The Gurkha’s Daughter by Prajwal Parajuly

The Gurkha’s Daughter by Prajwal Parajuly is a good book which sold off pretty soon demanding its first reprint within a year. Born to an Indian father and Nepali mother, he is a one of the aspiring Nepali writers writing in English. A collection of short stories, The Gurkha’s Daughter tell the story of average Nepalese and those Nepali-origin spread from Kathmandu and Kalimpong to Gangtok and New York.



gurkhas daughter

It is not the summaries of the stories that appeals to your or compel you to buy the book but the style in which the author has masterfully woven the simple words into an incredible novel. The stories seem simple and common, a young cleft-lipped house help considering running away in pursuit of Bollywood dreams, the daughter of a well-to-do family stealing, a disintegrating father-daughter relationship, which in one way or the other address common topics of caste, culture, identity and our society. Although the stories discusses the simple issues that are regular in most of the low/middle class Nepali household, the way he has portrayed it, making the story convincing and enabling the readers to identify with the characters is what counts as the major strength of the book as well as the author.

Although the tales might leave you unsatisfied at first, you come to realize that the wanting of more is the carefully crafted effect of realistic characters who instill emotional attachments. As you read the book, you forget the author and by the end of it, all you remember are the characters of the stories. Prajwal Parajuly with his book The Gurkha’s Daughter has been able to stand as an individual who has surpassed the international standard. Although many people think the story ‘The Immigrants’ in the book as his story, he clarifies the misconception saying that the character that he thinks he can relate to is Gita of ‘The Gurkha’s Daughter.