Adieu to a Literary Voice (Satis Shroff)

(Deviji & Dada drinking 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.

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