Krishna is a Nepali man who moved from his village to the city 10 years ago to work as a tour guide. He dreams of traveling abroad but also feels pride in his culture. When a friend offers condolences for a tragedy, Krishna feels nothing. It's revealed a telegram told him his abandoned wife had died. Troubled by his inability to feel sadness for his wife, Krishna finally cries alone, realizing his emotional disconnect from others.
2. Biography of the
writer
Parashu Pradhan ranks among the highly
acclaimed modern Nepali short story
writiers.He is M.A in political science and
nepali also.
He was born on 1943 and brought up in
Bhojpur, where he did his schooling.
He moved to Kathmandu in 1968 in
order to find a job in civil service.
He began his writing career with poetry
3. cont…
His first published short story was Mero
Kothako Aankhabaata (From the Eye of
My Room,1962),Pheri Akraman(Another
Attack,1968), Samudrama Astaune Surya
(The Sun Setting On the Sea, 1975),
Parashu Pradhanka Pratinidhi Kathaharu
(Representative stories of Parashu
Pradhan, 1984), Dalle Khola (The Dalle
River),Tokiyoma Sano Buddha (The Little
4. He has also published two novels: Sabai
Birsieka Anuharharu (All Forgotten Faces,
1967) and Raat Jo Paglanchha (The Night
That Melts).
5. He has received a number of prestigious
awards including Uttam Shanti Puraskar
(1994) and Chhinnalata Sammaan (1996).
6. character
Migrant from village to city to work as
tourist guide.
Krishna, is a man of big dreams. He
dreams of going abroad.
Deep interest in learning English.
He could even explain the culture and
custom in his own way.
He doesn’t care about his wife
7. summery
Narrated in the third person, TheTelegram on the
Table relates the "discordant" thoughts ruminating
in the mind of man named Krishna, as he tosses
and turns in his bed, exhausted after a long day’s
work but unable to sleep. Flashing back to the
events of the day and the previous few weeks
reveals that ten years earlier he moved from a
small village to large city where he lives in an
inadequate, over-priced apartment.
8. He is menially employed as a tour guide.
Krishna is enamored with the west and at
the same time expresses a deep, prideful
connection to his own culture. He
dreams about traveling to NewYork with
blue-eyed tourist girls, but also expresses
a desire to return to his village in Nepal
where he would dance to folk songs with
old friends.
9. Early in the story, a friend offers condolences
to an emotionless Krishna for some great tragedy
that has occurred in his life. Not only does
Krishna appear to be unmoved by this tragedy, he
thinks that "perhaps" he is happy, for now he is
totally free to "achieve what he aimed for." It
comes as somewhat of a shock to learn that the
telegram referred to in the title reveals that
Krishna had a wife that he abandoned ten years
earlier and that she had recently died.
10. In spite of having convinced himself that she
had never meant much to him, he is troubled
by his inability to feel the sadness and
remorse typically associated with such a
tragedy.When it occurs to him that because
of choices he had made he was now totally
alone, disconnected from other people as
well as himself in any meaningful way, he finally
begins to feel his anger.As he rips apart the
telegram, he begins to cry.
11. Interpretation
The story,“telegram on the table”, indeed
begins with the title itself.
The telegram reveals his true identity.
Even though the telegram was meant for
Krishna, it didn’t evoke and kind of
reaction.
He didn’t care about its contents , may be
because Krishna was force to marry the
girl.
12. As the story draws to the end , he recalls
his home in the distant hills and how he
would gladly swap place with someone
there.At this juncture he reverts back to
the telegram with he had received weeks
before.The telegram which he had received
weeks before the telegram should have
caused him vexation, his heart should have
felt the deepest grief but his heart
remained frozen.
13. Pradhan has successfully maintained the
secrecy till the end about the message
contained by the telegram. But after a week
he finally realizes that he had become stone
hearted and emotional less person.Angry
with himself he starts to cry not as a
mourner but as a person unable to express
his feelings.
15. conlusion
The story,”The Telegram On TheTable”, is a clear
portrait of the conditions that many Nepalese
people have been facing in the society for a long
time.The incident of societal and family pressures
on individuals for marriage , the desires and goals
that individuals suppress and sacrifice due to
unwanted relations forced upon them, their secret
desires to follow the trends of immigration abroad
and the notion of lost identity and psychological
pressures are all evident in the society even today.
16. In this story Pradhan wants to convey
that family comes first and they can
never be obstacle for success. One can
never feel happy and hide his
emotions when he looses his near
dear ones..