Desh Khojdai Jaandaa (While Searching for the Country) is songwriter Shrawan Mukarung's first poetry collection. It shows the strong influence of progressive literature on the poet's imagination-many of the works focus, with didactic intent, on raising issues of economic and social justice. Some of the more whimsical poems speak more effectively, however, of rural life. Nepal's literature being Kathmandu-centred, it is refreshing to find work which doesn't romanticise country life, depict an over-simplified rusticity, or drown out local stories with grander national narratives. Mukarung's best poems are based on subtle aspects of life in the eastern hills, where he originally comes from.
The work selected below is one such poem. There is nothing complicated about the piece; but the quirky tone, the quick details, and the deft twists lead the reader to the surprising ending, which throws a darker light on the implication of the original rumour about drowned stars.



Rumours in the Majhi Fishermen's Village

When rumours spread in the village
that the stars had drowned in the river
he headed off with his hook
in the early hours of dawn

Above all he felt
a profound love for the north star
because peering through his wicker portal
the north star always spilled over his bed
No matter if it was a night of sleeping in hunger
no matter if it was a night of sleeping glutted on booze
the north star would stay on his forehead
and he would light up, aglow

Resolute
at the heart of the river
he was casting his hook
when from far away
a crowd of children came in fun and mirth
"Majhi-dai, Majhi-dai
we found the shit of the stars."
As a finale
they shouted in chorus,
"Star shit looks a lot like rocks."

Without rest
he kept casting his hook
but never did a star get trapped in it
Father, many fishes got trapped
and soon there was stew enough
to feed everyone in the village

By now
determined to fish out the north star
he wouldn't stop sporting his hook
even as he ferried people across the river on his
dinghy
The children started raising a fuss on the shores-
"Majhi-dai, Majhi-dai,
fish out the stars for us fast."

It was but the season of rains
One night
there was a great flood
and this unkind flood swept off
the one who was so practised at fishing for stars
and it reached him far away
The next morning
in the early hours of dawn
another rumour spread in the village-
"An alluring moon
has also drowned in the river."