Dr. Durga Prasad Bhandari said that the writers had a special
responsibility of saving the humanity from the present gloom. He was
hopeful that the SAARC writers would take a lead in this decisive
struggle.
In the next session centred on the theme ‘Why do we write
?’, eminent writers from the region offered a peep into the whys and
wherefores of creative writing.
Ms Kishwar Naheed said that when she
saw poverty and misery all around, she had to write against it. When she
observed the discrimination between men and women, she had to use her
pen against the injustice.
Ms Chitra Mudgal said that she wrote to
give an expression to her consciousness. As a writer, conscious of the
worsening times and also conscious of her capability, she had to take up
cudgels on behalf of the suffering masses, especially the women who
undoubtedly suffer more.
Dr. Sanjukta Dasgupta, Mr Hayat Mamud and
Ms. Bhuvan Dhungama also shared their views with the audience.
On
the second day (22 August), another interactive session was held under
the chairmanship of veteran Nepali poet Mr. Kali Prasad Rijal. The Chief
Guest of the session was Ms. Chitra Mudgal while Mr. Nirmal Man
Tuladhar, Executive Director, CNAS, welcomed the participants. The theme
of the session was – ‘Importance
of translation of South Asian
literature in the context of the fad of modernism in South Asian
literature’.
There was intense discussion on the importance of
national languages and the need to get the writings translated into the
languages of different countries.
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It may be
noted that FOSWAL, the main organizer of the Conference, has always
assigned significance to the need to translate the best works in all the
languages of the SAARC region into the national languages in the other
participating countries. The Foundation has also asserted that “national
language” cannot be treated as a sacred, single language because countries
like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and Nepal have more than one language and
must extend the translations to regional languages too in each of these
countries. Excellent papers on the theme were presented by Prof. Hayat
Mamud, Prof. Ruby Rahman and Prof. Sanjuktra Dasgupta and others.
This
was followed by a Creative Writing Workshop chaired by Ms. Ruby Rahman
while Mr Dinesh Misra was the Chief Guest. In this session, both eminent
and young poets read their poems. It was a pleasant surprise to see scores
of young Nepali poets expressing their feelings through excellent
translations of their poems. If the English translations (or
transcreations) were so moving, the originals must be many times more.
Some writers read out extracts from their fiction. Among those who read
their works were Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Manohar Shyam Joshi, Mohan
Koirala, Chitra Mudgal, Tulasi Diwasa, Sanjukta Dasgupta, Dhusvan Sayami,
Ajeet Cour, Nabeen Chitrakar, Toya Gurung and Kali Prasad Rijal.
The
Valedictory Session was held at the premises of Nepal Rajakiya Pragya
Pratishthan where, besides the concluding remarks and assessment of the
mega conference, the Declaration of the Conference was read out. This was
unanimously and wholeheartedly endorsed by the assembled writers.
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