From Politics to Prose: Hari Sharma

This September, VENT! is all about literacy, reading, and the love for literature. One of those ardent lovers is Hari Sharma. He is the director of Alliance for Social Dialogue, Social Science Baha, a non-profit organization dedicated to promote and enhance the study of and research in the social sciences in Nepal and a member of the Board of Directors at Nepa School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

He is best known for his political involvements, having been the private secretary to the General Secretary of Nepali Congress Party in 1990 and the Principle Secretary to Girija Prasad Koirala during his prime ministerships. He has a master's degrees from Tribhuvan University (Nepal) and Cornell University (New York), and various other degrees in the field of political science. Despite his extensive resume, Sharma comes across as a humble individual, with an extraordinary oratory skill and a famous grin that comes across his face every time he starts speaking. This month, we have explored a different side to Hari Sharma—a side that hopefully inspires the younger generation to never give up on reading. 

“How do you have answers to everything?”

A naïve set of eyes looked expectantly at B.P. Koirala (late Prime Minister of Nepal), a figure whose charisma transcended politics and literature. What Hari Sharma had not expected was an equally simple answer “I read literature. Literature makes you sensible. It is out of this sensitivity of human life and relationship, literature is borne. Are you interested in reading?” 

In that mahogany-colored space crammed with books ranging from classics to contemporary, two pieces of furniture overworked with piles of hard-covers and paperbacks, and two new sets of eyes were looking expectantly at Hari Sharma with a similar question in their minds “How did you become a reader?” He welcomed the inquisitiveness with a warm smile and narrated a journey of a young boy, born and raised in Bhairahawa, who took kaleidoscopic routes into the world of reading.

Reading came to Sharma as naturally as taking those first neophyte’s steps. He came from a family of religious teachers and pundits, mantras and sutras enchanted his abode; and a reading ritual followed the morning chores. Sharma says that reading was inculcated in him at an early age. Even today his family has a ritual where every morning they sit down together around the dining table and read newspapers to each other and discuss the news. This sealed a belief in him which still stands true—sharing increases knowledge. This may be the reason why Sharma still tries to find occasions to gift people close to him with books. Sharma, being very good at his studies, used to receive books as prizes at school himself. The collection was not so extensive yet dear to him: Sulochana by Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Gham Ka Paila by Dhanus Chandra Gotame. His mother used to read out from Sulochana, as he started to unravel the joys of reading.

"When I read a book, I realize that I am not alone in the way I feel. Through the characters, plots, characters, arguments you can relate beyond your place. Books are a symbol of universal values," he says enthusiastically.

His early days were marked with exposure to Hindi and Nepali literature, but his readings became more contextualized when he enrolled at the Amrit Science Campus (colleges then were not merely an educational institution but played a major part in the political consciousness among the youth). Sharma found himself soaked in the political movement of the 70s and 80s of Nepal. A student activist and a literature lover, he became a part of this vibrant youth culture that gathered in small groups to read and discuss various books, some of which were banned for their explicit political nature although that did not prevent them from organizing the clubs. For him, reading books became a way to articulate ideas, bringing people together and developing a critical view towards the world. This transition from reading religious slokas to political ones left a deep imprint in Sharma’s growth as a reader and B. P. Koirala was a big influence on him. 

When Late B.P. Koirala returned to Kathmandu from exile, Sharma used to go to his house in Chabahil to listen to him talk about various issues. "I was fascinated by his ideas, charisma and his personality. I used to think he had answers for everything," Sharma reminices. 

The political environment never ceased to influence his personal journey, for it only became more prominent and enrooted in his personality. His travels started to become more extensive and his collection of books grew along. It almost developed as a pathogenic ritual for him to ‘collect’ books as souvenirs and they started becoming his journals where he entered dates and places where he bought them. Sharma, like any other reader, has his own share of reading nuances. Signing dates and names on books, leaving book markers in between pages that he has left unfinished as he hops from one to multiple reads simultaneously. Not particularly fond of scribbling on the margins and edges of pages, Sharma pays more attention to details that a normal reader would consider useless. Publishing details, numbers of editions, cover pages and designs, annexes and bibliographies, prefaces and introductions.

"Book read(ing) is like a game. You have to engage. Writers are opponents-arguing/counter-arguing, characters are players. If you hold a book for hours, it has to be good. There are very few books that has long shelf life. That is why publishing details and editions are important," Sharma explains.

His excavations have sometimes led him to strange lands with unexpected treasures. In one of his travels to Indonesia in 1990, he found Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Community in an airport lounge, which was at the time banned in the country. As his piles of reading lists started to outgrow his bookracks, his personal library has become an object of envy for many. It is not vanity that makes his collection gigantic, but his humility towards reading that allows him to venerate those books. He believes that books have lives of their own—ancient, pale-wrinkled pages provide a history to them. 

Although he uses Kindle, a device that shrinks books from pages to screens, Sharma has no doubt that flipping and smelling papers still hold a childish joy that no one would want to give up. 

He finds a huge shift in reading culture of today’s generation in comparison to his—online archives have replaced public libraries. Nevertheless, myriad collection of books have started to emerge providing more exposure to young bibliophiles. Sharma always finds it difficult to choose a favorite from his extensive collection of around 10,000 books and like any parent, he does not discriminate. If he had to name a few books, some of the prominent ones that have left a mark on his life are the political writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Jahaj ka Panchi by Ila Chandra Joshi and Gham Ka Paila by Dhanus Chandra Gotame. 

At the moment, Sharma is reading around four books including Debating Difference, Thief's Journal by Jean Genet, States of Imagination by Thomas Blom Hansen. He loves revisiting these fields of imagination where he argues and counters these authors.

"I am surprised that there are so many ways of looking at the world. What I look at, that’s my perspective. When I read books, writers have a different perspective. I am spellbound by the power of language. I am moved by the vastness of the world experience, " he says.

Perhaps Sharma continues reading because he has yet to find his answer to how one knows everything; maybe the list given by B.P. with Les Miserable, Anna Karenina, writings of Prem Chand and Upendra Nath does not pacify his quest. Maybe he is a wandering explorer whose reads have led him to the person he is now and there is more to come. 

Interview by Dipti Sherchan and Khushbu Agrawal. Photography by Rishi Amatya.