write commentaries for Radio Nepal?’

I felt delighted. I thought for a second about the development issues but you really didn’t have much choice but to give the Royal Palace’s views in the editorials. Can I make it different with culture, perhaps?

So I started writing commentaries on Nepal’s development and culture which were read by Gauri KC in the evening programme.

You can imagine my surprise when I met Gauri KC, Shyam KC and other journalists at the Graf Zeppelin Hotel in Stuttgart. They’d accompanied King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya on a state visit to Germany. I’d received an invitation for the official reception at La Redoute in Bonn and also in Stuttgart. Frau Margot Busak was so kind to drive with me in her black Mercedes car. She died shortly thereafter.

In Freiburg I started learning at the Goethe Institute and reading Medicine. It was at the university that I attended Prof. Bruce Dobler’s Creative Writing semester. We did poems and Bruce was the one who got me interested in poems. At school poems were the works of exalted literary personalities, almost gods. Nobody taught us to write poems. We were obliged to learn English poems by heart. That was all to literature. No Irish Brother was interested in Creative Writing. It didn’t exist in their minds. We did write a good many letters, essays and précis  though. There was a prize for performance in science but none for literature. It heartens me to note that in the German Gymnasiums the school-kids learn Creative Writing and prizes are given not only for science but also for music and literature.

Creative Writing has come to the Continent from the USA. British universities have also introduced Creative Writing in their syllabus. In Germany you can do Kreatives Schreiben in a few universities in Hildesheim and Saxony. The Frankfurter and Leipziger Book Fairs attract thousands of authors, readers and publishers from all over the world.

* * *

Since the sea is a bit far away from Crispiano its inhabitants cannot gather the frutti de mare, they have made use of the fruits of labour of the earth. The people of Crispiano grow wheat, grapes, vegetables, olives and make bread, wine and paste with their hands as ‘chiangaredd’or ‘frucidd.’ The vegetables and fresh seasonal fruits are brought to the Italian table. There are many kinds of bread to be found in the Italian table. Bread could also replaced by legumes like peas and beans, which developed into excellent food in various dishes such as ‘ncapriata’ together with other vegetables boiled and sautéed with stir-fried onions. 

On festive occasions the dishes are richer as ‘tien,’ meat and potatoes and, of course, ‘fecha scchet.’ This involves baking figs in the oven, additionally with toasted almonds and laurel. A typical speciality from Crispiano is the liver called ‘gnummredde,’ which is made from the entrails of lamb such as liver, heart and lungs, wrapped in a net and tied with guts, strewn with salt.

It reminded me of the time I was invited by a family Moosmann in the Black Forest to a Schweineschlacht. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s ‘Slaughterhouse-Five is another matter with an eloquent anti-war message. In this case also, nothing was thrown away and big boxes of spices were used to make the meat tasty. The smell of clover, cardamom, paprika and salt emanated from the schlachthaus (butchery) to our nostrils. Even the blood was cooked with bacon to make Blutwurst. The person who kills the animal is called the ‘Schlächter’ and the butcher has a Meisterbrief and many years of training in his trade and an examination behind him.

‘The Agrigentiner (farmers) eat as though they would die the next day, and they build as they would live forever’ said Empedokles.

But when it comes to the fancies of our palate, we must leave it to Hippocrates, who said: ‘The tongue tastes the food, as though it were music.’

No question is more popular than that of Marco Polo (1254-1324): did the Venetian bring the noodles from China to Italy or was it the other way round?

The spices come from the countries of the four currents of Paradise: the Nile, Ganges, Euphrates and Tigris. Legends tell us the bird phoenix    burns in a cinnamon (zimt)-nest, and one promises oneself that the balsam-spices have life-extending qualities.

 

The Masseriamita with biologically produced olive oil and excellent wine.

‘I think, one finds in people who’re born near good wine are much happier,’  said Leonardo da Vinci.

This is the impression I had of Saverio, Ariel, Egidio and Adriano. All jolly men in the middle of their lives, which they lives with gusto.

It was no other than Nietzsche (Ecce Homo) who said: ‘The best cuisine belongs to Piemont. I’d say the Italian cuisine in Crispiano and Taranto was second to none.

This was a place where they love music, food and wine. The olive is reaped later in Autumn but you could, nevertheless, eat olives and tartufi (truffles) served with tasty risotto rice and delicate sea-food. You felt like a god, waking up in the beautiful ambient of Villa Marina in Crispiano, a short drive away from the town. You could bathe in the history of lovely Crispiano and the harbour town of Taranto, as told by my dear friends Maria and Saverio.

Maria is a cosmopolitan poetess based in Crispiano. You notice immediately that she loves meeting people from other cultural backgrounds. She told me she’d been to India last year and her question was: where is the spiritual India of yore? In Europe you always hear about India as the Lands of Spirituality with its gurus, pundits, sadhus and rishis. People in the streets of India tended to be business minded. She’d visited Jaipur and Delhi and knows a well-known poet from India.

I told her living in a subcontinent with such a big population isn’t easy. I was thinking about a book review I’d written about ‘The White Tiger,’a book about modern India. The German poet Günter Grass also wrote his subjective views about Calcutta.

Maria’s literary works have been translated into: Spanish, Turkish, Macedonian, Albanian and Azerbaijan languages. In the forward to her anthology of poems ‘Dancing Winds’ Yawchien Fang, a Taiwanese academic poet and writer, describes her book as a ‘modern classic with a magnificent poetry collection by one of the finest poets of contemporary literature.’ Further, he writes: ‘In many poems we can read the poet’s heart that wishes for a world united in love.’

