The modern world is full of paradoxes, dichotomies and ambiguities, each tugging at another from all sides, sparing a collapse through an equilibrium. We are faced with conflicting realities every day: man versus nature, science versus soul. Ideas distanced only by choice are pitted against each other as with socialism and capitalism. Two faiths clash without objective distinction.

Man has tamed every resource of the earth—living and non-living—to serve its selfish motives. In the process, trees are chopped indiscriminately, animals slaughtered cruelly, rivers encroached upon shamelessly, and minerals fed to factories without care for tomorrow or the upcoming generation.

People succumb to the zeal to establish the hegemony of one race, one nation and one religion at the cost of rival entities. An arms race goes on. In the din of supersonic speed, there is no solace for the heart. In the chase, ethics are tossed away. Sciences are taught and learnt but songs of prayer find no melody.

In the book The Age of an Edge, Mitra Prasad Uprety presents his restlessness at this mirage. With the voice of one who has lived amidst these inconsistencies, the essayist and poet ruminates upon the past, present and the future of his foresight.

In the essay titled Dilemma in Science, Uprety says “gradually but unconsciously man is replacing human values with mechanical values; unknowingly and slowly, he is slipping towards insensitivity, towards a dangerously confused mechanical, unnatural society: worldwide. In this age of high technology, when different systems meet, civilisations, technologies, organisations etc, because of super speed, they tend to clash, crack, and collapse. We see this happening today on almost all fronts of human activities.”

In the essay titled The Age of an Edge, the author argues that a village is the mother of all cities. If the village is neglected, the cities are confused and lost in the misery of misunderstanding. His expression of affinity for nature sometimes intermingles with his love for the motherland.

The author stresses that individuals, families and social structures these days are breaking under the strain of rapid change, competition and technology.

Having lived through the height of the cold war, he expresses his worry that the scientific and technological powers risk being misused by humans to serve their vested interests, at the cost of the common good of their fellow and other beings.

Scattered across his writings is his deep attachment with nature and an urgent plea for conservation. Even though he lost his eyesight due to glaucoma in 2008, he has a keen inner sight, a hard look at the human follies and a sceptic perspective of the material advancement of mankind. A yoga practitioner since early on and a lover of mountains, pastures and forests, as the book says, he blends his rich knowledge with spiritualism, with equal reverence for all of god’s creatures.

The writer demonstrates a rich knowledge of world affairs, spiced up with a meditative prose in a primarily literary tone. He frequently cites classical lines, and scriptures too, to enliven his message.

In his review, the litterateur and critic Abhi Subedi finds Uprety’s essays truly reflective ruminations on diverse themes and subjects. They “do not represent a logical and coherent picture of one idea and one philosophy; instead they present different moments of realisations of significance for the writer... these essays and descriptions do not form a formidable orthodoxy of opinion; instead, they give room for readers of diverse backgrounds to enter and become part of the discursive universe and find their own meanings there.” Prof Subedi describes Uprety’s poems as lyrical versions of philosophical and empirical findings. “His poetry touches on the public and private spheres of his life, and of the world that he sees around him” through the use of rhythm, melodious effect and harmony.

Anand Aditya, another critic writes: “Probing the promises and premises of his land with the nostalgia of a structuralist who knows well enough what he is talking about and why, the author tries to unveil not just the follies and foibles that the mania of mechanics has brought—a science devoid of conscience, passion sans compassion, and commissions without an iota of mission—but also warning against the crises and catastrophes they could possibly invite.”

The book has three parts: the first  is the main section of 12 essays; the second part consists of 42 poems; and the third part comprises 28 reflections that have been extracted from the essays.

Rather than following a particular literary technique, the writer employs a variety of expressions to discuss his diverse ideas.

Uprety aptly sumps up our modern lives: The thinking man is changing into the ‘thinging man’ as more and more things come between man and man, between man and the real world. Increasingly man is experiencing life through things, he is seeing, talking and listening to other people through things—television, telephone, tape, radio and radar. ...He is progressively substituting the artificial for the natural, the virtual for the real. ...Thus man is losing touch with himself and with nature.

In his debut venture, Uprety maintains a delicate balance between spiritual meditation and humanitarian thought. The creations are fully engaging, giving the reader the satisfaction of reading texts rich in content and composition from a non-native English writer.