Prawin Adhikari’s debut set of nine short stories comprise of an array: there is The Boy from Banauti and Fortune set in and around the author’s home village of Abu Khaireni, others like The Game and Stamp and Signature depict the reality of life in the heart of Kathmandu, and some like The Case of Carolynn Flint and the titular The Vanishing Act relay the experience of a young Nepali man, inclined towards writing and observing, living abroad fresh out of college, susceptible to romance in every form.
As with most collections and with the short story form (which is a particular art on its own to perfect), some stories are weaker than others. That being said, most stories are really quite compelling, closely observed, and showing a genuine understanding of human nature and people’s motivations, a capacity essential to every writer. Even the weaker stories such as Mayapuri which tells the tale of a little boy’s yearning for a young bride has something particular to offer in its detailed description of childhood voyeurism and lust even as it deteriorates due to a slight self-indulgence on Adhikari’s part in the latter half.
The Vanishing Act: Stories
By Prawin Adhikari
Rupa Publications 2014
Price Rs 400
240 pages
The best stories are The Boy from Banauti with its descriptions of an errant school boy’s day tripping after bunking school, making his way to the banks of the Daraundi River. His ambling walk there, the scenic rural and river setting, boyhood mischief, and group shenanigans are all charmingly described, crystalising the story in our imaginations. Fortune too is similarly strong due to Adhikari’s adeptness in portraying the evolution of a modest, quiet village that becomes a bustling concrete town due to the inflow of people to build a dam.
In both The Game and Stamp and Signature, we come across young couples in Kathmandu struggling to make ends meet – dealing with the minutiae of married life in the big city. The changing fabric of society in and outside of the Valley in this past decade is subtly enfolded into these narratives, the characters drawn in the stories becoming real and in some cases quite dear to us.
With a slight but welcome departure in style, The Case of Carolynn Flint and The Vanishing Act both deal with elements of the surreal and slightly magical, showing Adhikari’s range and the potential he has to use his words to portray not just the life of Nepalis and the diaspora, but to create riveting stories which have the ability to transcend a particular genre and capture a wider readership.
The compassion and intense observation with which these stories have been written, the fluidity of the writing, which is all the more astonishing for its occasional lapses, all go to show that Prawin Adhikari is at the threshold of a writing career with clear promise.
Sophia Pande