Saverio Sinapoli grew up in Taranto, a town with big mansions and two bridges and a seaside restaurant with a magnificent backdrop of the Adriatic Sea. The sun was going down under the horizon of the golden sea and the Gulf of Taranto when we went for dinner and a promenade. Further southwards below Italy’s boot lay the Ionian Sea.

* * *

Journey Back: Ah, the sun is going down with a scarlet glow along the horizon, with greyish-blue clouds which look like the brush strokes of Monet and Cezanne on the heavenly canvas. The sun is setting behind the blue mountains as we reach Wettingen at a steady speed. The sun is becoming fainter and fainter and the scarlet hue has disappeared, now becoming yellowish with more bluish-grey clouds appearing and covering the sky above the horizon. Lights have started appearing in the townships that fleet by. One of the many long tunnels appears and suddenly there’s more light outside. Blue mountains appear in the horizon as we head for Basle Brugg.

My thoughts go to the burly Egidio Ippolito, the mayor of Crispiano, a gentleman with a positive Mediterranean approach to life. He’s interested in making Cispiano a great place to live in, and his deep interest in culture, not only of his Heimat but also cultures beyond the Mediterranean. I never met a more positive, cosmopolitan and sympathetic mayor in my life. He not only manages the administration of the town but indulges successfully in creative design. He invited us to try out his fantasy costume in the town council of Crispano.

Before going to Italy I sent a request per e-mail to the mayor of Freiburg for a small symbolic gesture for his Italian counterpart (I had an exchange of the emblems of Freiburg and Crispiano in mind) but didn’t receive a reply. So I rang up his ‘Vorzimmer Dame’ and she congratulated me on the Neruda Award but said: ‘Wir machen so was nicht.’ That was it. My heart sank to my feet. I had a strange feeling because this so-called Green City professes to be world open (even the Dalai Lama was greeted and feted by Freiburg City) but it did have its limits. So I went to town and bought souvenirs on my own. Andere Länder, andere Sitten.We, Germans, are know as stiff people. In comparison to my hometown Freiburg im Breisgau, the town of Crispiano and its mayor were magnanimous towards the poets who were invited and treated as special guests of the Neruda Award 2017.

Grazie Egidio Ippolito. Grazie Crispiano

He has also worked in Basle at the Klara and Bethesda Nursing Schools where he taught Swiss nurses, before starting to work as a lecturer at the Academy of Medical Professions (Uniklinik Freiburg) and the VHS-Freiburg and VHS-Kirchzarten in addition to running Creative Writing Workshops at the University of Education (Freiburg-Littenweiler).

Literature is translating emotions and facts from truth to fiction. It’s like a borderline syndrome; between sanity and insanity there’s fine dividing line. Similarly, non-fiction can be transformed into fiction. Virginia Woolf said, ‘There must be great freedom from reality.’ For Goethe, art was art because it was not nature. That’s what I like about fiction, this ability of transforming mundane things in life to jewels through the use of words. Rilke mentioned one ought to describe beauty with inner, quiet, humble righteousness. Approach nature and show what you see and experienced, loved and lost.(Satis Shroff)

His Zeitgeistlyrik portrays the current and former situation in Nepal, which Shroff views largely though the eyes of contemporary German  realist fiction. According to a German poet Sandra Sigel “Satis Shroff writes political poetry, about the war in Nepal, the sad fate of the Nepalese people, the emergence of neo-fascism in Germany. His bicultural perspective makes his poems rich, full of awe and at the same time heartbreakingly sad. In writing ‘home,’ he not only returns to his country of origin time and again, he also carries the fate of his people to readers in the West, and his task of writing thus is also a very important one in political terms. His true gift is to invent Nepalese metaphors and make them accessible to the West through his poetry.”

Another German writer Alice Grünfelder from Unionsverlag/ Limmat Verlag, Zürich says “The narration of Satis Shroff in ‘Through Nepalese Eyes’ are fascinating and gives us the chance to see our world with new eyes.” Heide Poudel says in WritersDen “Brilliant, I enjoyed your poems thoroughly. I can hear the underlying German and Nepali thoughts within your English language. The strictness of the German form mixed with the vividness of your Nepalese mother tongue. An interesting mix. Nepal is a jewel on the Earth’s surface, her majesty and charm should be protected, and yet exposed with dignity through words. You do your country justice and I find your bicultural understanding so unique and a marvel to read.”

US writer Susan Marie writes “Satis Shroff’s writing is refined – pure undistilled. The manner in which he writes takes the reader right along with him. Extremely vivid and just enough and the irony of the music. Beautiful prosaic thought and astounding writing. 

‘Your muscles flex, the nerves flatter, the heart gallops,
As you feel how puny you are,
Among all those incessant and powerful waves.’

* * * 

(Deviji & Dada drinking tea at the Baithak in Patan Dhoka)

(Dada and Deviji having their 5 o' clock tea at the Baithak in Patan Dhoka)

ADIEU TO A LITERARY VOICE (Satis Shroff)

Patan has lost its greatest son,

Kamal Mani Dixit,

A man-of-letters in the Nepalese world.

An Acharya of standing,

A prolific litterateur, commentator, critic and publisher.

It was he who initiated the Madan Puraskar,

Awarded annually to a work of Nepalese literature.

To me he was a mentor

And Dad during my Kathmandu days.

Through him I came

To the journalistic and literary world

Of a forbidden kingdom.

