“Have you seen a nāgā?” I was talking to an eminent scholar, from a famous American university, about Kathmandu’s religion. He clearly felt that I’d misunderstood what these spirits might be. “They are not snakes,” he said. “They are a bit like a fish or an eel, with long fins along each side. They are […]

“Hodgson?” she asked. “Here’s your book,” and she handed me a thick, insect-ravaged volume. The spine was falling off. I untied the tape that held it closed and the fan blew the top page away.

The Vanishing Act, by Prawin Adhikari (226 pages, Rupa Publications 2014) The early stories in Prawin Adhikari’s debut collection examine the mixture of guilt and innocence with which a young boy growing up in the village of Abu Khaireni receives his first lessons in nature, dealing with other boys or spying on the afternoon lovemaking […]