The Telegram on the Table

                                                                                        Parashu Pradhan, Nepal (1943 - )

Summary in English

"The Telegram on the Table" is a most popular story written by Parashu Pradhan. The major character of the story is Krishna. This story makes a satire to those Nepalese youths who dream of the foreign land but forget and ignore their own motherland. In addition, this story centers on complex.

Krishna was born in the remote village of Nepal. After completing his school education, he comes to Kathmandu to fulfill his colorful desire leaving his parents and the society. From the very childhood, he has a golden dream to go to America. In Kathmandu, he learns English and works as a tourist guide. After being a tourist guide, he is influenced by the western music and culture.

Krishna passes several years to take tourists to different places describing them about the culture, customs, history, religion and archaeology of Nepal. He then forgets all about his birth place, beautiful village, parents and his wife. As a hardworking man, he forgets himself with the golden dreams of foreign land, America.

Krishna runs after money in the material individual city life in Kathmandu. Neither he visits his birth place and parents nor writes or informs anything about him. One night when he is ready to go to bed, he sees a telegram on the table.

Krishna reads the message "your wife died yesterday." After reading, he throws the telegram on the table and takes rest since it is late night. He forgets it for a week. It means as he gets the information of his death wife, he does not regret nor plans to go to his house.

However, after few weeks, he remembers about his death wife. He could not sleep at night. As he thinks his present profession, he gets no relief rather his death wife always comes as a memory in his mind. He compares his present life (being alone in the city) with past life (being together with his parents, wife and society). He starts hating himself because of being cruel, individual and selfish forgetting and missing his parents, wife and birth place. He even regrets on his dream of America as the main cause to forget and ignore his family and society. At the end, being alone with full of tears in his eyes he cries a lot realizing the realistic life in the city as the full of suffering, pain, alienation and regret.