The Lives We Have Lost: Essays and Opinions on Nepal

by Manjushree Thapa

The Constituent Assembly of Nepal, in its very first meeting, abolished the monarchy in May 2008. After that watershed event, however, the way forward has been stalled by vexing questions. How is power in such a fractious polity to be shared? Which form of governance is best suited to the country: republicanism? federalism? How are the excesses of the decade-long civil war to be reckoned? How is the People’s Liberation Army to be integrated with the Nepal Army? To what extent should neighbours be allowed to interfere in the internal politics of the nation? And why is it that the Constituent Assembly, years after it was elected, cannot draft a Constitution that is acceptable to all? In The Lives We Have Lost, Manjushree Thapa asks these vital questions, and many others. And, in seeking answers, finds the nation still muddling its way from crisis to crisis, in desperate search of a centre that will hold.This revised and updated edition of The Lives We Have Lost brings the account of contemporary Nepal narrated in Forget Kathmandu up to the present day. A clear-sighted, relevant chronicle, it spans many important events: the Maobadis’s People’s War, King Gyanendra’s coup, his overthrow, the launch of a peace process and the—glacially slow—process of writing a new Constitution and re-fashioning the nation. Manjushree Thapa is a very well-known as one of South Asia’s most sensitive, sophisticated and politically engaged authors. Manjushree Thapa’s body of work, fiction and non-fiction, has created its own, significant, space in South Asian literature. The Lives We Have Lost, and other books in Manjushree Thapa’s backlist, has been attractively repackaged and refreshed by Aleph Book Company. A brand-new novel by the author, All of Us in Our Own Lives, is forthcoming from Aleph Book Company.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Manjushree Thapa is a Nepali writer.
She grew up in Nepal, Canada and the USA. She began to write upon completing her BFA in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her first book was Mustang Bhot in Fragments (1992). In 2001 she published the novel The Tutor of History, which she had begun as her MFA thesis in the creative writing program at the University of Washington. Her best known book is Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Democracy (2005), published just weeks before the royal coup in Nepal on 1 February 2005. The book was shortlisted for the Lettre Ulysses Award in 2006.[3] After the publication of the book, Thapa left the country to write against the coup. In 2007 she published a short story collection, Tilled Earth. In 2009 she published a biography of a Nepali environmentalist: 'A Boy from Siklis: The Life and Times of Chandra Gurung.' The following year she published a novel, 'Seasons of Flight.' In 2011 she published a nonfiction collection, 'The Lives We Have Lost: Essays and Opinions on Nepal.' She has also written as an op-ed contributor to the New York Times.[4][5]
During the fall and winter of 2011, she was writer-in-residence at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

"One moment you are an individual: your ego is armoured by the persona you have constructed, by who you think you are. The next minute you are reduced to an animal scrounging for safety, for survival. There is a humiliation in that."

From the essay "Out of Love, Silence" from the collection THE LIVES WE HAVE LOST: Essays and Opinions on Nepal by Manjushree Thapa, 2013 revised edition.

Thapa's book combines personal essays, as well as international reportage on the political and civil unrest in #Nepal following the 2001 massacre of the royal family, and the subsequent power grabs, factions, and splintering of the government until (finally) a 2008 republic is established, and only in 2015 a constitution ratified.
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In one of the most impactful essays, quoted above, she describes her physical assault by a policeman at a protest rally in 2004. Beat and bleeding herself, she sees the police (who she later learns were paid off by a Maoist faction working with the monarchy) beat numerous citizens on the streets of Kathmandu. In this essay, she also describes the fractured political relationships in her own family, as her father was a Cabinet member, and she was actively protesting, and writing op-eds against the government he worked under.

This book sent me to do further research *many* times. Unfortunately my knowledge of Nepal was pretty limited, largely based on some stories from Nepali friends I've made in the US, and a book of (great) short stories I read years ago, and its location and geography. So, I learned a lot from Thapa's essays.

Another (very) enlightening discussion thread throughout the book is the relationship between Nepal and its superpower neighbors, India and China. Truly sandwiched between these two huge countries, yet high in the Himalayas, Nepal has a fascinating history (never was colonized!).

The book includes dozens of articles, written in the fractious 2000s, were published in newspapers all over the world in English-speaking media. Thapa has also written several other books, including short stories and a novel, as well as translated some Nepali literature. Will definitely check out more of her work.

[Prabhas Pokharel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of stories and essays that the author wrote at various times during the latter end of the civil war in Nepal and the reconstruction phase, intermixed with some narrative and autobiography. Because it is written over time, it gives a great sense of the time as it passes, as experienced by someone involved in the events, someone affected, someone who observed them deeply. It is a great history book in that sense, the rare glimpse into recent history of a country as interesting as Nepal.
Thapa is clearly a gifted writer, and her narrative / autobiography mixes well with what she dubs as her "activist writing". She is decidedly democratic, anti-monarchy, and constantly beats the drum about those who suffered through the war, for whom there has been no substantial 'reconciliation' process at all. For someone who follows the author, she also does a good job of disclosing her background, as a way of explaining her perspective, which helps create an even richer understanding of the situation.
Highly recommended

[Laura Faludi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crash course on Nepali lit. vol 2.5 or rather on Nepali history of the recent, immensely turbulent past. Very informative, I liked the idea of the personal angle although the execution was less admirable...

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thapa offers us amazing insight into the political world of Nepal. As a visitor, I got a sense of frustration with politics, but I was also surprised how few tourists knew about the recent political turmoil.

This book captures the horror, confusion, uncertainty and disillusionment that came alongside the civil war and resulting democratic revolution. As a series of essays, it tracks a dramatic emotional trajectory, and Thapa's talent as a fiction writer helps this collection feel like a cohesive narrative.

Thapa also offers us a rare glimpse into the world of the Kathmandu cultural, political, and intellectual elite. It's a world that sometimes seems nonexistent on the streets of Kathmandu. Perhaps the only criticism I have is that this perspective limits our insight into the majority of lives in Nepal. For better or worse, this should be mandatory reading for visitors to Nepal. It gave me amazing context that affected my whole trip!