'LU' a Novel of Soil

“LU”, a novel on the lives of unfortunate people living in the border area of the south- west part of Nepal, is written by Nayanraj Pandey. This novel has garlanded varieties of characters mostly from Patharapura village situated in the southern part of Nepalganj. It has presented the pathetic lives of the people who have been constantly raped, demoralized and subjugated by the Indian police with the support of Nepali politicians (traitors). It also portrayed how the violence has been instigated in the name of religion, and how Nepalese land has been captured by shifting pillars at night. Yet, religious tolerance, inclusiveness, and variety of love experiences are oasis in the desert.   

Ilaiya , the only son of Nandu, is declared death at the beginning of the novel by Radiolal with a great hesitation. According to him, Ilaiya jumped into the water at Rapti River to capture the so called ghost which has engulfed the lives of many villagers. Unfortunately, he didn’t come out of the water after being submerged for long. Then, Radiolal  thought that Iliaya had died. So,  he went to home but hesitated to tell the truth at first.

 As all the villagers are sure of his death, they organize a funeral and also give the mourning feast. At the same moment, Iliaya appears like a ghost which frightens the people. Herdei, the mother of Iliaya becomes happy with the return of his son and so is Nandu. Iliaya grows up with all evil traits such as running away from school, leaving home for many days without information, having tobacco, doing stupid activities in the village etc. Radiolal, Bajarangi and Iliaya wander aimlessly talking about Hindi cinema and their hero and heroine. Looking his activities, Nandu and Herdei  are broken. One day, Ilaiya watches a movie which demonstrates the love between mother and son. After watching the film, his heart gets melted soon with the love of his mother. Then, with the money he has stolen from his father’s pocket, he buys a Kumkum tikka for his mother and goes home. When he reaches home, he sees his mother dead. He later comes to know that she has been stung by a snake in the jungle.

After few days, Nandu gets married with another woman from another village who is known as prostitute. In fact, she was sold by her parents in a circus where the circus owners raped her time and again. Ilaiya gets angry with his father and even attacks him with knife. Then, Namdu leaves the house and goes to another village with his new wife. Ilaiya falls in love with a muslim girl named Nusarat. But, it is one sided. He has given up some bad habits to impress her. One day, an unidentified person rapes her. As a result her faience breaks up with her. Despite the fact that she has been raped, Ilaiya all the time dreams of taking her to the heaven riding on a winged horse. Each time he determines to express his love, he gets paralyzed in front of her. Later he comes to know that she hates him and loves another boy Karim. This news infuriates him. He goes to Karim’s house and breaks his nose. He also asks 50 rupees that he has lent him earlier. Karim sells his pot and returns his money. When Ilaiya  comes to know this, he cries  for long. One day the Muslim houses are burned down by the so called Hindus from India. But the villagers blame him. At last, Nusarat elopes with Karim riding on a new cycle which Ilaiya has bought for him selling all the ornaments of his mother.

The above paragraph tells us only about Ilaiya and some characters related to his life. There are many other characters like Radiolal, Kabita,Tute Pandit, Chandu, Hasnu, Durgi, Chameli,Gobari, Brijlal, Salim, Amarpal Singh, Daya Singh etc. who represent the different aspects of the society. Amarpal Singh is an Indian police who terrors the Chandanpur village. Sambhuram involves in the rape of Nusarat. Radiolal’s wife Kabita is pahadiya. She is so passionate in love who has aborted several time before marriage. Her father is a leader who finds Radiolal for his pregnant daughter. However, her beauty has enslaved him. They each time break the “khatiya” while making love.

Thus, this novel presents a detail of the lives of the Chandanpur villagers with the chutnification of local dialects, love, romance and humour.