Remember when we were young and life was not yet taken over by technology. How our life revolved around small things and big imaginations. When greatest joy used to be the winter vacations every year. When we spent our days in sun running across the field and playing with friends. The days when evenings used to be our favourite time, returning home after great adventures of our own. How we used to sit close to grandma and the lucky one, usually the youngest, got to sit on her lap and she would take us to a magical journey to the land of brave princes and kind princesses, where animals spoke and demons were slayed. As soon as she used to utter, "eka desh ma…" we would be transported to the wonderful world of imagination where big lessons of life were taught in simplest ways — with a dash of magic and dollops of wise thinking.

Gone are the days of storytelling, we rather watch TV and surf internet, chose video games over folklores. Many refuse to read best-sellers as movie adaptations will follow soon. The charm of storytelling is slowly disappearing; the folklores and fables that passed through generations have no new listeners losing their importance and existence. Many children today know about Rapunzel, all thanks to Western fairytale influence and Hollywood, but how many are aware of Sun Kheshri Maiya, the beautiful princess who had golden hair? Few? Amidst this encroachment of Western influence, various games to keep children occupied and lack of libraries for book lovers, Kathalaya (House of Stories) comes as a refreshing summer breeze.

Kathalaya is brainchild of Rajeev Dhar Joshi and three other partners — one of them Apollo Press. The private publication house had a very humble beginning that was ultimately destined to gather speed.

“We realised there weren’t many children books, so when we approached the publishers they informed us that there was no market. It might be in terms of purchase but in terms of production, there was always a scope. So with a belief ‘If not now, when? If not us, who?’ we started on a small scale,” says Joshi.

Joshi was previously involved with Room To Read (RTR), developing libraries for children of various parts of the nation. While working with RTR he realised there was budget but not enough books. “When we used to call up publishers and request them to come up with children books, especially pictorial books and books for early childhood, we realised there weren’t many publication house for children books in market, we thought, why not us? And started as a publication house and came up with 15 books,” informs Joshi.

An avid reader, Joshi believes that reading culture in Nepal has not been cultivated the way it should. “My childhood was spent in the narrow lanes of Makkhan (Indrachowk). When I was in Grade 3 or 4, I would spend my Saturdays renting comics books from vendors for 25-50 paisa. The comics were either in English or Hindi and I would read 4-5 comic books in one sitting. Those comic books on Indian and Western super heroes were fascinating and in some way contributed to my reading habit,” reminisces Joshi. His maternal uncle used to bring pictorial books from Russia and though Joshi did not understand a word in Russian, the pictures used to grasp his attention.

It was only after he joined Ananda Kuti School in Grade 6 that he got to visit his first library in his school and got introduced to fascinating world of Hardy Boys. Hobby became habit and this gradual interest in imaginative world of words turned into passion. Today, Joshi enjoys reading mostly Nepali books and non-fictional contemporary writings.

While working with RTR, Joshi was involved in establishing more than 3000 libraries in government schools of 22 districts in Nepal. “During establishing and developing these libraries, I felt that the schools can have at least one library period in a week and we introduced that. That’s when we understood we need ample resources of books and colourful products to keep young readers interested,” Joshi shares.

Kathalaya first started its journey by reintroducing folktales and fables to the young readers. “Those were the books we grew up with, so printing those classic stories in colourful books was our first step. Classic stories and low introductory price made it easy to penetrate the market,” says Joshi.

Now, after entering the market question arises on sustainability. “When we started, we focused on the fact that there weren’t many books but now we are focused on publishing various genres and categories – like educational, fictional, animal kingdom etcetera. The publication is getting more reasearch-based and we have more than 30 categories. And more than 25 books are in writing and editing phase. The journey from 15 books to 30 categories and more in process is growth,” he informs.

The career in writing and publishing has now seen a gradual rise in Nepal. According to Joshi, there are 40-50 children writers, which is not enough to come up with quality products every time. Thus, they are working on developing new writers. Recently Kathalaya did a workshop with a Swedish writer and illustrator, Sarah Lundberg. “We do workshops with young budding writers. We started with 15 books and now we have 140 titles of children books alone. Starting with three in-house writers to 17-18 writers and 15 illustrators, we surely have come a long way.”

“The market for publication is soaring. There has been a dearth of writers and publishers but there still is market for more publishing houses,” informs Joshi. Kathalaya gives certain royalties to its writers and is working on providing royalties for illustrators as well. Joshi feels there is huge demand of writers and illustrator. “When there is quantity, there is market for creativity and with demand comes competition – resulting on good quality."

Developing reading habit

School do buy books published by Kathalaya and encourage their students to read them. But for them the stiff challenge is to make smaller schools build libraries and encourage children to read more often. “The biggest hurdle we have been facing is to let people understand that reading helps in imagination. They don’t understand that imagination helps in writing which benefits in education itself in the long run,” says Joshi.

Storytelling trend plays important role in developing imagination and reading habit. Kathalaya is planning to start a monthly storytelling sessions. “When we watch movies we enjoy someone else’s imagination. Children will learn to develop the habit of imagining by listening to stories. This will help in developing reading habit on them,” says Joshi.

Be Nepali, read Nepali

While schools, teachers and parents insist on their children to be fluent in English and most of the course are designed and taught in English, Joshi advocates in learning and developing fluency of Nepali language. “If you don’t have a strong base of your mother language then you can never learn and understand English or any other language. Language plays a very important role in how to receive and give education as well. People don’t understand that reading comes with comprehension and to comprehend one has to have a good command of language." 

Kathalaya time and again organises workshops by international writers for upcoming writers. If interested, one can contact Kathalaya for more information. Kathalaya has also released the first e-book reader app, WeRead app, which is an Android and IOS based application. Joshi believes this app will help in promoting Nepali literature, b ook, authors and publishers, in and outside Nepal.

For more details on the app, and events and workshops organised by Kathayala visit their website www.kathalaya.com.np

Words by Abhilasha Subba.