I see him sitting in the Baithak with Deviji.

Ah, Dada and Deviji,

Two admirable personalities at the Patan Durbar.

Deviji was a dear soul and endearing Mom to me.

And Dada the litterateur,

Man of character and integrity,

In a corrupt Himalayan environment,

Full of intrigue and neoptism.

Dada and Deviji raised their voices and were put in jail

By the corrupt, undemocratic rulers.

We admired Dada and Deviji’s courage

And struggle for freedom and the nation.

After the so-called Panchayat democratic rule,

Came the Maoists.

A sea of scarlet flags covered Catmandu.

With the demise of Dada and Deviji,

Nepal has lost a prominent voice

In the literary world.

With quivering breath and throbbing heart,

I see him jogging around the Patan Dhoka enclave.

I hear his sharp arguments on national themes,

I perceive his critic and praise and am thankful.

I realise also that even titans

Become physiologically fragile with age.

We mortals take the same path

Of the seven ages of man.

A great Nepalese voice had bid adieu.

* * * 

Cover of Muna Madan: sajha prakashan, Kathmandu

Lyrics from Nepal: MUNA MADAN 
(German translation by Satis Shroff) 


Satis Shroff has translated Nepali literature (prose and poems) by Nepali writers such as: Laxmiprasad Devkota (Muna Madan), Bhupi Sherchan, Banira Giri (Kathmandu), Bhisma Upreti, Krishna Bhakta Shrestha, Bal Krishna Sama (Ich Hasse & Auf der Suche nach Poesie), Abhi Subedi, Toya Gurung, Dorjee Tschering Lepcha (Die Ameisenkönigin & Der Spinnenmensch), Guruprasad Mainali (Der Martyrer), Krishna Bam Malla (Der Pfluger), Lekhnach Paudyal (Der Himalaya), Hridaya Singh Pradhan (Die Tränen von Ujyali), Shiva Kumer Rai (Der Preis des Fisches), Sharad Sharma (Woman:Nature), Toya Gurung (Mein Traum), Binaya Rawal (Phulmayas Dasainfest), Abhi Subedi (Am Abend mit dem Auto), Bimal Nibha (Jumla), Jiwan Acharya (Der Bildhauer & Muglin) etc. into German, a part of which can be read under the title ‘Im Schatten des Himalaya.’

Muna Madan (Laxmi Prasad Devkota)

Devkotas Werk „Muna und Madan“ entstand 1936 auf. Dieses Gedicht basiert auf einer Newari-Ballade. Madan, ein Geschäftsmann will nach Lhasa (Tibet) um dort Handel zu treiben, wie es früher üblich war. Damals gab es eine richtige Newar-Kolonie von Händlern in Lhasa. Seine frisch verheiratete Frau Muna liebt ihn innig und bittet ihn, sie nicht allein in Kathmandu zu lassen, „mein Herz nicht brennen zu lassen in einem Feuer, das nie ausgemacht werden kann“. Madan macht sich sehr viele Sorgen, geht aber trotzdem weg von Muna. Bevor er geht, verlangt er ein Lächeln von Muna. Aber Muna kann „die Sonne nicht herausbringen in der Nacht und lächeln zum Abschied“. Sie hat keine Interesse für Reichtum und ist sogar bereit, ein Leben in Armut, Frieden und Liebe zu verbringen. Aber Madan muss sein Haus reparieren und muss sich um seine alte Mutter sorgen. Er geht auf diese gefährliche Reise, wird auf dem Rückweg krank und wird von seinen Händlerfreunden im Stich gelassen. Dennoch hat er Glück und wird von einem guten Tibeter gepflegt. Muna kann die lange Zeit der Trennung nicht aushalten und ist traurig und verzweifelt. Sie sieht viele schlechte Omen. Ein böser Verehrer von Muna schickt eine Nachricht von Madans Tod zu ihr. Muna stirbt an gebrochenem Herzen. Viele Jahre später kehrt Madan zurück und findet seine Geliebte schon längst tot und verschwunden und seine Mutter liegt auf dem Sterbebett. Er kann den Schmerz und das Leiden nicht verkraften und stirbt auch.

Madan verabschiedet sich um nach Tibet zu gehen:

(Muna): „Geh nicht, mein Leben, und lass mich hier allein,
Im Wald meines Herzens hast du ein unlöschbares Feuer der Sehnsucht entfacht,
Ein unstillbares Feuer der Sehnsucht hast du entfacht,
Du Stern meiner Augen, oh mein Geliebter! Wenn dieses Licht erlischt,
Was soll ich sagen? Ich würde nichts sagen, auch wenn du mich vergiftet hättest,
Geliebter, mich vergiftet!
Die Worte aus meinem Herzen, bleiben mir im Hals stecken, in meinem Hals bleiben sie stecken
Mein Herz schlägt fünfzig mal in einer Sekunde,
Wenn meine Brust aufgerissen (würde) und dir gezeigt würde,
Würden deine Gedanken vielleicht zurückkehren wenn das Bild entschleiert würde,
Ein Stück meines Herzens fällt in meine Tränen, diese Tränen sprechen nicht,
Meine tiefsten Gefühle bleiben in meinem Herzen, meine Brust zeigt sie nicht,
Meine Liebe, Tränen können nicht sprechen!“
(Madan): „Oh meine Muna, sprich nicht so, blühend im Mondlicht,
Schnell werde ich zurückkehren, warum vergisst du?
In Lhasa werde ich zwanzig Tage verweilen, und zwanzig Tage unterwegs sein,
Der Cakheva Vogel kommt an einem Tag morgens angeflogen,
Geliebte, der große Tag, an dem wir uns treffen.
Eines Mannes Entschluss ist Handeln oder Sterben,
Geliebte, leg mir mit deinen Tränen kein Hindernis auf den Weg.
Lächle, und zeige deine Zähne, die wie Kerne des Granatapfels sind,
Wenn du lächelst, kann ich Indra auf seinem Thron herausfordern,
Geliebte, lächele beim Abschied !“

