The word ‘Punsaban’ may be unheard these days. But, if we try to understand its meaning attentively, the word surprisingly makes everyone inquisitive about one of the important visions of Vedic life. Let’s quote Rohini Prasad Ghimire’s brief comment for the novel entitled “Punsaban” penned by Kapil Kafle, where he says “Punsaban” is that ritual through which married couples can have babies of their wish safely and scientifically.
The question, however, is: Is all this process in practice now? Senior journalist and author Kapil Kafle does not only speak pragmatically about it but also weaves themes to produce an interesting novel with the theme Punsaban. Is it relevant? Has novelist Kafle not touched on issues like women’s rights, gender exploitations, and other complex matters related to women while writing this novel, the story would have been just theoretical. But in Punsaban, the author has mixed so many themes and issues of our contemporary life, like malpractices in the name of surrogacy, attempts to victimise women with mobilisation of illegal funds, bribery, political aberrations, and economic distortion.
The result of all these features is that the novel has become a mirror-like story to watch our contemporary life and society. The starting pages of the novel, however, share some romantic themes with open talks on gender issues at an interaction program in the beautiful city of Pokhara. But ultimately, both the love theme and the place of stories of .
