Mending Lives

Jane_Houng: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Jane Hong, and this is Mending Lives, where I'm talking with people from a patchwork of places. Some have had their lives ripped apart by loss, some are in the business of repairing others brokenness, but we're all seeking to make this world more beautiful.

The New York Writers Workshop and the Himalayan Literary Festival in Nepal wouldn't have happened without Yuyutsu Shama, one of Nepal's leading poets and translators. His readings and insights added color, spirituality, and inspiration to the events. Not only did participants have the opportunity to listen to his poetry, but he also arranged visits to significant religious sites, offering rich cultural references. And historical knowledge. Yuyutsu has been the recipient of many fellowships and grants, and has travelled widely. [00:01:00] The son of a Naga sadhu, he has been described as a sage and seer of modern Asian poetry. He taught at various university campuses in India and Nepal, and has published seven poetry collections. Some of which have been translated. For example, his poetry collection, The Second Buddha Walk, is an epic poem on the life and times of Padam Sambhava, the 8th century Buddhist saint who visited Tibet via Nepal and converted many Tibetans into Buddhists, and the poems of Milarepa's bones, which race through the Himalayan regions of the Annapurnas, Everest, and Helambu, revealing the lives of Tibetan saints, Hindu gods, shamans, and folk figures. Interestingly, in this podcast, Yuyutsu speaks at length about the [00:02:00] experience of losing his mother and its profound influence on his life and work.

Jane_Houng: Welcome to Mending Lives, Yuyu .

Yuyutsu Sharma: Thank you. I'm really delighted to be on your show.

Jane_Houng: Well, I'm delighted that you accepted my offer. I've had a fascinating week in your country. I've been part of the New York Writers. I've been part of the Himalayan Literary Festival, and I feel so honored that you, as the main organizer can be here to have a chat and I suppose my first question is what inspired you to make all this [00:03:00] good stuff happen?

Yuyutsu Sharma: Well, so I have been traveling a lot for the last three decades. And so I've been going places and going to Europe and to America and to Latin America and to the rest of the world. And then I thought I've been traveling and why not invite others to come to my world? And so that's how it began. I started talking to New York Writers Workshop and started talking to my friends at home, the poets, writers, and I then, here it is. This is a beautiful fusion of the people I met on my travels and their friends and my friends back home.

Jane_Houng: We have had such a range of people. I mean, the Americans, of course, the Nepalese, the Indians and other people from other countries. I think I'd like to wind back a little bit before you started traveling. And I've listened to some of your presentations. I've listened to your beautiful [00:04:00] poetry. And there's Let's start with your father and that childhood memory that you shared early on.

Yuyutsu Sharma: When I was small, I grew up in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, the mountains of Himalayas, in Indian Himalayas. So my father all of a sudden became animated and very influenced by these Naga sadhus. So Naga sadhus are these people who put ash over their body and have dreadlocks and keep their, lives very basic and stay away from the society. So these people, my father on weekends would go to them and with the fruit and milk and all the ingredients and to as an offering to them. And he thought they will change their lives. And they will change our family and they will bring prosperity to in our lives So and he will bow to them. He will rub his nose on the floor even make me do the same And serve these holy [00:05:00] people And these holy naga sadhus are a kind of a group of people who disassociate him themselves from the society. They go in exile in self exile and they go they disconnect with the world and build their own worlds.

Jane_Houng: So he left your family to do that. He roamed you said every three days when he did leave he was.

Yuyutsu Sharma: At beginning It didn't. He would just go on the weekends. He worked in the factory In the irrigation Bhakthanangal town, which is a biggest town in Asia. Biggest irrigation factory it's a dam. So it's pride of India and a huge dam and my father got job there. So on weekends, he will go to them and stay there. These people take hashish and smoke and they lead their very astute very harsh lives. So I would go as a small a little child when I actually lived with my grandpa who had owned me, who had made me his his [00:06:00] his official son, in the sense he didn't have my mother had only sisters and no brother. So I stayed in this Punjabi town with my grandpa, my mother's father. So on weekends, on holidays I'll go. On summer holidays, I will go to my father, who lived in this beautiful town Himalayan town, Nangal Township, which is on the at the bottom of this big dam. On the river Sutlej. So on the banks of these rivers this river, my father would go. and make me talk to these holy people.

Jane_Houng: And then what happened?