Muna: „Oh, mein Rama, oh mein Krishna, es wird Dschungel und Berge geben,
Die Tibeter auf den Felsen sind wie wilde Tiere, die Kühe anfallen!
Ein Lächeln beim Abschied ist wie die Sonne in der Nacht, wie kann ich dies verstehen?
Wenn du gehen musst, lass mich nicht allein, lass mich dich begleiten,
Laß mich dein Gesicht und deinen Körper beschützen mit meiner Liebe.“

Madan: „Sprich nicht so, verstehe Muna, deine Füße sind wie Blumen,
Die Wälder sind dornig und steil, wie kann ich dich mitnehmen?
Oh Nagas Tochter, komm nicht in die Berge !
Meine einzige Mutter, das glückverheißende Licht, vergiss sie nicht zu pflegen,
Lass eine Mutter, die sechzig Winter überstanden hat, nicht alleine,
Sie möge sitzen und auf dein mondgleiches Gesicht schauen.“

Muna: „Ihre grau gewordenen Haare, ihre müde gewordener Körper, die Liebe deiner Mutter
Haben deine Füße nicht zurückgehalten, die Schatten der Liebe konnten dich nicht aufhalten,
Mein Herr, die Liebe deiner Mutter.
In ein wildes Land gehen, gekleidet wie ein Händler, Gefahren ausgesetzt,
Was soll gewonnen werden, Herr ! Du verlässt sie und gehst nach Lhasa?
Taschen voller Gold, (sind) Hände voller Schmutz, was bringt so ein Reichtum?
Besser ist es Brennnessel und Salat zu essen mit zufriedenem Herzen,
Oh meine Geliebte, mit einem reichen Herzen !“

Madan: „Geliebte, deine Worte treffen mich ins Herz,
Was willst du machen, Muna ? Dieser Atem stockt vor jenem sündhaften Reichtum,
Mit ein paar Schluck Milch würde ich Mutters Kehle erfrischen,
Ihre Wünsche nach eine Herberge und einem Brunnen erfüllen,
Diese Arme würde ich schmücken mit Reifen aus schwerem Gold,
Das Fundament des Hauses, baufällig durch Schulden, würde ich verstärken.
Diese Hoffnung entstand in meinem Herzen und verschwand wieder
Ich habe meine Füße jetzt gehoben, meine Wünsche gehoben,
Gott ist oben, mein Herz ist meine Begleiter, Ich werde diesen Fluss überqueren,
Falls ein Gefühl mir gesellen sollte, obwohl ich mich richtig verhalte, werde ich auf dem Weg sterben,
Außerhalb von dieser Erde, im Himmel, Liebste, werden wir uns wieder treffen.

Muna: „Oh mein Krishna, sprich nicht und binde nicht den Knoten im Herzen noch enger,
In meinem Geist male ich ein Bild von deinem kostbaren Gesicht,
Wende dich nicht ab, Liebster ! Verstecke nicht die Tränen, die deine Augen füllen,
Die Mädchen von Lhasa, mit blitzenden Augen, aus Gold geschmiedet,
Ihre Sprache wie die einer Nachtigall, mit Rosen die auf ihren Wangen blühen,
Lass sie alle spielen, lass sie alle tanzen auf den Bergen und Wiesen,
Falls du mich vergisst, diese Tränen werden dich beunruhigen, sage ich ängstlich.
Mach dich auf die Reise, lass dunkel werden in Haus und Stadt,
Ich habe keine Kraft mehr zu weinen, ich habe Tränen vergossen vor dir“.
In der Dunkelheit brennen die Erinnerungen wenn es blitzt,
Ein Regen von kühlen Tränen wird vor den Augen der Sorgenvollen fallen.

