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Discovering exciting new worlds
Bimal Kumar Phnuyal is the country director of ActionAid International Nepal.Bimal Kumar Phnuyal is the country director of ActionAid International Nepal. He has worked in the field of development for the past 30 years. He has also worked as a visiting fellow at the University of Leeds and at the Institute of Development Studies in the University of Sussex. The Post’s Amir Maharjan caught up with Phnuyal and talked about his love for books. Excerpts:
How did you first come to love books?
I got into reading and writing pretty early in life, when I was still a little kid. During that time, every book was considered a blessing from ‘Sarswoti Mata’. I think that helped me as a reader. And when I grew older, the way I read books changed. I discovered exciting new worlds within books, where the characters began to feel like friends.
What was the last book you read and how did you like it?
I just finished reading this book titled Depoliticizing Development, by John Harris. And I loved it for it provides a lucid account of a very pertinent subject: social capital. It is a well-researched and well-argued book. The writer has explored the World Bank’s technocratic version of social capital.
Which book do you want to read next and why?
I recently bought The Economics of Inequality and am planning to read it soon. This is the latest book by the contemporary French economist Thomas Piketty,
who has been a leading voice on issues of inequality, capital formation and unjust wealth distribution. Having read a couple of reviews—both for and against the book—I have decided to read it.
What is your favourite genre and why?
I mostly read books that are related with disciplines like politics, economy, sociology, development studies and international relations. On top of that, I read selected journals written on issues such as various social movements, democracy, feminism and also on climate and environmental issues.
How do you select books to read?
In general, I select books according to the context of my professional work. For example, I recently read an anthology of selected Harvard Business Review articles on leadership, which is not my usual genre but is applicable to my work. Friends and colleagues also influence me a lot while selecting books. I also refer to book reviews.
Name a book that you would or would not recommend, and why?
I would like to recommend ReORIENT: Global Economy in the Asian Age, written by Andre Gunder Frank to Nepali politicians, bureaucrats, academics, journalists and activists.
For the reason that Frank has presented an updated reassessment of the global economy and has convincingly put forward its future course, which he figures will be led by Asian economies.
What is good writing to you? What would you say makes a good writer?
While reading a good book, I feel like I am engaged in a dialogue with the writer. Good writing helps you reflect on yourself.
Apart from books on social sciences, how have other books affected your life?
I have read both Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography and Karl Marx’s The German Ideology several times in the last thirty two years. I disagree with Gandhi on many issues, including his experiment of ‘Brahmacharya’ — sleeping beside several young, naked girls to test his self-restraint. But his concept of Satyagraha and his way of telling his stories have always inspired me. As for Marx, he has amazingly clarified the distinctions between the ‘philosophical liberation’ and the ‘real liberation’ of human beings in his small booklet. This has given me great insight into the importance of history and the necessity of creating the right conditions for the real liberation of human beings.
Feminist writers such as Simone de Beauvoir, Kumari Jayawardena and Bell Hooks were crucial for the development of my feminist perspective. Amartya Sen’s book Identity and Violence has developed my understanding of identities in society. Devkota’s poems, Parijat’s novels and Hridayachnadra Singh Pradhan’s writings gave me an understanding of the social dynamics in our society, and their visions for the future of Nepal inspired me during my youth.
One book that inspired you a lot, and why?
It is very difficult for me to name only one, but Paulo Freire’s books on education have inspired me a lot. Freire talks about education for liberation and education for humanisation through the liberating process of learning and teaching. I am inspired by his real-life practices as an educator — he always tried to walk the talk. His books are true accounts of his own life — atypical of your average academic or pundit.
Your advice for general readers?
I feel that reflecting on a book upon its completion is an essential part of the book-reading experience. On top of that, readers should reflect on themselves after reading books. In Nepal, readers should launch campaigns to form readers’ collectives. By developing this culture of reading, we can become a learning society and build a knowledge-based national economy.
Anything else on books and reading that you want to add?
Books are living things. They are written by conscious living people and are read by living people. Books can help us address inequalities, eradicate poverty and build a just, democratic and prosperous society. We should develop a culture of reading and critiquing books. By creating a positive environment for Nepali writers, we can produce good books which will attract a global readership.