Yuyutsu Sharma: And then one of these days the day of the guru when the day and every, in a year, you have a day of the guru, you celebrate guru. So he took me there and he said, the guru, I have two sons. This is elder one. I would like to donate him to you. Would you please accept him as my gift? And I mean, I'm looking around and I say, my God,

Jane_Houng: How old were you then?

Yuyutsu Sharma: I was seven. So I thought, would I never go back to my home? And my mother is sitting outside like an untouchable. She [00:07:00] cannot come in because this is a celibate sadhu's den. And women are not supposed to get in. So, the holy man looked at me. He smoked hashish like this. I was smoking a puff on the hashish for like a long time. A smoked for about five minutes. And then he rolled on his, bare bed. And and then his bloodshot eyes looked at me and said, He's a good boy. Send him to school. And if he hadn't said that, you have no idea what would become of me and if I ever, if I would even be alive today. Because I would have gone in this other world of. So in a way they refused to accept me, as a disciple. It was a mixed thing. I was relieved, I was a young child. I didn't want to follow these holy people have dreadlocks and stay bare bodied.

Jane_Houng: I've seen them. Yes, but you were so young so you didn't really have the power to say I don't want to do this. But how did your father respond? I mean that must have been.

Yuyutsu Sharma: He [00:08:00] was very disappointed. He said oh my god They didn't accept you anyway, but he agreed to their order and he sent me to school. He continued sending he said, okay, you continue to study because Maharaj, the Guruji has said that. So, in a way, they bestowed upon me this life of education. And I could study and I could become a writer. But when I grew up, I knew, my God, these gurus of flesh and bones. So I said my gurus didn't accept me. But then I started educating, I came to Nepal to teach here. I grew up here, I married and had children. And then after a decade or so, I thought, oh God, I'm not going to continue teaching at the university and becoming a kind of academic teacher. I want to be a full freelance writer. So I quit my teaching and I started traveling in the Himalayas. I go to Annapurna or to Everest and Helembu. [00:09:00] I go to Pokhara by the lake, we sat. I wrote this book, The Lake Feb on a Horse. And I was so enamored by the lake. I fell in love with it. And I would go up in Annapurna and trek. And then, I had this my, my father, then after a few years, after my rejection as a disciple, my father became one of them and joined them.

Jane_Houng: Full time.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Full time and left us. I was very disappointed because by the time I had grown up and I had got a job and I wanted to treat him and take him out and make him come and stay with me and enjoy life. But he said, I went to meet him and he said, son, I have renounced this world. You are knocking on the wrong door. I was shocked. I said, my God, because he has left it.

Jane_Houng: And how old were you then?

Yuyutsu Sharma: Then I was like 23, 24. I had a master. I got a job in India. I was teaching. So I said, no, Papaji, I'm your son. He said, no, [00:10:00] son, you have come to a wrong door. I have left that world you come from. So I was like, this is, virtually disappointed. Anyway, I came back. No matter how much I tried, he didn't open the door. So I said, all right. So I came back. and I started, working and I came to Nepal and lived this life. And then I had this beautiful mother and she she was so beautiful that I didn't want to leave this world, like South Asia.

Jane_Houng: Leave her.

Yuyutsu Sharma: So I stayed in Nepal, in India mostly. I didn't even go abroad, but I thought if she needs me, something happens to her. I would have to be by her.

Jane_Houng: She must have felt very close to you.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Right?

Jane_Houng: If she'd in effect lost her husband.

Yuyutsu Sharma: I had an elder brother, he was staying with her when I was in Nepal. But I would go back and forth. So, then one day I got this phone, that she has got a stroke. So I rushed back. I went back and I found her in this very difficult state. Took her to hospital and the [00:11:00] doctor said it will take a few months for her to recuperate. So I sort of, I looked after her a couple of weeks, three or four weeks, and then I thought my work is suffering in Delhi, so why don't I go for just one day and come back? So I took the, I, she was sleeping, I touched her feet and I, early in the morning I left her. And And then I came next morning. I finished my work that day. Next day, I finished all my work. Next night, I took the night train back home. I arrived early four o'clock in the morning. I can never forget that morning.

Jane_Houng: Oh.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And she wasn't there.

Jane_Houng: I thought you were going to say that.

Yuyutsu Sharma: So I was devastated. No, I got I thought maybe she thought I deserted her. And I left her in the state. And probably.

