"The Door is Still Open" 

It's an old tradition of telling & listening to the stories in the human communities throughout the world. When the language didn't have script & even today languages, which don't have their script, exist the similar tradition. Perhaps, the stories began in the human communities of primitive age along with the description of haunting, misfortunes and events & accidents of similar types. No doubt, in the beginning of human civilization people wouldn't speak in verse. Evidently, prose developed prior to verse. However, as instinctual lover of beauty & sentiment, men began to enjoy language. Decorating them with verbal idioms to meet their thirst. Eventually, the verse was born. It could only be done by a few people (writers). The verse became popular among them very soon. It got popularity because an event could be narrated in rhythm. The verse was more appropriate and effective way of keeping events in memory since it was impossible to keep the written records of languages in those days. The verse overtook the prose within a short period of time. So, the veda, Puran & the records of sounds came to exist in the form of verse that can be traced vividly even in the primitive languages.

It has been a trend of telling & listening to the stories since the origin of Nepali languages. It has been a matter of an investigation how written Nepali story was described in the very by gone days. What ever the examples are in our eyes, haven't been sufficient to reach conclusion. Perhaps the fact will be found in the days ahead.

Any way, if we look back to the historical incidents, the genre of story came into existence as prose literature after a long time. Not only Nepali, the modern trend of writing story even in Indian sub-continents is supposed to be the influences of English & other western languages.

The trend of story telling & writing had already been established & developed in western countries before it began in Nepal. According to the literary intellectuals, the period of the modern story in Nepal begins from the 'Deviko Bali' (Sacrifice of the Goddess) by Surya Vikram Gyawali & it has been successful to lead the genre of prose literature to its best. It's so because life & the world have grown complex day by day. Conservative assumptions have been failed & new ones have taken place in the minds of new generation gradually. There is a tremendous duel in human minds for newness. It's impossible to sing complicated & harsh aspects of life as the poetry in the past did. At the same time, the story ran with the prosaic atmosphere. Today, the majority of people are inclined to the genre of story than to poetry to begin their literary career. With such an atmosphere people are hustling to overtake each other in the field of literature, has proved to be a plus point in the improvement of story as a literary genre.

We can really be optimist because of the rapid improvement in the field of literary story. 

Sudha Basnet, prominently, a storywriter, has also appeared as twinkling star under the roof of literary sky.

She is one of the new geniuses in the field of literary story, appeared since few years back. Her stories have frequently been published in some renowned literary magazines of Nepal. Now, she has come to stand in front of the readers with the collection of her stores in the book 'The Door is Still Open.' This has been an added digest to the lovers of literature, and the intellectual critics have got a reliable way of understanding the techniques of her writing. 

The book 'The Door is Still Open" comprises the stories published in the magazines & newspapers during recent past. It's better to mention few lines about all the fourteen stories collected in this book. We know her writing techniques, varieties in subjects, presentation and style if we are able to draw brief sketches of her stores. It's practical to lay watchful eyes on the works of new geniuses since the future of the literature is in their hands.

The first story of this book 'Maternity' was published in the magazine 'Garima' The plot of the story goes- A girl marries with the husband of her elder sister after the death of her sister. She tries to make a good man to her sister's son but unfortunately she has to leave her house by being blamed as an unkind stepmother. Eventually the stepson is suffered from his misdeeds upon his stepmother and is victimized of self-humiliation. The presentation is simple, sentimental & heart touching.


The second story 'Orderly' was published in 'Bimochan'. The story precedes a man longing to join in soldier goes to city from his village. Gradually, he changes his feelings & returns to his own village with the strong determination to serve the country working in his own birthplace (village). The story ends with his determination. The style of the story is descriptive, simple & is combination of feelings & ideal.

Third story 'Immortal' is unpublished. The story reads like- A revolutionary Bire is a students' leader. He is killed in a revolution for people. His wife Sushila promises to stand herself as a social worker with the determination of completing her husband's campaign. Sabita, the elder sister of Bire, puts Tika in his photograph thinking him immortal.

The fourth story 'Dispersed Paces' was published in the newspaper 'Kantipur'. In the story, there is a character –I. She was born by a very simple woman in a rural area. When the character 'I' comes in the full length of her age, she enjoys her life as a prostitute, earns unexpected money. She forgets her life with her youth & luxuries. Eventually she comes to realize that she is spoiling her life. After anguishing experience of materialistic luxuries, she wants to pass the conjugal life with Yogesh who is her friend in her childhood. But Yogesh ignores her proposal by knowing her dirty performances in the preceding days.

The fifth story 'Employment' was published in the magazine 'Madhupark'. It portraits the life of the middle class family. The story is simple as well as ideal.

The sixth story 'The Door is Still Open' was published in the magazine 'Mirmire.' The name of the anthology is given by the very title of this story. The story reads- A husband goes to join a in soldier immediately after marriage. The wife waits for 60 years opening the door for her husband for he had written her to wait, he would come one day. So it is a very pathetic story of a rural old woman. The story is descriptive, simple and realistic.


The seventh story 'Spiritual Happiness' is an unpublished one. The story is a comparative analysis between two families- rich & poor. The story explicitly presents the satisfaction of poor & dissatisfaction of rich. It concludes with the message that the contentment is the one and all sources to achieve spiritual happiness even in the lives of the poor.

The eighth story 'In Quest of Light' was published in the magazine 'Ratnashree.' The story is an expression of love, help & compassion of a family towards a young boy of the family.

The ninth story 'Living Corpse' was unpublished before. Shekhar, a young boy from a village, comes to a city, leaving his old mother. He has a dream of luxurious life in the city. He turns to be a drug-addict in the span of five years of his city life. He returns to his village after five years being an addict. His old mother dies of heart attack by the cause of her only one son's addiction & the situation under it. He himself becomes a living corpse because he has no ways to get drugs for him.

The tenth Sentimental Love' was also unpublished before. This is a story between a helpless boy Ram Bahadur whose house & land have been flooded and Sharad, a rich scout boy, who was involved in rehabilitation campaign. The story presents the emotional love in sentimental mood between Ram Bahadur, a poor and Sharad, a rich boy.

The eleventh, 'True Love' was published in the magazine 'Garima.' The story 'True Love' is a regret of a couple who once have inclined much to the pleasurable western culture. But they return to Nepal because of the love of eastern culture, love of Nepal and more the sickness of western culture.

The twelfth 'Silent Grief' was published in the magazine ' Anamika'. This is a story of an unexpressed love between a dumb boy who is dumb since the age of 10 years and his girl friend from the childhood. This is an interrelated and unexpressed heart touching love story.


The thirteenth story 'Compulsion' was published in the magazine 'Mirmire.' In the story, Santa Bahadur, a laborious & self-dependent boy whose not only house but also all family have been swept by the landslide. He has become lame. He can't go to beg door to door because of his self-esteem nature. Neither he gets work because of his disability. So this is the pathetic story between self-dependence and self-esteem.

The Fourteenth & the last story is 'A Guilt complex' was published in the magazine 'Smriti'. Samir, from a middle class family turns to be a drunkard what leads his family under a great economic crisis. Finally, Samir comes in conscious life and regrets for his past. 

Analyzing the book collectively, the stories it comprises have some specialties, as it is simple in style, penetrating to its purposes, realistic heart touching, pathetic as well as incentive. The language in the story is in local dialect, in the form of every day's dialogue. 

Translated By,