Nepal’s Silent Mirror
Interview by Emmanuel Chimezie with Binod Dawadi (Nepal)
In this conversation, Emmanuel Chimezie speaks with Nepali poet Binod Dawadi about poetry, identity, migration, and the changing realities of Nepal.
Question 1
In a country where remittances and foreign labour shape family survival, do you see poetry as something that exists alongside economic struggle—or something that is quietly erased by it?
Binod Dawadi:
Poetry can exist alongside economic struggles because everyone loves poetry. Everyone wants to earn from poetry. Poetry gives happiness; poetry ends wars.
Question 2
Millions of Nepalese bodies live abroad as workers while their identities remain at home. Do you think Nepali poetry has truly processed this “exported human condition,” or is it still emotionally behind reality?
Binod Dawadi:
Nepali poetry has truly processed this exported human condition because we can see the poem of Laxmi Prasad Devkota, which reflects the harsh reality of life and death.
Question 3
Nepal carries deep linguistic layering (Nepali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Tamang, etc.). Do you think writing poetry in dominant language unintentionally preserves inequality by deciding whose pain becomes “literature”?
Binod Dawadi:
Writing in many languages preserves their culture and tradition. There can be multiple voices and multiple interpretations.
Question 4
Has Nepali poetry romanticized hardship—poverty, mountains, endurance—to the point where suffering becomes aesthetic rather than something to be dismantled?
Binod Dawadi:
Nepali poetry praises natural resources as well as connects them with life. So, suffering becomes aesthetic rather than something to be dismantled.
Question 5
Even in modern Nepal, caste memory still operates socially in subtle forms. Do you think poets are truly confronting this system, or is it being quietly avoided in contemporary literary circles?
Binod Dawadi:
Nepal is a country of many castes, and they have their own values and disciplines. They all have moral lessons. Poets are not discriminated in the voices they bring and speak.
Question 6
The Himalayas are often written as beauty and pride, but do you think they also function as psychological pressure—symbolizing isolation, hardship, and unreachable aspiration in Nepali identity?
Binod Dawadi:
The Himalayas are often written as beauty and pride. Nepali people are brave Gorkhalis who fought with the British to save Nepal. Mountains are their pride. Mountains can also be connected with isolation, hardship, and unreachable aspiration. Nepali people climb Mount Everest too, to show Nepali identity. Here are beautiful natural resources.
Question 7
Nepal is deeply spiritual, yet socially unequal. In your poetry, do you find spirituality healing social injustice, or sometimes masking it with acceptance and patience?
Binod Dawadi:
In my poetry, I try to give voices to voiceless people. Language is used to give justice to people.
Question 8
Urban Nepali literature is increasingly visible globally. Do you think rural Nepal—the majority lived experience—has been fully translated into poetry, or is it still largely undocumented emotionally?
Binod Dawadi:
Some rural and urban Nepali literature is presented in Nepal Studies. There, we can read different poets’ poems and writings in Nepali and English languages. In this way, lived experience has been fully translated into poetry.
Question 9
Do you ever question whether poets, by observing and writing about suffering instead of directly acting within it, become part of a passive cultural system that watches pain instead of changing it?
Binod Dawadi:
Writing can be brought into poetry recitation and dramas to connect life and life experiences. Knowledge can't be passive; it is active to change the life of people.
Question 10
With rapid migration, digital influence, and cultural blending, do you think Nepali identity is evolving—or slowly dissolving—and what role should poetry play in documenting that transformation before it disappears or fully changes?
Binod Dawadi:
The role poetry should play in documenting that transformation before it disappears or fully changes—culture and tradition are slowly changing in Nepal because this is a modern world, and in modern times the internet is there to change lifestyles. Poetry should bring voices of different people, their problems, and how to solve their problems in a modern world. Voiceless voices—poetry should be there to solve problems. Poetry should be there.