Jane_Houng: Do you really? I mean.

Yuyutsu Sharma: I thought so. I mean, I thought I, I have this big guilt and I was so upset. Oh my God. I said she, she probably, she [00:12:00] thought I, my son, where is he? She opened her eyes and she didn't see me for a full day. She couldn't speak, so probably my brother said he's gone and he will come back with the gestures, but I thought it was too much to explain to her, and I will just come back in a day.

Jane_Houng: But I understand that if people can't speak because they've had a stroke, they know what's happening.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Right.

Jane_Houng: They're corpus men. So Yeah. I dunno how, I mean, let's roll on a few decades. I mean, do you still feel sad about it.

Yuyutsu Sharma: It for so many years. Even today I feel, oh my God. I then I was so despise, oh my God, she's gone and I found her. And since then I have been like struggling to my, this big guilt. So I, I think I, I thought even if writing, I mean I started writing in my mind about her also. What will it do? What good it will do? Would it bring her back in flesh and blood? This whole idea is worthless. Writing is worthless. When your mother is gone. What's the [00:13:00] point?

Jane_Houng: Well, how did you get through it then? Because here we are, now you're a highly acclaimed Himalayan poet, right? It seems that you did find a way to move forward. Was that with traveling? What did you do actually?

Yuyutsu Sharma: So I felt so disturbed and I thought my god I have this I've done this and I was I'm fully convinced that nothing will ever get her back and no matter what I try I lost all my faith in anything. Nothing will bring me back to my mother. I mean, I see her, like, whenever I went, I saw her by my side. A very generous lady, helping me, looking after me all my life. So, then I started writing, columns in newspapers, and I write to keep myself busy. So I don't, I wrote the column for 15 years in Kathmandu Post and Himalayan Times and started writing poems and I've been traveling ever since and I never looked back because I thought that what's the point of never fear a thing because whatever [00:14:00] you fear comes to you.

Jane_Houng: It happens. Were you going to say that?

Yuyutsu Sharma: That's what I learned.

Jane_Houng: That's what you learned.

Yuyutsu Sharma: That no matter, never fear a thing, whatever your fear will happen to you, for sure. So since then, I have been traveling so widely. I mean, I don't really care. People think I'm a big traveler. I never traveled before as my as long as my mother was alive and didn't want to leave her. And now since then, I have not even my sometimes to the extent that my even my family, my wife and children get upset. They don't know when, how I travel, when I go, when I'm gone, when I'm coming. So I've become this reckless and relentless traveler.

Jane_Houng: You don't strike me as reckless or relentless at all. You strike me as a deeply spiritual man and you're writing. It's about spiritual matters. It's about the beauty of nature. It's about the rich culture of [00:15:00] Nepal. The last thing I would say is you is a reckless man.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Thank you. Because I have been brought up in this in the company of these holy people. So I learned from them and probably they left a mark on my career and my life.

Jane_Houng: So what did you learn?

Yuyutsu Sharma: So, these holy people never stay in a place more than three days. They keep traveling from one asam to another asam. And they're deeply spiritual people. Their education, my reciting mantras, living astute lives, not expecting much, like leading, expecting.

Jane_Houng: Material.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Like accepting life as it is, without accepting, without expecting any material gain. Like Gita's message. Continue to work and don't expect much. So this was ingrained in me. Whole idea of recitals, whole idea of devotion to a muse, I learned as a child and I read scriptures, I recited these big big mantras and [00:16:00] I saw them perform all these rituals, live astute lives, do all difficult yoga positions and lead a life of utter devotion to your volition.

Jane_Houng: And for you it's poetry. I mean, you've published so many books. I wish we had time to listen to some of your poetry. But I've heard of many pieces that you've read in the last course of the week . I would have been interested to know what you wrote about Lake Fuwa because we were all together in Pokhara just a couple of days ago. And our hotel was right by the lakeside and I felt the force, some kind of supernatural force. There was some energy in that place. I personally felt it. I actually got the cable car and went up to Sangar Khat.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Sangar Khat

