For me, love is a very elusive subject. A subject of great interest and desire. Whether it is writing 'Parast Prem' or preparing 'Malami Sanjeesh', I have made love and relationships the basis.

What is love? This question has been unanswered for centuries. The subject that no one understands and everyone desires is love. Just as everyone gives their own definition after looking at an abstract painting, similarly, love is alive in different experiences. I know that love itself is that energy, which cannot be created or destroyed by a person's will. But this energy of love can be spread from one heart to another.

That is why human love is a very complex and mysterious subject of experience. And my favorite food for writing. Love is very powerful. That is why Ghalib wrote 'Atis', Tolstoy wrote 'Anna Karenina', William Goldman wrote 'The Princess Bride' and Shakespeare wrote 'Romeo-Juliet'.

According to science, whenever we are around our close and dear people, our brain produces hormones called ‘dopamine’ and ‘norepinephrine’. These hormones cause a feeling of joy, excitement and enthusiasm in people. At that moment, ‘serotonin’ (the hormone that gives a feeling of happiness) flows there and it activates the feeling of love.

My poet friend Thakur Belwase is currently in that moment, i.e., the state of serotonin hormone flow. And he wrote – A celebration of wounds. It is possible only in love – to celebrate sorrow and wounds as a festival. And, to enjoy.

My comment or reaction on Thakur’s poetry is not an easy matter. I am both a witness and a fellow traveler to his poetic work. So, Many may wonder – what can Mani honestly write about Thakur and his poetry? In a general sense, this is not a mistake. Thakur is my friend who passed away.

Poet Thakur and I have been together for the last thirty years. We are writing poetry together. We are doing various poetry-related works together. On the occasion of twenty years of our friendship, we organized a joint poetry reading meeting of the two poets under the name ‘Hami’. Later, it was called ‘Hami’ and the Lunkaran Das Sahitya Kalamandir started a series of poetry readings under the name ‘Hami’ on a monthly basis. There are many discussions and stories about our friendship in the literary circle.

For science, love is the action of ‘serotonin’ (the hormone that gives a feeling of happiness), ‘testosterone’, ‘dopamine’ (the hormone that gives a feeling of joy), and norepinephrine. And, love is essential for life to encompass the entire society with harmony. After all, being in love means following the main path of survival in nature for humans.

Most of the poems in ‘Chotharuko Utsav’ revolve around the periphery of love and life. In the poems, ‘you’ is the main character and ‘I’ is found as a supporting character. The poems here give the impression of a huge narrative. It seems that ‘you’ is a big mountain of love and the character ‘I’ is experiencing many things by moving around that mountain. Along with this, the huge mountain of love is also moving the reader.

Let us say at the beginning that Chotharuko Utsav is a collection of Thakur’s love poems. His three works have been published before – The Ceremony of Minds Around the Sea, God in Fear, Suddenly This Evening. This is a book of pure love poems.

Writing love poems means taking risks. In addition, the poet who is adept at satirizing contemporary politics, who has repeatedly advocated for people with God, is a great thing for him to prepare a separate book of love poems. However, it is not that there is no rebellion against previous ideas in it. The poet, who is eager to illuminate the various faces of love, has not lost his rebellious nature.

The poet Thakur often tells me – ‘You are an expert in matters of love and relationships.’

I laugh it off. In fact, he is no less adept at maintaining relationships with people for a long time. If we talk about public relations, he has four times more friends and well-wishers than me. He is a celebrity. At one time, his fan club was opened. I was very happy when people took out a procession in Baneshwor wearing T-shirts with Thakur's photo.

I like Thakur's poetry. The work that Thakur did more than fifty years ago to make the writer and poet known to the common people by printing posters and postcards and taking them to schools and libraries. That is a work done with great dedication for the growth of literature.

Thakur is a great admirer and well-wisher of my writing. He examines both my stories and poems very well. I am a fan of his poetry. He presents the truths and philosophies of life in fierce and terrifying words. I am also attracted by his dedication to poetry and his new craft of poetry. Thakur has gladly accepted the comments I have made on his poems before publication. We have been getting each other's feedback before releasing each book.

The funny thing is that as much as our friendship is discussed in the literary circle, we are also each other's critics. If I have been corrected in many places, it is because of Thakur. If Thakur has become better in many places, it is because of my advice and suggestions. We are both good critics of each other and have been able to correct our mistakes. This does not happen by a small amount of luck.

In writing poetry, we are both participants together. Writing poetry together at the same time. Being in the spotlight together. And moving forward together is not a small thing. Being of the same age group and writing poetry at the same time, there is an incredible competition between us. But I will not win over him. He does not seek victory over me. We are more happy with each other's success than ourselves.

His and my style of writing poetry are different. We laugh a lot if we have to 'roast' each other. But we do not stop fighting with anyone for the sake of each other's respect. We will not tolerate anyone insulting Thakur in front of me and me in front of Thakur. We will immediately retaliate. I said at the beginning, there are many anecdotes of Thakur and my friendship. We will write about it later in some context. Right now, I will write about poet Thakur's new book, The Celebration of Wounds.

This book, which was prepared to be published ten years ago, has just been released in the market. If it had been printed at that time, the name of this book would have been ‘Sapna Karki Ma Khushi Chu’. At that time, Thakur was confused by the irregularities of love. His career was plagued by the attraction and repulsion of love, but he had to move forward with strength. The philosophy and volume of love poems written at around fifty years of age cannot be weak, but we have to be strict about how the reader receives them.

There are some lively poems in it. Those lively poems, full of life philosophy written in the form of love, make readers of all age groups serious, not only those who are facing the latter half of their lives.

This happens to everyone in times of sorrow.

As it has happened to you.

Even a withered leaf in sorrow chases away

One does not trust one's own face.

(Opno Manche, p.29)

So, in this book, there is a poem called ‘I want to prove that I love you’. In which the poet urges to buy every item of material comfort and claims that he loves you, wanting to win your trust. But what these experienced poets forget here is that for love, not material things, but the joy of the heart is enough. And that cannot be obtained from external things.

My beloved,

Think of your needs as others.

I want to prove that I love you

And walk to find the vast form of love.

How can he say that he does not understand? Rather, I think that poet Thakur has written about the increasing desire for material comfort in the name of love and the suffering that prevails in it! Or is the poet really searching for the vast form of love?

Thakur is known as a great poet in contemporary Nepali poetry writing. He uses poetry to touch the reader's innermost feelings. He makes the mind agitated. He makes the body tense. What does a person not experience while living life? A person becomes lonely in the dreams he has seen. How many dreams and desires add to sadness. Life makes it burdensome. Sorrow and pain come from his own people in life. The happiness he gets at that time is different when he moves forward with his own confidence amidst a thousand deprivations. What is interesting is that a friend has written a poem on my creation.