Nepal, May 23 -- I attended a colloquium organised recently to discuss the relationship between literary writing and politics. The organisers' serious engagement on the subject was impressive. There was no ceremony of any kind as one would encounter in meetings of literary writers in Kathmandu.

The other point that struck me was that this colloquium was happening at a time when the current ethos of politics and change has filled the columns in newspapers and channels. Some of those discussions are woven around the policies of the new government. The principal topics of discussion are dominated by issues of the judiciary, power, hegemony and various modes of their interpretations. Some familiar writers, erstwhile students and intellectual...