When two top business executives meet, the discussion will usually focus on business and economy. However, in the latest edition of Tavern Tales on Wednesday, Sujeev Shakya, CEO of Beed Management, and Sujit Mundal, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, both shared their passion for books, literature and creativity.
Shakya and Mundal have many things in common. Both have written two books and both write newspaper columns. While Shakya writes on hardcore economic and business matters, Mundal prefers to pen poems. Shakya’s second book, Unleashing Nepal: Past, Present and Future of Economy, has been much appreciated. Mundal has recently published his second collection of poems Confluence.
During the discussion, moderator Kumudini Shrestha put various questions to Mundal and Shakya about how they were attracted to a totally different world, literature.
According to Mundal, his childhood days when he grew up surrounded by books were an inspiration to him. “Art and literature, creativity overall is like fresh air for me. I grew up with books around me,” said Mundal.
Shakya said that he understood the value of reading in his early childhood which instilled the hobby of writing in him.
Mundal, originally from Kolkata, read a lot of Bengali literature in his childhood; while Shakya found it very easy to analyse Nepali society with Indra Bahadur Rai’s Aja Ramita Cha.
“Creativity has a lot to do with day-dreaming and childhood experiences. Thus, it is very important to develop the reading habit in children,” said Shrestha, moderator of the programme.