Writer Nishprabh Saji's new novel 'Yali', which combines Nepali rural life and the diasporic pain of the Fiji Islands, has been released. The writer launched the work at a special function of the literary festival 'Bookhill Bukanza' organized in Pokhara on Saturday.

In a discussion program organized after the release, writer Saji shared his nine-year writing journey, rural memories, and experiences of migration. The dialogue with him was facilitated by writer Sarubhakta.

During the discussion, writer Sarubhakta questioned the diversity of the novel's themes. 'On the one hand, you have raised rural stories, and on the other hand, you have connected the current society from the time of Jung Bahadur, the environment of Australia, love relationships, and life in Fiji,' Sarubhakta asked, 'Didn't you feel a little uncomfortable connecting stories from different geographies and times in parallel like this?'

In response, writer Saji said that it took him nine years to write his second novel to do justice to these diverse dimensions. 'I had prepared a story even before my first work Darling Harbour was released,' he recalled, 'But after maturing as a storyteller, I thought - can I really write a fair story? When we were young, when we went to graze cattle in the river, we saw a house that was alone. The existence of that lonely house raised questions in me, and from there the seeds of ‘Yali’ were planted.’ According to

Saji, images of family separation and social change determined the form of the novel. He has captured the horror of losing the main person of the family when his father went to Hetauda to buy cement, the old custom of going to Calcutta to earn money, and the compulsion to go to an ashram in old age in the novel. ‘While living in Sydney, I saw the cold bodies and loneliness of people who were far from their families in old age,’ he said emotionally. ‘I wondered why these stories had not survived. My purpose in writing is to revive those dead stories.’

The novel also covers the sad aspects of the diasporic life and history of Nepalis living in Fiji. The story of Nepali workers who were taken to Calcutta for sugarcane cultivation and sugar production in Fiji is an important part of it.

Praising the novel, Sarubhakta said, “The difficult two-three-month journey from Calcutta to sugarcane cultivation by ship, the outbreak of cholera on the way, and the heartbreaking story of the oppressed have come across very poignantly in the novel.” Saji added, “The story of cheap labor and the sweat of the Nepalis at that time was complex. Despite the epidemic, I have tried to deepen this story by mixing my personal difficulties and family experiences.”