Tulsa, the character of my novel, is my wife.

Pradhan has published 1 collection of poetry, 3 novels, 11 stories, 3 reviews, 12 children's books. An unpublished interview conducted by critic Netra Atom with Parshu Pradhan on 29th May 2069 in Kathmandu, focusing on Parshu Pradhan's novel 'All Faces' (2024) :

I call your writing an 'adventure'. What was the background of such an adventure? How did you get the inspiration and determination to try something new in life and writing?

When I was studying in a village school in Bhojpur, Sharadchandra Sharma Bhattarai came from Kathmandu as the headmaster. He was an extremely enthusiastic writer. And, he used to inspire us to write, recommend books to read and correct our written works. He thought that new experiments should be made in life and writing. However, he married an inter-caste girl with a Rai girl, tearing apart the time and society where there was such fanaticism of caste. That behavior of his had a deep impact on me and later I also got married to my brother's daughter (Kalpana Neupane). But, even before that, I had a clear cut in literature - I wrote poetry. After he started coming and going to Kathmandu, he started meeting Daulatvikram Bista, Poshan Pandey, Shankar Lamchine. Bishta said, 'What kind of poetry has a person with such ability written? He directly said that the story is written. Then I got the courage and tried to write a story.

Tell me about your first story writing experience!

vs. It was 2018, my camp was in Otu village. A young 'widow' lived nearby, with whom I used to appear. I was attracted to him when I was young. I wrote the first story with him as the subject - 'From the eyes of my room.' That story was printed in 'Ruprekha' magazine in 2019. Daulat Dai also praised that 'you have written a very good story'. And my interest was increasing towards the story itself. Were you influenced, inspired, inspired by any writer while writing a

novel? I think Shankar Lamichhane is the writer to follow in the

literary prose style. I was impressed by the marvelous poetics of his writings. I was inspired by the writings of Daulatvikram Bista in taking the social theme of the novel, Visveshwar Prasad Koirala, Vijay Malla and Gothale in the subtlety of the sex. Yes, I also read the works of Mopansa, O. Henry, but I could not get any specific influence directly from them. Since my ancestors like Bista, Gothale, Malla etc. wrote both stories and novels, I felt that I should write in both genres. Again, my friends challenged me by saying, 'You are limited to stories, you cannot write a novel' and I wrote a novel.

However, your novel writing period was very short. Only one novel 'All the forgotten faces' was published, did you write any others? Not a

, my novel writing period is very long - I wrote the novel 'Raat Jo Paglancha' in the year 2021. It was about a girl who had sex in Kathmandu. In it, the thoughts, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, disappointment, sexual behavior etc. of the 'Question' girl were revealed. And, serially, three volumes of it were printed in 'Tuwanlo' magazine, but the book did not come out. One day, I met Shankar Lamichhane at New Road. He said, "Parshuji, I am selling my five science novels at the rate of 300 rupees each to the associate publication, bring your novel too." After passing my BA, I went to a school in Kulung village of Bhojpur as head master, I wrote 'All Forgotten Faces' at that time. Later I also co-authored two novels. And I have published a series of stories called Kathopanyas - 'Sita' and 'Ghar'. This can also be called a novel!

You might call a book of serialized stories a novel. I have also read stories titled 'Sitas' or 'Ghar' with serial numbers, but can they be called Unyas? See

A serialized story is written around a single symbol. It combines different points of view rather than encompassing the same tendency or meaning. Look at 'Sita', there are stories of different girls on different topics, but by giving her the name Sita, a popular mythical character in Nepali life, I gave all the stories a fictional character. An American woman author has written a book that gives you the pleasure of a novel in its entirety as you read each chapter. She called such works 'Hyper Novel'. I also wrote a similar novel. 'Sita' and 'Ghar' are one and the same symbol, how much meaning can be extracted from them. Now I have started a novel called 'Sambandh'. However, some people have not accepted the novel, they are also calling it an anthology.

Were there any specific factors behind the way you started writing 'All Forgotten Faces'? In particular, do your references to interracial marriage and the novel's character Tulsa's marriage look the same?