MUNA ALLEIN
Muna allein, wunderschön, blühend wie eine Lotusblume,
Sich offenbart wie der Mond, der die silberne Wolkenkante berührt,
Wenn sie ihre zarten Lippen öffnete zum Lächeln, regnete es Perlen,
Sie welkte wie eine Blume in Winter (Pus), und Tränen flossen aus ihren Augen
Sie trocknete ihren große Augen und kümmerte sich um ihre Schwiegermutter,
Wenn sie schlief in ihrem Kämmerlein war ihre Kissen durchnässt von tausend Sorgen.
Lang (waren) die Tage, lang die Nächte, traurig die Tage,
Ob dunkle Nächte oder helle, der Mond selbst war traurig,
Muna am Fenster, ein glitzernder Stern, ihre Liebster ist in Lhasa,
Tränen in ihren Augen, Munas Herz war zerfressen von Sorge,
Es war als ob ein dünner Nieselschauer in ihrer Stimme wäre.
Ein Lied stieg empor in der Stille, als ob die Sehnsucht selbst gesprochen hätte.
Ihre Träume waren kostbar für ihre Augen, Tausende von Sorgen erreichten sie nicht,
Wenn sie ihn im Traum sah, fiel es ihr schwer aufzustehen.
Sie weinte, da sie noch lebte, auch im Traum,
Tag für Tag welkt sie dahin wie eine Rose.
Sie versteckt ihre Trauer in ihrem Herzen, verbirgt sie in Schweigsamkeit:
Ein Vogel versteckt mit seinen Federn den Pfeil, der sein Herz durchbohrt,
Das Ende des Tages wird hell im Schein einer Lampe.
Die Schönheit einer welkenden Blumen wächst, wenn der Herbst nahe ist.
Die dunkeln Ränder der Wolken sind silbern, und der Mond ist noch heller,
Sein Gesicht beim Abschiednehmen leuchtet auf in ihrem Herzen, das Licht der Traurigkeit,
Tränen von Tautropfen fallen auf Blumen, Regenwasser vom Himmel,
Sternenlicht, Tränen der Nacht, tropfen auf die Erde.
Die süßen Wurzeln der schönen Rose werden zur Nahrung von Würmern
Eine Blume, die in der Stadt blüht, wird Opfer eines Bösen,
Die Hand eines Menschen füllt Schmutz in reines Wasser
Menschen säen Dornen in den Weg der Menschen.
Wunderschön, unsere Muna, sitzend an ihrem Fenster
Ein Stadtgauner, ein Taugenichts, sah sie, sie bewegte sich wie ein Nymphe,
Machte eine Lampe für die Göttin Bhavani.
Ihre runden Backen, ihre Ohrläppchen, ihre lockigen Haare,
Bei dieser plötzlichen Erscheinung stand er auf, verlor seinen Verstand,
Und ging weg, einmal hierhin, einmal dorthin.
Du siehst die Rose ist schön, Bruder berühre sie nicht!
Er sah sie mit Verlangen, er war verzaubert, werde kein Wilder!
Die Dinge der Schöpfung sind schöne Edelsteine für unsere Blicke,
Berühre und töte nicht die Blume, die Gottes Lächeln bekommen hat.
Madan ist auf dem Heimweg an Cholera erkrankt
Lasst mich nicht im Wald allein, meine Freunde,
Zur sündigen Beute von Krähen und Geiern,
Meine alte Mutter daheim! Wird die alte Frau sterben?
Meine Muna, gleich wie der Mond, wird sie zu Tode geschlagen?
Oh meine Freunde, O meine Brüder, ich werde jetzt nicht sterben,
Ich werde den Tod bekämpfen, ich werde aufstehen, ich will nicht im Wald sterben,
Mein Hals ist trocken, meine Brust brennt, trocknet meine Tränen,
Noch habe ich Atem, noch habe ich Hoffnung, versteht meinen Schmerz,
Meine alte Mutter wird euch segnen, rettet mich!
Es ist Pflicht eines Menschen, die Tränen des anderen zu wischen.“
Was willst du tun, Bruder? Unser Heim ist weit entfernt von diesem Dschungelweg,
Warten wir bis du geheilt bist von dieser Cholera, wird uns Unglück bringen,
In diesem Wald gibt es keine Heilkräuter,
Verweile hier und denke an Gott,
Alle müssen gehen, ihre Haus und Heim verlassen,
Wenn du in deiner letzten Stunde an Gott denkst, wirst du sicher gerettet werden.“
Gestützt auf seine Arme, erhob sich Madan, (er sah), seine Freunde waren gegangen,
Im Westen hatten sich die Augen des Tages blutrot gefärbt,
Eine fahle Dämmerung kam über den Wald, sogar der Wind schlief ein,
Die Vögel hörten auf zu singen, die Kälte befiel ihn
Ein trauriger Zustand, erbarmungslos die Berge und Wälder,
Die Sterne, die ganze Welt erschien grausam, grausame Trostlosigkeit.
Er drehte sich langsam auf dem Gras, dann seufzte er,
Ein Bild von Zuhause kam in sein Gedächtnis, klarer als je zuvor,
Oh meine Mutter, denk an mich!
Oh meine Muna, denk an mich!

Gott, Gott, in diesem Wald bist Du meine einziger Freund,
(Von) oben siehst du die steinharten Herzen der Menschen.
Wo wird jene Feuerflamme sein? Hat der Wald Feuer gefangen?
Ist ein Waldbrand entstanden, um diesen sterbenden Menschen noch mehr zu zerstören?
Ein Man näherte sich, er trug eine Fackel,
War es ein Räuber, war es ein Geist oder eine böser Waldgeist?
Sein Atem hing an einem Faden, sollte er hoffen, sollte er fürchten?
Schließlich erreicht die Fackel sein Gesicht.
Ein Tibeter schaute, wer da weinte, er sah den kranken Mann,
Er sagt liebevoll, “Deine Freunde sind treulos,
Mein Haus ist in der Nähe, nur ein wenig (kos) entfernt, du wirst nicht sterben,
Ich werde dich tragen, ist dir das recht? Mir macht es nichts aus.“
Der arme Madan berührte die Füße des Tibeters and sagte,
Oh mein Herr, mein tibetischer Bruder! Was für wunderbare Worte!
Daheim ist meine alte Mutter, ihre Haare sind grau,
Daheim ist meine Frau, die wie eine Lampe leuchtet,
Rette mich jetzt und Gott wird zuschauen,
Wer den Menschen hilft, wird bestimmt in den Himmel kommen.
Ich, aus der Kaste der Krieger, berühre deine Füße, ich tue es nicht widerwillig,
Ein Mensch ist ein Mensch durch die Größe seines Herzens, nicht durch seine Kaste“.
Der Tibeter trug ihn zu seinem Haus und legte ihn auf ein Tuch aus Wolle,
Er gab ihm ein paar Schluck Wasser und verwöhnte ihn liebevoll,
Er suchte und brachte eine Heilkraut, zerdrückte es und gab ihm zu trinken,
Mit Yakmilch machte er ihn wieder stark.
Madan verabschiedet sich von dem Tibeter

