PIPALBOT!!!

The Campaign Pipalbot is dedicated to the Pipalbot at New road, Kathmandu. The pre and the post democracy era of 90 havebrought revolutionary changes in the scene of Nepali Literature. That was a time when the Nepali Literature tied knots to various experimental writers Like Bal Krishna Sama, Siddhi Charan Shrestha, B.P Koirala, Jagdish Ghimire, Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Madhav Prasad Ghimire Lekhnath Poudyal to name a few. It was also a time when literature shifted from Brahmins to people of other castes.

During the era of 90’s, writing was a daring job with freedom of expression controlled and curtailed by the ruling class and the regime.Pipalbot at such an instance was a hub for all those who used to write. Pipalbot was a platform that gave birth to too many newspapers, ideas, editors, writers and freedom fighters.Those people who are revered for their contribution to literature today used to meet at Pipalbot and secretly discussed about their publications, gave feedback and prepared plans to strengthen their writing and reach the mass.Thus, Pipalbot that still stands today so green and firm to its roots also stands for us as a witness of the revolution in Literature and democratic struggle in Nepal.
Alas! The tree that has safeguarded our literature and freedom is so uncared of. New road has many things to offer for us.It is the business hub of our capital city Kathmandu. The world Heritage site lies near it. But when was the last time did we ever gave a second thought to look at this tree. A tree that still looks upon us through the books of Samrat Upadhyay and Jagdish Ghimire. It seems as if even those laureates who started their writing under the shades of this tree have forgotten it, abandoned it to be an ailing spectator like the politics of today.
The Himalayan readers’Book club has therefore come up with this campaign to raise awareness for the conservation and preservation of this national heritage and act for the cause. Today this is our campaign but with time we believe that this becomes the campaign of every person who loves Nepali Language and literature.

Sudeep Bartaula
Himalayan Readers’ Book Club