When Sadness Barks: A Poignant Conversation on Voice, Home, and Resistance in Nepalese Poetry
Participants:
Interviewer: Emmanuel Chimezie (Nigeria)
Guest: Author Til Kumari (Nepal)
Opening Segment
Emmanuel Chimezie (Interviewer):
Good day, esteemed poetess. It is a great honor to have you here. Today’s conversation, “When Sadness Barks,” seeks to explore the depth of poetry as a vessel for truth, pain, and transformation within the Nepalese context.
Til Kumari (Guest):
I deeply appreciate you for giving me the opportunity and honour the audience for this great opportunity.
Question 1:
As a Nepalese poetess, how do you give voice to marginalized communities whose stories are often overlooked?
Author Til Kumari:
As Nepalese poetess, I inspire marginalized communities to open their sounds against injustice. I write about their problems and suggest bringing solutions with intellectual discussion. I write their hidden stories to bring solutions.
Question 2:
In cities like Kathmandu, where many struggle with displacement and rising costs of living, how do you explore the idea of “home” in your poetry?
Author Til Kumari:
Yes, I feel homeless in Kathmandu because I am in rent. Though it is expensive and the home owner frequently threatens me/us even I am honest in payment of rent and the home owner does not respect me as she or he orders to do whatever she/ he likes. The homeowner threatens me to leave the home when I react for justice. In that situation I revolted against the homeowner through writing. I explore my home in the art of writing that is more eternal than their cemented home. Their materialistic home is perishable. My artistic home is alive even in the grave. I explore my eternal home in this way.
Question 3:
How do you transform the pain of economic hardship, natural disasters, or social challenges into meaningful poetry?
Author Til Kumari:
Yes, the artist of wisdom never walks in the wrong and unethical direction. When any problems appear, he or she shares in the writing and takes relief. I also take relief to finish my tension by writing and sharing pain in the art of originality. When tension and complexity appear I start to create poetry and heal my mind.
Question 4:
In times when trust in institutions is fragile, what role does your poetry play in speaking truth, preserving culture, or inspiring hope?
Author Til Kumari:
When trust is not in any institution, then I explode that deception of any institution in my artistic writing and secure my ethics and bring hope to survive with artistic words. That survival is cultural and national identification.
Question 5:
Do you believe poetry in Nepal today can challenge societal norms and spark meaningful change?
Author Til Kumari:
Nepal today cannot be changed with poetry because politics is the dominant factor to affect the country. The people of Nepal do not read poetry even in school and colleges. They focus on politics and only course books. So I did not see affected people much with the poetic voice in Nepal. But I think poetry is the supreme leader to change social status.
Closing Segment
Emmanuel Chimezie:
Thank you for your profound insights. Your voice not only reflects the realities of Nepal but also reminds us of poetry’s enduring power to confront, heal, and transform.
Til Kumari (Closing Remarks):
Thank you for this opportunity.
To every poet and every listener, I say this: even when your voice feels small, do not silence it. Pain, injustice, and struggle must be spoken, and poetry is one of the strongest ways to speak them.
The world may ignore poetry today, but poetry does not die. It waits, it lives, and it returns in the hearts of people when they need truth the most.
Let your words stand, even when no one seems to hear. One day, they will speak louder than silence.