Jane_Houng: Sangar Khat Sangar Khat. Oh I saw them out. I saw the Annapurna [00:17:00] Range.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Wow. You are lucky. This lake is I fell in love with the lake moment. I came there. I just came there was actually the lake were very more beautiful than 25 years ago when I first came. So I came there. I saw this whole big lake and a small little shops by that which now you see at the big supermarkets there on the on the many walk from Pokhara to on the left side. You see along the lake. These buildings weren't there. They were they grew up with their own rush of water. So the whole place stuck me, and I tried to discover its history, its culture, and the Sarangkot Temple. So I have a poem I have a Lake Vibhavanam poem, where I try to look at the lake from different angles, from Sarangkot, from an eye, a bleeding eye of a folk singer, from from the eyes of lovers, from the eyes of the local people, from the eyes of a beggar. So I go into a perspective of looking at the lake, this beautiful lake, and I have a line there that to and which by the poem Lake Fair Horse, which ends that as such a lake, I would like to sit one [00:18:00] day and leap into.

Jane_Houng: The lake.

Yuyutsu Sharma: So it's interesting. So three days I sat by the lake. Such a lake I would love to leap into one day, so I say it is a beautiful poem and I mean, it's a beautiful lake. I love the energy of this place and people and the soul, but I'm sad that about this tourism has brought this onslaught of concrete and this ugly rush of buildings and restaurants and cafes and the place is spirit has been diluted, raped, terribly distorted. But still live the league stands and then Una. So I started my trek and went to, I was staying with this en lodge. And these young kids said, oh, you're poet. You should go to the Anuna. I was afraid, as I was a academic, I was a professor, so I thought, oh, I can't do this. This is a tourist job. It's like, it's a very difficult job to go to Anona.

Jane_Houng: Now, how long ago was this?

Yuyutsu Sharma: It like 25, 30 years. Yeah. So I started, they said no, go there just for one day. And he encouraged me. You pushed me to the other. That's why they gave me little stuff to carry and little bag . I went, in a moment, I [00:19:00] went in my eyes, opened my car. I said, this is marvelous. This is real Nepal. So I went in and I never came back. I'm still there and in my spirit, in we have a word for the Himalayas. A word is David , meaning place where soul of the God lives.

Jane_Houng: Oh right.

Yuyutsu Sharma: So we went there. I could sense the spirit of the guards and I more I visited and I then I started visiting regularly, almost every month. And I was all the time there, and I'm sharing my world. Because what in the Himalayas was different from the rest of the world, especially Europe and Latin America, rest, is that there's life there in the mountains, there is this monasteries, romance. People struggling for bare survival. It's not just mountains, every step you go, new indigenous groups new dress. People wear new dress. The landscape changes, like somebody was saying. And then here, Pokhara is so tropical. And up, you go across Jomsom and all, and you go into Mustang, and it's like alpine wilderness. So beauty of Nepal [00:20:00] is that, and every hour you climb in the mountains, the landscape changes. And the people change, and the styles change, and even gods change. It's so religion and diverse as opposed to Europe or America, where everything is same supermarket, same bazaar, same. So this is the beauty of Nepal.

Jane_Houng: Yeah, the rich culture.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Yeah, that I, the carpet of, cultures and religions and lives and and indigenous worldviews, Hinduism and Buddhism fusing. So I try to, I think, and also the celebration of glaciers, whom I admire, I think, in since old ancient times, the holy people have gone up. And to meditate and to, brood upon the issues of life and death and suffering. That's the place where you.

Jane_Houng: You can get insight.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And you can know yourself and discover yourself and realize who you are in relation to the world and to the [00:21:00] cosmos. So it's a great place for poetry, for writing, for meditation. And I have devoted my life in celebration of these great glaciers. Everest is in Nepal, as I said.

Jane_Houng: Yes, tell me about Everest, because I know you've written many poems about that area as well.

Yuyutsu Sharma: But Everest is not a Nepali name. Everest is the name of this British guy who in colonial times tried to prove that Everest is the highest place in the world. And they named the mountain after him. The name of Everest is Sagarmatha in Nepali.

Jane_Houng: Which means what?

Yuyutsu Sharma: Which means forehead of the sky.

Jane_Houng: Beautiful.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And the Tibetan name for Everest is Chomolungma, meaning mother of the winds of the world. which again is very poetic. So I have become an agent of let's say, of Himalayas, of Annapurna, of the spirit of the God. So I'm like, Gaelic bard singing the songs of the high glaciers and traveling the world and letting people know how their glory and their, the great [00:22:00] grandeur and their significance that the transformation they can bring in their lives. So they have touched me and they have made me what I am today. So at last, though I was rejected when I was small by these holy people, new gurus are not gurus of flesh and bones, but they are these glaciers who are my gurus and they have blessed me and they have accepted me and I have become their disciple and I have found my life and I have in a way I have forgotten or tried to shape my life that has which I was full of guilt and which was shattered after my mother passed away. And I have become whole because of these glaciers.

