The Nepal Weekly 
October 3, 2023
By Pratima Sapkota
‘Shunya ko Mulya’ Saas Sahas ra Sneha ko Katha is a creative non-narrative story written by Dr. Nawaraj KC. Born in Surkhet, he is a pediatrician by profession. This is the first work of Dr. KC who saw the story of the courage and love of mother while working in the remote area of Karnali. The book presents the stories of five mothers namely ‘Budheki Fupuaama’, ‘Buwa lai chithi’, ‘Bhedini Kanchi’, ‘Mritu pachi ko jiban’ and ‘Putli Aama’. At the very beginning of the book, the author has presented a compelling argument to arouse interest about the ‘ Sunyeko Mulye, in which 17 goals related to sustainable development of the United Nations are presented.
The 243-page of book begins with Budheki ‘Fupuaama’ and ends with ‘Putli Aama’. One story is mixed with other stories. Bhedeni Kanchi’s struggle to save her son, the letter written by the unborn child to her husband, the mother sucking her milk to the dead child out of love for the child, is heart-touching. While reading the description of Karnali’s health condition, I was struck from time to time, and some of the stories coincided with his own life, which encouraged me to read further book. The courage of Budhe’s Fupuaama is very inspring and struggle of exchanging one pen and copy by Budhe and his sister story made me little bit emotional. The story of Karkini Bajjay, who lost one of her eyes when her husband beat her, and gave birth to a dead child when her husband kicked her in the stomach during pregnancy, is truly touching. Similarly, the book mentions the story of a mother who brought her son to the hospital after realizing that she had to live apart from society and could not spend time with her children due to the sound of a cat. It is explained about the bitter reality in Karnali where a child with serious health problems was taken from Humla to the city by helicopter and ten sheep had to be sold for treatment.
In the book, the doctor has given a clear picture of how a doctor should treat a difficult place like Karnali from the role of a doctor. He is devoted to his profession and his social service is also commendable. The doctor is happy to provide educational materials to the school children who are studying due to lack of pen and paper. Dr. KC has also discussed about the statistics of different countries in the middle of the story. Because of this, I got information about other countries while reading the book.
Similarly, the line diagram of the return rate of investment in human capital, which was explained by Dr. teacher Mishra Sir during his studies at the university, is also shown in the book. The book also mentions the reference of Romania about the determination of human nature along with the development of neurons.
Although all the stories in the book are beautiful, the sub-stories within some stories make it difficult for the reader to understand the main story. In some places, the sentences are very sweet and in some places, the sentences make reader lazy. In the same way, it is difficult for the reader to know the character of Bhedini Kanchi, Putli Aama, Budhe, Himmat Bahadur and others who are the main characters in various stories. While studying the work as a whole, the struggle of mothers living in and around Karnali and the bitter references of life and the contribution made by doctors in that field has been present in the Book.
