The Half Closed Eyes of Buddha and the Slowly Sinking Sun

About the writer(Shankar Lamichhane):

1. Born in Kathmandu (1928-1975)
2. Wrote with a lyrical, musical tempo, unrestrained by the ponderous language.
3. His stories are heavy with symbolism,often lacking a conventional plot.
4. He has also won the prestigious Madan Puraskar.
5. He died an untimely death at the age of 48
6. A Nepali writer who introduced stream of consciousness into Nepalese literature

CHARACTERS:

1. The tourist: A Westerner, holds aesthetic vision regarding Nepal based on her study in history, culture and religion.
2. The Guide: A Nepalese person, good knowledge about the Nepalese art, culture, geography and religion, has a feeling of inferiority in comparison to the westerners.
3. The farmer's family: The simple farmer's family, living in a remote village, high faith, intimacy, kindliness, and gratitude.
4. A paralyzed child: A boy, suffers from Polio disorder, can't speak properly, nor can move his body parts except eyes.

SUMMARY

In this story, the tourist is a confident woman, who claims to know more about Nepal, even than the guide. She is well versed into Nepali culture and history.The tourist knows a lot about the natural beauty of the country. She loves the scent of the green kathmandu valley and is obsessed with the imagination of how it looked before manjushri cut the chovar hill, a large lake filled with blooming lotuses. She also loves the beauty of the old temple like houses we live in, our religion , puranas, copper plate inscriptions and a lot more cultural stuff that has been adding on to the beauty of the country.She is very grateful towards us for bringing the beauty of the cultural aspect of life to the sight of the westerners. Also she is highly obliged and feels indebted to us for having served the wonderful taste of nepali and newari food, especially momos.

Knowing about the fact that the tourist is well aware about the beauty of the country, the beauty of the half closed eyes of Buddha, the guide tends to make her conscious of the other harsh side of nepalese life by taking the tourist to a house where a poor family of farmers lived with their young son suffering from polio.The guide takes the tourist to the house where the young boy was lying helpless with his inability to speak,to walk,to chew or to even spit.the guide wants to show the tourists the sorrow that exists inside the beautiful nation and the instances of poverty that exist within the rich culture.The guide wants the tourist to feel the words that are spoken by eyes. The tourist sees the eyes of the boy whose every vein, nerve and bone is powerless to the commands of his brain and yet is alive.The tourist sees the faith in the eyes of the parents of the boy who thought of her as a doctor.In this way, the guide shows the tourist, the harsh side of poverty and the purity of the emotions that can be expressed even without speaking.