Jane_Houng: The nature.

Yuyutsu Sharma: The Himalayas have given me new birth. They have given me wings to fly.

Jane_Houng: Oh, beautiful.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And I can travel across the continents and sing their songs. I'm their servant.

Jane_Houng: You're Tibet.

Yuyutsu Sharma: I'm their messenger.

Jane_Houng: Yes, and your poetry is so lyrical. And It's so rich in all the cultural references of the gods. [00:23:00] Not just Hindu gods, but Buddha as well. I mean this is interesting mix in Nepal, isn't there, about Hindu Buddhism. Many people say they're Hindu Buddhists.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Yeah. In old times, there used to be a lot of animosity, especially in India. They literally wiped out Buddhists because there was a conflict between Hinduism and Buddhism, and traditional pandits. They didn't like the Buddha so there were a lot of battles. A lot of animosity between them. And at the moment, Buddhism had been wiped off India's face, and only the anticipals are Buddhist. And the Hinduism is very, I mean, it's traditional form which Buddha fought for is very strong in India, even at now at the moment, and it's ruling the roost, it's causing a lot of havoc among communities. It's become a political weapon. Whereas in Nepal, there was a book called Nepal Mahatma, which is part of Sikh and Purana. And in that book, they put the priests were very shrewd and smart. So what they do, they show the differences like Nepal is a fusion of Tibet, Tibetans and Mongols. And [00:24:00] Aryans from the lowlands. The fusion is Nepal. They knew there'd be trouble. So they, in the scripture, they put Buddha, Shiva, and Vishnu on the same platter. If you read the book called Nepal Mahatma, which is about the legends around Pashupati Shrine, where we went.

Jane_Houng: Yes.

Yuyutsu Sharma: So that this book is a very important book and watershed in the cultural unification of Nepal. Because this tapestry of cultures and, Nepal was actually, I would also like to say it was divided into small little principalities before. But it was on the, then there is this poet.

Jane_Houng: Rimal.

Yuyutsu Sharma: No.

Jane_Houng: No.

Yuyutsu Sharma: There was a poet and translator called Bhanu Bhaktacharya, who translated Nepal, Ramayana epic into Nepali.

Jane_Houng: Ah, okay.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And it was on the basis of that language of the epic that the kings could unify these small little principalities and make Nepal as it is today. So basically, Nepal is born out of the mouth of translator [00:25:00] poet. Isn't it beautiful?

Jane_Houng: That is very beautiful. And there seems to be a unique synthesis here in Nepal.

Yuyutsu Sharma: So that's why these priests and the poets actually have been working hard to maintain harmony and peace and goodwill in Nepal. And so Hindu Buddhists have fused. And like Hindus go to Buddhist shrines, and Buddhists go to Hindu shrines. And some of the rituals in, like in Kathmandu, Like Ganesha is not a vegetarian god, it's become part of the ritual, and sacrifice. For so these cultures, the Tibetan culture, like, the Buddhist what they did there, how they adopted themselves and, Padmasambhava going there. Converting these so called red faced barbarians into Buddhists and changing them into the modern whatever they became. So those Buddhists and these Aryans, the people who are coming from lowlands in India, they came and fused here, and but then they created their own world of rituals and their own sense of what Hinduism is and Buddhism is. So, this [00:26:00] is a beautiful study to be made on this and it's an exciting place. That's why Nepal, there are no all, nobody will say I'm a Buddhist only. They will say I'm Hindu Buddhist.

Jane_Houng: Hindu Buddhist.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Or Hindu, they will say I'm Buddhist also. Because Buddha is equal, as equal as Shiva or Vishnu. Changu Narayan you went.

Jane_Houng: Yes.

Yuyutsu Sharma: He's a Vishnu. It's Shiva, and then Swayambodin or Bodnath, Swayambhunath, they're all Buddhist shrines. So it's, there's no difference. That's the beauty of Nepal, and this fusion that has happened here is an exotic and exciting phenomenon.

