‘The Pathetic Journey’ launched

   …’ the children-
the global citizens
scratch the earth and sketch
the crown of the King
with fading color…’  

reads one of the stanzas of the poem ‘Children in the Camp’ in – ‘The Pathetic Journey’.

‘The day my family landed in the bank of river Kankai in Jhapa, Nepal my mind remained hunting answers to questions like- why king did not love his citizens? Why king could not be the guardian of all? Why the king pick only those people of his type? What crime I happened to commit as a child so that I became stateless? It is the outcome of my past 25 years. The Pathetic journey is the collections of those answers in the form of poetry works’, says Narad Pokhrel, the author of the book.

Objectively analyzing the poems during the book releasing program organized in Pittsburgh, PA on November 8, 2015 by Literarture Council of Bhutan (LCOB), former  Prof. Terry Lee Kuhn from Kent,Ohio said, ‘Narad’s poetry describes the Lhotshampa people from southern Bhutan whose homes, farms, animals, and crops were stolen by a mercenary government that wanted it all for itself.  That Royal Government of Bhutan was able to evict many of its Lhotshampa people, but it cannot squelch the art, intellectual life, and feelings of the victims.’

One of the editors of the book, Dr. Taralal Shrestha from Kirtipur, Kathmandu Nepal has seen this book as; ‘The narration of the tragic collapse of a long lost family, their vicious past-the forced parasitic living- echo as historical statements that whisper to apprise the homeless generation through the retrospection and reconstruction of their (hi)story.’

‘This collection, consisting of enthralling stories, of the victims of the genuine cause, in soft sentiments will be a compelling read for those who wish to know about the lives lived by the exiled Bhutanese’, says Rup Pokharel, another editor of this book from Pittsburgh.

Presenting the commentary on the poems in the book Shivalal Dahal, one of the noted critics amidst Bhutanese diaspora remarked Narad’s poetry work as- ‘the reflection of one historical phase in the history of exiled Bhutanese. Fundamentally, poems are melancholic-originating from forced exile, broken love, deprivation and poverty. The journey described here is not only the geographical but metaphysical and the whirling move of traumatized minds too. Reading his poems, one will be deeply moved by his humanism.’

According to the Chairman of Literature Council of Bhutan (LCOB), Bhakta Ghimire, the book is the mirror displaying the other side of the untold tale of tactical drama of the elites over run-of-the-mill. The Pathetic Journey has also encouraged patience to progress and hopes to living. It is as reminiscence for those born and raised in Bhutan, bridge for those born and brought-up in the refugee camps, connecting dots to revealing truth for the children born in the countries of resettlement and something to ponder upon for the general readers- is the prime essence of this book.

The 276 paged volume is published by Discourse Publication, Kathmandu and printed in Noida, India is available in the market for the readers. The copies are available in Hard bound and Paperback.