Madan dreht sich um und schaut nach dem Hof der Tibeter:
Was für schöne Kinder, was für schöne junge Tiere, so im Spiel vertieft!“
Nachdem er zugeschaut hatte, wandte Madan sich dem Tibeter zu und
Seine Lippen offenbarten verborgene Wünsche seines Herzens:
Grün sind die Hügel, die Blumen blühen in den Wäldern,
In meinem Herz denke ich an mein Heim in der Ferne, lieber Bruder.
Die Knospen müssen aufgebrochen sein, zart und duftend
Der Pflaumenbaum muss sich des Frühlings erfreuen,
Ein zartes Grün wird in den Wäldern erwacht sein!
Das kleine Haus in jenem Land, es strahlt in meiner Erinnerung
Meine Tränen sind der Tribut für jene Erinnerung
Meine Mutter, Mond der Berge, muss sich an mich erinnern,
Ich verweile weit entfernt an diesem Waldesrand, bringe Tränen in jenes Haus.
Du hast ewige Verdienste erworben, ich kann (es dir) nicht zurückzahlen,
Du hast mir das Geschenk des Lebens gegeben, ich kann (es dir) nicht zurückzahlen,
Ich stehe immer in deiner Schuld, kann es dir nicht zurückzahlen.
Zwei schmutzige Taschen mit Gold habe ich im Wald vergraben,
Eine ist für dich, eine ist für mich, gerecht verteilt für deinen Verdienst,
Nimm es, verabschiede mich, ich gehe nach Hause,
Während ich weitergehe, erinnere ich mich immer an Deine Barmherzigkeit.“
Der Tibeter sagt, “Was kann ich mit reinem Gold anfangen?
Gold wächst nicht, wenn du es pflanzt, oder? Was kann ich mit Gold machen?
Kann ich es pflanzen und essen durch deine Liebenswürdigkeit?
Meine Kinder, Söhne und Töchter, sind verlassen worden von ihrer Mutter,
Was nützt Gold, Vermögen, wenn das Schicksal sie uns weggenommen hat?
Diese Kinder können nicht Gold essen, sie tragen keinen Schmuck,
Meine Gattin ist im Himmel, die Wolken sind ihr einziger Schmuck.“
Der Tibeter sagt: „Diese Gelegenheit zu bekommen, Verdienste zu sammeln, war eine Chance“
Es war ein Glück, die Tugend der Hilfsbereitschaft zu üben.
Für meine Wohltat nehme ich nichts, behalte mich in Erinnerung, während du gehst.
Ich pflüge selbst, ich ernähre mich selbst, nichts wird mir geschenkt.
Was würdest du mir geben? Was werde ich nehmen? Ich bettle nicht.
Denk an meine Name (Changbas) während du gehst, erzähle über mich daheim,
Schicke den Segen der alten Frau für diese Kinder.“
Weinend brach er vom Waldrand auf, unwissend und ungebildet
In jenem Tibeter erinnerte er sich der Quelle des guten Herzens,
Weinend ging Madan in Richtung Heimat.

MADANS MUTTER STIRBT
Madans Mutter, ihre Haare weiß, liegt im Bett,
Mond der Berge, wartend in Traurigkeit auf ihre letzten Tag.
Die Lampe dieses Hauses, das Öl verbraucht, sich verzehrend,
Flackerndes Licht, die Dunkelheit drohte zu kommen.
Sie sieht das Gesicht ihres Sohnes, und ruft (nach) Gott
Für ihren Sohn, ihres Herzens Herz, (ruft) sie nach Gott.
Eine Brise vom Fenster streicht über ihre weißen Haare und geht vorüber
Haucht Mutters Herz in Richtung Lhasa.
Keine Tränen in ihren Augen, erfüllt mit Frieden
Der Glanz des Endes kommt um die Abenddämmerung zu erhellen,
Die treibende Kraft ihres Lebens, ihr Garant gegen den Tod: Ihr Sohn ist weit weg,
Sein Gesicht zu sehen bevor sie stirbt, ist ihr Herzenswunsch,
Heiß von Fieber, ihr schmale Hand brennt mit Sehnsucht,
Sie hält liebevoll die Hand ihrer weinenden Schwiegertochter,
Tätschelt ihre weiche Hand und sagt, “O meine Schwiegertochter,
Jetzt ist die Zeit gekommen, ich muss diese Welt verlassen,
Warum Weinen, weine nicht Schwiegertochter !
Alle müssen diesen Weg nehmen, mein Kind, der Reiche und der Fakir
Erde vermischt sich mit Erde an den Ufern des Leidens,
Erdulde dies, sei nicht gefangen in der Schlinge des Schmerzes,
Sei Fromm, denn Hingebung erbringt Erleuchtung auf dem letzten Weg!
Ich habe die Blumengärten der Erde blühen und verwelken gesehen,
In Traurigkeit, liebe Schwiegertochter, habe ich Gott erkannt !
Die Samen, die auf der Erde gesät werden, tragen Früchte im Himmel,
Was ich gegeben habe, nehme ich mit mir, was geht mit?
Der Reichtum, den du in einem Traum erwirbst, bleibet in deinen Händen, wenn du erwachst.
Ich nehme Abschied von allen, Madan ist nicht gekommen.
Meine Augen haben ihn heute nicht gesehen, bevor sie sich schlossen,
Ich bin gestorben,“ sag dies zu Madan.
Die alte Frau, die ihrem Ende entgegen ging sagte: „Weine nicht zu sehr“