Jane_Houng: And certainly for you and the other Nepalese poets that spoke at the festival a few days ago, there's a lot of inspiration there. I find the poetry here. You would say it was abstract, but at the same time, it's universal.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Right. Also then the special thing about Nepal is Nepal actually is a nation of poets. I like to be Dr. Vimal. [00:27:00] Almost everybody in Nepal is a poet. If he's a rickshaw puller, or he's a porter, or he's a king, or prime minister, or president, or billionaire, or businessman, or a housewife, everybody's a poet.

Jane_Houng: Because?

Yuyutsu Sharma: Because of the landscape and the tradition, the cultural traditions, as well as, it's so beautiful, and the whole winds blow, and the scenic beauty and the whole Himalayan culture and the beauty of the Himalayas. It has made everybody the rivers flowing down, gurgling, and the language itself is very poetic.

Jane_Houng: Yes.

Yuyutsu Sharma: You see two Nepalese people talking, it looks like they are like singing.

Jane_Houng: Well, let me share with you my experience of going to Kathmandu International School. At first, there were 200 young teenagers between the age of 13 and 15. And there was such joy, even with that group assembly, and you could see every [00:28:00] single child was looking at the stage and listening and clapping and responding. And then there were three of us, but then each of us did a workshop for 45 minutes. So I had the interesting opportunity of being able to talk to these young people, there were about 20 of them. Young men and young women and there was something about their freshness and their purity of spirit, I would say, there was no sort of a boy sort of making eyes at a girl or a girl looking a bit bored. They were like captivated and I asked them to sing the anthem, the national anthem, and they stood up with such pride with their hands on their hearts. And they sang, your national anthem is about rivers and yeah, mountains and gods. And they sang with great passion and I mentioned the word trauma to them and [00:29:00] they looked a bit blank. I mentioned the word mental health, which I mean in the western countries so many young people are talking about and it is a real issue. But there was something so fresh and wise, I would say about these young people. So you mentioned the word transformation. You felt so sad about losing your mother. You felt guilty. And over the years I can see by your face, this still bothers you. But transformation through these spiritual values. What exactly can you unpack a little bit what that means to you?

Yuyutsu Sharma: Yeah, it's the whole world view, like, Hindu Buddhist world view, as I say. So, you look at a, like, I go to Europe and America, I look at their faces, like, everybody's so stunned and so dark, and they wear these dark dresses, everybody's. I look, come back, and everybody's so worried, and no, you can't even look at someone. What are you looking [00:30:00] at? And I come back to Nepal and I see everybody is a kind of island, every faces full of ritualized ecstasy. And the whole island walking and creating and having this energy. And also everybody is so generous and so kind and to share what they have. I was up in the mountain. These people like accept you like your long lost friend. And always like we share whatever little you have. When I go to Europe everybody is broke. And they have no idea how much they have. My God.

Jane_Houng: Yeah. Right. Materially they have so much.

Yuyutsu Sharma: I've seen people having possessing so many goods.

Jane_Houng: Yes.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And the Buddha says the more you possess, more unhappy you become. Almost everybody in Europe and America is broke. You meet even a billionaire.

Jane_Houng: He hasn't got enough. The stock market is crashing.

Yuyutsu Sharma: But here, I go to the mountains, these people have nothing. They are living, they don't even know if the next load of bread is going to come, or they're going to have enough rice to eat next day. But they're so full of happy to share what they [00:31:00] have with you.

Jane_Houng: And it's not just in the mountains because I feel that in the cities. And look at the traffic jams in kathmandu now and even to get to here. We're in Chitwin Park now and I didn't see one example of road rage, honking horns or frustration or fights No.

Yuyutsu Sharma: They're very contained people. They're self contained. Because of nature also taught them. And also It's a kind of different world view. I think this is ingrained into their lives. And it's a beautiful observation that you have made. I am touched by these people and by the lives I am living with these beautiful Nepalese, my family, everybody around me. It's so wonderful.

Jane_Houng: Another thing I note is that feeling of community.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Yes. And being caste, in the caste system.

Jane_Houng: Of course there is the caste system, but within that.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Right. And we were in Changna and this family celebrating the feast.

Jane_Houng: Yes.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And preparing and so the sense of community and it binds them [00:32:00] together. It ingrains The values of

Jane_Houng: Three generations.

