Embassy of India in Kathmandu and B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation organized the 8th edition of CONVERSATIONS, a B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation initiative held at Nepal-Bharat Library on Friday, August 30th, 2013. On its eighth edition, CONVERSATIONS brought together two eminent literary personalities, Sharada Sharma and Dr. Ramesh Dhungel.

Dr. Ramesh Dhungel introduced Sharada Sharma and started the event recalling Sharma’s initial days of her literary career. “It is interesting how a student of Science, pursuing to become a medical doctor ended up scribbling poems and stories in her note books. That is how Sharada Sharma started her literary journey,” shared Dr. Dhungel.

The discussion between the two mainly focused on Sharma’s recently released novel “Taap”. Dr. Dhungel brought out the excerpts of Taap and brought forward the critical analysis of the novel and requested Sharma to share her journey with Taap and why she chose to pen a novel despite already being an established poet, a critic and a novelist.

“A novel is a way to peek at one’s life through a larger canvas,” explained author Sharma and added, “Every genre of literature – be it poetry, monologues, travelogues, essay or story-writing, each of them have their own constraints. Having used my pen in all of those, it was time for me to begin writing a novel.”

Dr. Dhungel further enunciated how Taap has creatively justified all its characters and has brought together diverse perspectives of Buddhism.

The program concluded with lively discussion between the speakers and the audience.