Madan kehrt Heim
Munas Worte waren wie Geschosse, erinnert sich Madan,
Wie süß hat sie mich getadelt, „ Was kannst du machen mit Reichtum?“
Ihre nektargleichen Worte trafen mich bis ins Mark und durchbohrten mein Herz,
Besser ist es mit glücklichem Herzen Salat und Brennnessel zu verzehren“,
Jetzt hat Gott dies ermöglicht mit Reichtum
Ein Vorhang hat mich zugedeckt, ein Vorhang hat mir meinen Weg versperrt, oh Schwester!
Ich werde nicht weinen, ich werde morgen gehen und sie treffen,
Lüfte den Vorhang, O Schicksal (Gott), und du wirst schnell gesegnet.
Madan fiel auf die Erde und wurde schlapp vor Traurigkeit.
Der Arzt kam, hielt ihn am Handgelenk und fühlte seinen Puls:
Was ist Medizin für einen der krank ist am Herzen?
Probleme mit Husten und Schleim, sagt der Arzt,
Ohren, die Worte von anderen nicht hören, hören diese
Madan sagt ihm „Lies die Bücher über die Heilkunde, blättere die Susruta durch‚
Wo ist die Qual des Herzens, erzähle es mir?
Die Krankheit, die meinen Körper quält, ist, am Leben zu sein: Vertreibe diese Krankheit!
Die Erinnerung macht mich unruhig, ich habe Durst nach dem Anblick von 

Muna (Darshan)
Meine Augen starren in die Weite, ich werde verbrannt durch eine Brise,
Mein Gehirn dreht sich wie ein Wirbelwind, mein Herz schmerzt mich,
All meine Symptome sind in meinem Herzen, versteckt von der Außenwelt.“
Der Arzt schaute, der Arzt verstand, jener Arzt kam nie (mehr).
Was auch das Herzleiden sein mochte, ein Mittel dagegen wurde nicht gefunden.
Tag für Tag wurde es mit dem armen Madan noch schlimmer,
Er war bei Bewusstsein wie zuvor, seine Sprache war klar.
Oh, meine Schwester, führe diesen Haushalt,
Erfülle Mutters Wunsch nach eine Herberge und einem Brunnen,
Muna kümmert sich um unsere einsame Mutter, hoch oben;
Möge keine andere einsame Mutter vernachlässigt werden,
Mach den Knoten an meinem Kleid auf, gib mir einen Schluck Gangeswasser,
Es gibt keine Medikamente, meine Schwester, für ein gebrochenes Herz!“
Die Wolken rissen auf, der Mond lächelte schön am Himmel,
Begleitet von den Sternen, schaute der Mond durch das Fenster,
Die Wolken zogen sich zusammen, Madan schlief für immer,
Am nächsten Tag war es wieder klar, und die Sonne ging auf.
Habt ihr den Staub aus eueren Augen gewischt, Bruder und Schwester?
Wir müssen diese Welt verstehen und nicht Feiglinge sein.
Schauen wir der Welt ins Gesicht, reißen wir uns zusammen,
Lasst unsere Flügel zum Himmel schwingen, während wir auf dieser Erde leben.
Wenn das Leben nur Essen und Trinken wäre, Herr, was wäre das Leben?
Wenn der Mensch keine Hoffnung hätte auf ein Leben danach, Herr, was wäre der Mensch?
Solange wir auf der Erde leben, schauen wir zum Himmel,
Klage nicht, wenn du nach unten auf der Erde schaust!
Der Geist ist die Lampe, der Körper das Opfer, und der Himmel die Belohnung.
Unsere Taten sind unsere Gottesverehrung, so sagt Laxmiprasad, der Dichter.

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Publisher: Devkota, Lakshmiprasad:Muna Madan Sajha Prakashan, Kathmandu
E-mail:sajhap@wlink.com.np