Yuyutsu Sharma: So all families and like on pashupati they're praying to the gods and remembering your ancestors. This is a different worldview. I hope we don't lose it and we preserve it. But it has certainly helped me understand myself and mend my life in a way that I wouldn't have done if I was in Europe or America. I of course I belong to that world. I share their worldview as well. But this worldview that I have has mended my life, has saved me, and kept me alive and upbeat. People tell me, oh God, when are you going to retire? I mean, you are never stopping, you do so much.

Jane_Houng: You have so much energy.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And I said, oh my God, I mean, this is, what else I will do? I will just, instead of people are doing my own work and travels and as long as I can. I think this is my energy has come from the smiles of these people and the beautiful lives they lead and the high glaciers, high Himalayas that inspire you. I will tell you an example of one of my friends. He came from India when we were sitting in a [00:33:00] restaurant. He said this jingle on the, in a kind of a sound advertisement on the radio. Oh, he said, God, I love Nepali language. It's so musical. And I love this tune. So I said, well, you know what they're talking about? He said, no. I said, is it talking about that if your child has diarrhea, give him salt.

Jane_Houng: Sorry. If your child.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Has diarrhea, To mix.

Jane_Houng: Oh, diarrhea. Okay.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Salt, salt, sugar, and water. . That's what they're singing.

Jane_Houng: And they're singing about it.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And he was singing about, they are talking of Hy High S and Glory of the gods. No. He is just talking of basic, they're singing a basic thing that if your child gets sick and to, if he has diarrhea, it will give him the salts. Sugar and water and then keep eating every hour and he'll cure. So, I mean, this is even a very mundane topic like this. They will, if they talk, advertise it, they will sing about it. It's such great glory that you would think that they are singing of the [00:34:00] high Vedas.

Jane_Houng: YuYu it's absolutely lovely to talk to you. And I'm so happy to think I have a Nepalese friend and I hope we can keep in touch. I have just one final question for you in the context of children. So what you have a son and a daughter.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Right.

Jane_Houng: What are your hopes for them in this world?

Yuyutsu Sharma: Well, I'm committed to them. I try to give them good life and good education. My daughter just came back from Ireland. She did her master's there. And my son is trying to find MBA in a good school, in some university, and I want to support them for their, what, no matter what, with all the resources I have to make them successful. And also, in Calcutta I bring them my son here with me. So he can learn the values of sharing things.

Jane_Houng: He's been so helpful.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Yeah.

Jane_Houng: He's worked the bookstore.

Yuyutsu Sharma: He's our auditor for the festival.

Jane_Houng: Yes.

Yuyutsu Sharma: And so he's looking after all the thing he's helping me in all the accounts.

Jane_Houng: He's your right hand man. It seems .

Yuyutsu Sharma: He's my right hand man. And he's very kind and generous and he's very committed. [00:35:00] This is the values I want to teach them to how to understand grief, how to work in a state of hardship under stress. And how not to lose your temper and stay alive and active and be kind to others, no matter what. So this is the kind of message that I want to give my children. And so they understand also my life, how I'm leading, how I'm traveling.

Jane_Houng: They respect that.

Yuyutsu Sharma: When I do what I travel, and all these beautiful friends I've earned all these years. So this is the treasure I have. I'd like to do more and earn more. Walt Whitman says he says, I have earned friendships thick as tree trunks along River Mississippi.

Jane_Houng: Beautiful.

Yuyutsu Sharma: So I think that's my motto, to earn as many friends as possible. On these trails of my life and transform myself into a positive being and a poet who belongs to the world and not just to my own world. Also going out and helping the humanity and also bringing [00:36:00] international friendships.

Jane_Houng: I look forward to reading your memoir.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Thank you. Yes, it will be out soon. I think it will be out in 2025. So I certainly would love to talk more about it when it's out. It's tentatively entitled Not of Flesh and Blood. So my gurus are not of flesh and blood, but of the Anapurna, the glaciers. So it's called Not of Flesh and Blood.

Jane_Houng: Lovely.

Yuyutsu Sharma: The title of the book.

Jane_Houng: I truly look forward to reading it and possibly seeing you again in the non too distant future.

Yuyutsu Sharma: Thank you, Jane, it's wonderful.

Jane_Houng: Thank you.

Thanks again for listening to Mending Lives with me, Jane Houng. It was produced by Brian Hou. You can find relevant links to this show in the comments section. I would not, could not, be doing [00:37:00] this without many people's support and encouragement. So until next time, goodbye.