Jhamak Kumari Ghimire
Jhamak Kumari Ghimire, born in July 1980 in Kachide village development of Dhankuta district is a Nepalese writer. She was born with severe disability that has prevented her from using her arms, and suffers from limited movement of her body and slurred speech called cerebral palsy and writes with her left foot. can hear but not speak and has limited eye sight. Ghimire also wears glasses because she has myopia, or nearsightedness. Her disability, however, hasn’t prevented her from expressing her acerbic, poetic humour freely ? through her left foot.Using her toes to write, she trod into the Nepali literature with the start of new millennium at the age of 19.Being deprived of an education didn’t stop her from learning how to read and write all by herself, and she has progressed so far along this path that she is today an award-winning author of 10 published books comprising both prose and poetry, mediums she traverses with equal,
heartfelt facility. In this chapter from Jiban Kanda Ki Phool, Jhamak describes the joy she felt when she first wrote the letter ‘ka’ in the dirt with a stick.In her autobiography, Ghimire documents instances such as her parents ignoring her desire to study or how she tried to memorize
the alphabets her younger sister was studying and practiced them by scribbling in the garden.
She learned to read and write using her feet and eventually launched an award-winning literary career. Ghimire promotes a message of self-sufficiency and empowerment for women.
She has penned many anthologies of poems, stories and essays besides regularly contributing to newspapers as a columnist as She is columnist at the Kantipur newspaper.“Through her column, her potential has been acknowledged – nationally and internationally – not just because she can write with her feet, but because her writing is effective and efficient compared to the contemporary analytical litterateurs,” says Govinda Raj Bhattarai, a professor and writer who helped launch her book of autobiographical essays.
Her several feet-written interviews have been published by various media, one which helped launch her literary career.
In addition to working as a columnist, Ghimire has written about a dozen books in Nepali, including four collections of poems, a collection of essays, a collection of articles, an autobiography and two collections of stories that are currently on sale in the local market. She has won a number of national awards.She has won nearly a dozen national and regional literary awards since 1998, including one from the Nepali government.
Despite being decorated with so many awards, Ghimire still considers the day her first book – a poetry collection – was published as the happiest day of her life.
Ghimire says that her earnings from her books have helped to support her family. But she says that because of patriarchal traditions, her family doesn’t like to acknowledge the financial contributions of their daughter.
“I want to tell all that this thought should be changed,” Ghimire says
“All our troubles are resolved if we remain self-dependent and self-sufficient.”-Jhamak Ghimire, writer
Now, Ghimire types her articles on the computer with her feet and can access the Internet for information.
She and others say her story shows this.
“In the past, I was a nuisance and a troublemaker for all, but the situation has changed today,” she says.
source:mynepal.com.np
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