15/02/2025
When I was young and in Sri Lanka, I used to read many travel books and wanted to be like Chinese travelers Hiuen Tsang, Fa Hien, Vasco Da Gama, Marco Polo, and Ibn Battuta: go somewhere, see, talk to the people, experience things, and write about them. Ruskin Bond is another interesting writer who used to walk and travel in every corner of rural India and tell the unheard, the stories most Indians were uninterested, and ignored stories; writing them and turning them into books such as a travel book and novels like; Angry River, The Great Train Journey, and The Hidden Pool are my most favorite and many times read books. I love every book he has written since they have the taste, tang, and flavor of the Indian village and villagers.
I was still practicing English at the British Council, and Aquinas College, and these books helped me a lot and made me easier to learn grammar and sharpen my classic English words, sentences, and creative writing skills that I am still practicing daily.
This dramatic conversation is from the book called ‘The Buddhist Legend of Jumutavahana and The Nagananda’ written by Indian emperor Harshvardhana (647 AD) which is an old and classic English drama book that I enjoyed reading and learning even though it took me a month to finish. By sharing this passage, I am trying to say that I have learned classic and old English literature so that you won’t doubt whether I did understand those books.
“This friend of thine must surely be a god!
“No mortal has so beautiful a form.”
" Fair one.!”
“I am a mortal,” I replied.
" A merchant's son, who dwells in Vallabhi.”
The times have changed, and technologies have overpowered now. People don’t read anymore; they prefer to watch documentaries, vlog videos, and listen to podcasts.
Hence; these days and ages I think and dream of making short movies, and documentaries, and telling stories of the unheard, ignored, and most of the Nepalese uninterested stories like ‘Why Tharu women in Dang used to tattoo their body?” I dream of being so outspoken, extrovert, and confident like “Yes Theory” boys ‘Thomas Brag, Ammar Kandil, and Matt Dahlia’ and saying ‘yes’ to going to teeth-tattering cold countries like Iceland and hearing the stories of Vikings, Titans, and Warriors. I watch, like, and appreciate the “Herne Katha” YouTube channel team who travels in rural Nepal where our ancestors live; in the midst of cold and draught; but still happy.
I was watching their new episode; the story of Meghalaya or the “Baadal Pariko Desh (The Country across the Cloud - in English); the story of the coal miners; and their stories after the industry closed down. The miners who have been lost and hidden amid the tall and giant mountain full of trees and birds. The miners who wish to go back to Nepal to meet their grandparents and ancestors but do know not where exactly to.
Some of their cultures are strange and beautiful though. These miners are recognized as Khasi, and this community is called matrilineal; the daughter marries and brings a groom home which is opposite to the Nepalese tradition where the groom brings the bridegroom home. The children have to put the mother’s surname instead of father’s. The youngest daughter is the heir to the family property.
Herne Katha documents these stories that I will have very rare opportunities to go and experience and I feel that they are so lucky to tell the stories that I always wished and wanted to share with others.
Support me and my YouTube Channel; this might lead me to become what I want to be and dream to do.
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