Kathmandu: Cracks in the Wind: Memoirs from Lumbini, an autobiographical novel written by Dr Arun Gupto, was launched in Kathmandu on June 21.
Dr Gupto, founding member and Academic Director of the Institute of Advanced Communication, Education and Research (IACER), Kathmandu, had served as the professor of English at Tribhuvan University for a long time.
Set in the village of Bahadurganj, within Kapilvastu, Lumbini region of Nepal, Cracks in the Wind unfolds through the eyes of Onu, the first-person narrator who recalls the tales of his past. Central to his memory is Rahmat, a philosophical neighbour who makes wind-spinners for the village children by day and serves as an undertaker by night. Rahmat’s profound outlook on life leads Onu to regard him as a mentor and he often shadows him on his expeditions across the village plains. Onu perceives the capacious land of Buddha as a realm of elemental profusion, defined by the winds blowing between the icy Himalayan peaks to the north and the great Ganga to the south.
The book was unveiled by Mr Bishnu Sapkota, Dr Sanjeev Uprety and Dr Gupto in the presence of university professors, academics and students. Commenting on the book, Mr Sapkota described Cracks in the Wind as ‘Arun Gupto’s Code,’ drawing parallel with Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Dr Sanjeev Uprety and Dr Gupto held candid conversation on theme, background and characters of the novel.
Dr Gupto is also the author of Seasons of the Divine (2024), Literary Theory and Criticism: Recent Writings from South Asia (2021), Goddesses of Kathmandu Valley: Grace, Rage, Knowledge (2018), among others.
