पागल बस्ती [ PAGAL BASTI ] || सरु भक्त श्रेष्ठ [ Saru Bhakta Shrestha ] || Achyut Ghimire

Saru Bhakta ( सरु भक्त) is the pen name of Bhakta Raj Shrestha, a celebrated Nepalese novelist and poet and a winner of Madan puraskaar, the most prestigious literary honour in Nepal. He was born to Ganesh Bahadur Shrestha and Laxmi Shrestha in Bag Bazaar, Pokhara, Nepal and started writing around 1978. Many consider his novel Paagal Basti, to be a classic in Nepalese literature. Pagal Basti (Nepali: पागल बस्ती, 'Lunatics' Settlement') is a Nepali novel written by Saru Bhakta. It was published in 1991 by Sajha Prakashan. It won Nepal's foremost literary award, the Madan Puraskar. The story starts with narrator's journey to Ghandruk. Martha, the protagonist, is a teacher in Prithivi Narayan Campus. In her journey along with some other writers, she talks about Pashchimanchal Campus, a popular engineering college. The book is written in a simple language. However, the prose can be difficult to understand. The main characters in the story are (Adiguru) Prashant and (Adimata) Martha. The major focus of the book is the continuous changes that occur in the mental state of these two characters. Both of the characters are dissatisfied with each other and both feel guilty about their past. They have both started a journey of to end their dissatisfaction and face their guilt. Prashant, who had loved Martha has changed into Adiguru after her refusal. Martha realizes the value of love only after she rejects Prashant and she goes on a quest of finding him in the Adi village. But this time Prashant rejects her proposal and instead changes her into Adimata.