This novel is based on a story similar to an incident in my own life. In the novel, there is a story of child widow Bahuni Tulsa getting married to Gharti Biga Kanchha. In 2019, inspired by the enthusiasm of Sharadchandra Sharma Bhattarai, I had a love marriage with the daughter of Bhojpur's brother. At that time, if a minor caste married a major caste, it was a criminal case punishable by up to 12 years in prison. Fearing that punishment, I ran away with my wife and reached Banaras. I ran away and sought different places and returned from Banaras only after the commencement of the Civil Code in 2021, when it was confirmed that there would be no punishment based on caste. At that time, how many people said that they would beat me and kill me! My wife has also suffered a lot. So I planned to write a novel about a part of my life

And it began.

What was your state of mind when you started this novel?

I planned this novel during my stay in Banaras. Later, after going to Kathmandu, I returned to Bhojpur as an employee of Rashtra Bank, but after working hard to become head master in Kulung, I went there again. This novel was written there. There were many simal trees, blooming at night. I used to love Rata Simal's flowers. Young age, fresh new things. At that time, the mind is amazing, what kind of ideas come to mind! I have written in the beginning of the novel - '... Kulung (Bhojpur) - where I had to accept the compulsion to forget many familiar faces by counting the waves of the Arun river and 'Tulsa' was embedded in my heart as a red flower of simal... ... ... Were you able to finish the

and the novel as expected? Yes

, it ended as planned. I wanted to show the nature of our caste-ridden society. It was to make people aware of the suffering due to caste, it had to have a serious effect. That is why I ended up with the 'spirit' that I had prepared when I started the novel.

There are no section breaks in this novel. Why do you have to write such a continuous flow? I thought a

novel could be like this and I tried it. In fact, to call this a novel is also to use the character's memoirs. Although time and place are different in memory, the memory remains constant.

and the purpose of making the events of the novel so complex is confirmed?

I wanted the novel to be completely different and artistic, to show life in a new way. In the same way that inter-caste marriage brought newness to the society in life, the thought came to break the old tradition and history in writing, to challenge the easy writing. Hindi novelists Ramesh Vakshi, Mohan Rakesh, Rajendra Yadav also have an influence on it.

What does the job of giving consistency to the scattered materials and building a novel structure?

gives a unified form to poetics. Although there is no sequence, the role of image, symbol, and rhythm is dominant, so there is poetry under the cover of Aupanyasikata. If its letters are separated, the novel becomes a pure and tender poem.

critics recognize its poetic? Where to do

! While writing, I felt like I had written an important book, but there was no discussion. At that time the critic only wrote that a novel had come out. However, 45 years after its publication, now you are interviewing about this novel I am surprised when I come to take

. It seems that the value of creation is being recognized one day or another. There is a poetic effect and flow of stories like Shankar Lamichhane's 'I will be born again' in my novel.

The person in the novel is not real, how to recognize that character? The special meaning of the

character is the expression of the conflict in his state of mind. Good and bad things are going on in his mind. I designed Tulsa on that basis. She has become a strong character due to constant mental conflict. She has tried to break down the established boundaries everywhere. If you think about it, you get a clear picture of the struggling character Yogamaya in her character. It was in Bhojpur's Kulung that Yogamaya started a revolution, started widow-marriage, and showed extreme rebellion during the Rana period by committing mass suicide in the Arun river. In Kulung, where I went to teach, the songs and bhajans of Yogamaya could be heard being sung with reverence by the villagers. However, Yogamaya became a widow-married or polygamous, rebelled, etc., and many others have affected Tulsa. My wife imagines some part of that courage, an image of rebellion. Some people's character is mixed in Tulsa.

Were you in Tulsa when you wrote this novel or did you observe her from afar?

Not watching from afar, I'm in Tulsa myself. I have absorbed his pain, aspirations, compulsions, behavior. Remember, Tulsa is my wife Kalpana, I may have added a few isolated tweaks to it. It is a matter of my ability to see a character in a novel by dividing it into many forms, putting it in different activities and presenting it that way. In a

novel, you capture the character's stream of consciousness. What type of writing is conscious writing?

Consciousness flow method is to write the conflict in the mind of the character in a fluent way. Such a method creates some new thought in the mind of the intellectual reader, makes him think something.

Don't you think this novel has become unclear and complicated due to this method?

I don't think so, but the general reader may because this writing is a kind of revolution.

I am a person who believes that new values ​​should be brought to writing, the traditional style should be destroyed and the method and genre of writing should be changed. Rather, such a thought has been used in the novel.