| WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS |
KALI PRASAD RIJAL
Lyricist.
Born: March 22, 1940 at Dharan.
ADDRESS
Cha 1/533, Ward no. 6
Bouddha Mahankal
Pani Pokhari Kathmandu
Nepal.
Ph: 977 -1- 470779
977 - 1-470278
arijal@wlink.com.np
IMPORTANT
WORKS:
HONOURS:
The Runaway Statues
One day
When the evening was closing in,
I saw with
surprise
The statues which were positioned inside Tundikhel
Alight
from their cast - iron steeds
And , walking out of the main
gate,
Mingled with the mass of men and women
Who were walking on the
pavement
Or crossing the street.
I was struck dumb
The street was like a river
With the turbulent
current of people
Surging forward , eddying and meandering
In noisy
waves
Through the cross roads and intersections,
And bifurcating at
various points
To enter the lanes and byways
The posts and railings
of Tundikhel
Remained where they were
The cement work
sentries
Were at their posts
In a state of full alert.
Only the
statues had gone out of sight
Only they had absconded.
Since then my inquisitive eyes
Have never ceased to wander over the
faces of men
In search of the runaway statues.
Be it in a
procession , public meeting or polling booth,
Be it a government
office, hospital or court of justice.
I scan each face.
I scrutinise
it closely.
But I cannot be sure
Whether it's a man or a statue
I go through the process over again,
And get bewildered more and
more.
In some faces
I see glass eyes winkling away steadily ;
In
others I see stone lips
Parting in a ferric smile
At some places I
see someone
Standing solemnly like a statue;
I see a man of
stone,
Sitting motionless on a chair,
Some lifeless hands scrawling
something,
And some lifesize figures
Examining the
patients
Whatever I do - translated by Pirtha Raj Tuladhar
However hard I try,
I cannot
distinguish
Between a man and a statue
I am not sure which is
which.
When I look at a man
I feel as if it were a statue:
And
when I look at a statue,
I feel as if it were a man
And sometimes I
wonder
Whether this country is not run by
statues.
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