Author: Jhamak Kumari Ghimire
Original Title: जीवन काँडा कि फूल
Country: Nepal
Language: Nepali
Published: Jhamak Ghimire Sahitya Pratisthan 2010
Pages: 250 pg
Awards: Madan Puraskar
ISBN: 978-9-93-722347-8
Jiwan Kada Ki Phool is a collection of autobiographical essays written by Jhamak Kumari Ghimire where she has expressed the struggle and hardship she suffered to fulfill her desire to learn to read and write. It starts with her early memories of childhood.
Jhamak Ghimire was born with Cerebral Palsy in the year 1980, but that did not stop her from learning to read and write. She used to listen to her sister pronounce the letters and do the same silently. She used to observe how her father caught her sister's hand and taught her to write the letters in paper. She started writing with her toes from the day she first wrote "Ka" in the sands with a twig. She has narrated about the care and support she received from her grandmother contrary to the bitter way the society treated her. She has also expressed her anger towards the discrimination she faced from the society for being born physically disabled. Her silent reactions to all those bitter things the society said to her and her struggle for existence and acknowledgement after the death of her grandmother is expressed beautifully in the book. The words and sentences used are quite similar to the day-to-day language used in the villages of Nepal.
Jhamak Ghimire is compared to Hellen Keller of the West. But Ghimire, unlike Keller, belonged to a poor family in a destitute country where the parents wished their physically disabled children were rather dead than suffering. She did not receive encouragement or support form her family for learning to read and write. However, she proved herself as one of the most aspiring and promising Nepali authors. Although her life had always been full of struggle and hardship, it never deterred her from her desire to learn. Her determination and strong will-power resulted in giving birth to an aspiring author and one of the most inspirational books of all times.
Jiwan Kada Ki Phool is a must read book. It is an inspiring book which teaches us that if we are determined to do something and truly work hard for it, nothing is impossible. The book is a masterpiece by the author and is the most popular book of 2066-67 B.S. It has also received many awards. Most important of all, the book won her the Madan Puraskar, the most prestigious literary award in Nepal, in 2010. It has recently been translated in English as "A flower in the midst of thorns".
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