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Global Poets & Writers Create Festivals and Publications by Satis Shroff
National literature no longer means very much, the age of world literature is due. (National literature will jetzt nicht viel sagen,  die Epoche der Weltliterature ist an der Zeit — Goethe). Global writers and poets are connecting internationally via the internet. Why should only the literature mainstream in the USA, Australia and Britain take the lead?The world literature propagated was entirely Eurocentric and Goethe himself was a German universal writer one of the most original and powerful German lyric poets and his Faust I & II is a melange of comedy, tragedy, pathos, wit and satire, that is, magical beauty. However, his collection of pseudo-oriental lyrics ‘West-östliche Divan’ (1819) is closed associated with Marianne von Willemer, one of the most gifted and intellectual women in Goethe’s life. Goethe spoke of world literature during his times. But what we experience today is global literature, which is not a western literature with national borders. It is definitely post-colonial, post-ethnic and post-national. You could call it non-whitey, non-mainstream literature. This global literature is written by writers and poets who have left their homes for diverse reasons and are, of course put into the ‘migrant literature category. This global literature is nervous, vibrant, dynamic and these writings have had a quiet existence since decades nut isn’t being noticed by the greedy, sensation-seeking mainstream publishers from the former colonial nations based in the UK, USA, and its ally Australia, Japan, France and Germany. These global writer and poets have, due to their migration, changed their cultures and adopted new languages of the host countries. These authors came and still come from Asia, Africa, Caribbean isles and since they’re obliged to write not in their mother-tongues, they take to literature like fish in water, observing and comparing their new experiences with the old, and write about their lives as global travellers and existential trespassers of international boundaries not only in their lives but also in their minds. It is a sad fact that the literary market is dominated by Anglo-Americans throughout the world. With Behari, Nepali, Gujerati, Bengali or Malay alone you couldn’t reach the world market which is still dominated by the English language. Would the world have seen and read Tagore’s Gitanjali or Shakuntala if it hadn’t been translated into English? The Nobel Prize for Literature to a Bengali poet has inspired generations of Bengalis and others in the Indian subcontinent, as have the Man Booker Prizes for Rushdie, Kiran Desai and Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Hemingway Award for Jhumpa Lahiri. Why are Nigerian Chinua Achebe’s books well known in the world than the ones of those of African writers writing in their own mother tongues? If Ngugi wa Thiong’o hadn’t moved to the Britain and later to the USA, why, he wouldn’t have become a professor for comparative literature and performance studies at New York University in 1992. It is high time that the upcoming authors from the Southern Hemisphere (South America, Africa South Asian and South-East Asia got together and made their own literary world, with book publications, poetry events and awards. It is time that such writers and poetry associations around the world got together and created their own prominent poetry festivals to combat the discrimination going on in the world’s publishing markets. Global literature is here to stay as a resurrection from the ashes of bitter post-colonial experiences and thanks to the proliferation of social media and e-books. Down with the discriminatory Anglo-American, French and German mainstream literature markets that have been ignoring and discriminating global poets and writers. The fall of the British, French, Dutch and other empires led to changes in relations with these powerful countries and resulted in revolutions as far as east-west relations were concerned. It was also a catalyst for great migration waves because the western cities destroyed during the World War II had to be reconstructed, factories renovated and rebuilt and manpower was missing. Most able men in these countries were injured, crippled or dead. And so the migration brought also changes in these western societies. In most of the narratives of the global writers and poets the theme of identity takes a central position. Who am I? What am I doing here in this foreign world that I have embraced? Where do I belong? Questions about the hybridity, acculturation and integration, mixed cultures and multiple-identities arise, as men and women of different ethnic backgrounds marry, bring for progeny. Does migration lead to a loss of identity or it a win-win and thus enriching situation? The global authors write a literature of being in-between and growing within foreign cultures that they have accepted. They write about the changes and exchanges between two cultures and the question of: ‘Where do I belong?’ is raised. Is it a world in transition? An improvised life for a temporary period? In the case of the asylum-seekers the question of the stay-permit or the green card, as the case may be, hangs like a Damocles Sword above the writer or poet. A toleration? A Duldung? Or will my asylum-request be refused and I’ll be obliged to board the next plane to my country? A lot of writers and poets from ex-colonial countries like India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Somalia, Ethiopia have to chew on the mistakes and fatal decisions made by those in power during the pregnancy, birth or miscarriage of their respective countries. The hatred between the Hindus of India and the Muslims of West Pakistan is a glaring example of how the partition of a country should not have been carried out. The British left the Indian subcontinent without solving the Indo-Pakistani problem. The result was a historical mayhem, anarchy, chaos and mobocracy. In other countries independence from colonialists led to dictatorships, civil wars, economic crisis, wanton corruption and open or hidden nepotism. The colonialists interfered not only in the politics and economies of these countries but also in the socio-cultural lives of these people and had regarded them as being ‘inferior’ to their own British, French, Dutch, Portugese, Spanish and so-called Australian (actually imported Brit) cultures. There was no collective psycho-therapy for these unfortunate people, who were left on their own when the colonial powers retreated. Left to their meagre means to exist because their country’s wealth had been plundered and stolen ‘legally’ by the colonialists. Even today the treasures from the former colonies can be seen for a fee in the British, French, Belgian, German and Rijks (Netherlands) museums. Like Goethe wrote in ‘Der Gross Cophta, II: You must either conquer and rule Or serve and lose, Suffer or triumph, Be the anvil or the hammer Even the history of India has to be re-constructed and re-written by modern writers for the books from the colonial times had a jaundiced perspective and viewpoint. Asian countries and its people are badly described by the Brits and French in their versions. It’s high time that Asians described the Brits, French and other colonial characters in novels and poems through their own eyes and show the world what it was like to live under colonial rule and of how the traditions, beliefs, religions and cultures were ignored and ridiculed by the masters of the empire. Writers that written with a heart for the downtrodden in the former colonies are undoubtedly V S Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Joseph Conrad, Alexander Hemon, Hanif Kureishi, JM Coetzee and Michael Ondatje. It is amazing how many poets and poetesses there are in the different websites around the world. This is a commendable and formidable resource and must be channelled to produce not only festivals but also works of literature for posterity. In this context I’d like to mention Epitacio Tongohan of Pentasi B World Freiendship Poetry, Leyla I??k from Kibatek,Turkey, Maria Miraglia and Saverio Sinopoli from the Neruda Association from Italy and India’s Manthena Damodara Chary’s endeavours to bring out certificates and anthologies of the best poems on his websites and now we have Singapore Writers under Hj Harisharis Hj Hamzah with a taste of Malay and Singaporean Poetry at an international event in 2018. Dankeschön, thank you, merci, grazie, gracias, dhanyavad.