KATHMANDU: “Sheela”, as she calls herself, is veritably the epitome of passion, patience and perseverance. Earning raves for her recital at school and college functions, she has also won the Ratna Rajya award.

She has straddled being a teacher, a social worker and at the same time been a passionate wife and doting mother. “In fact, being a teacher helped me a lot as it made me see things more closely than I rather would,” says Unnati Bohara, whose recently released album Pharki aau Shanti Timi has shot her to fame. It focuses on the need for reconciliation and peace.

She would have loved to write about love and feminine sentiments, but “peace and security are the need of the hour and it’s impossible to enjoy the bliss of life while naked terror stalks your corridors”.

Her earlier albums are Yadaima, Lahar, Bhul Bhayo Ma Bata. Apart from winning national accolades ranging from ‘Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu fourth’ to ‘Nari Sahitya Pratisthan Samman’ to ‘Rastriya Nari Samman’ to ‘Harati Samman’, a dozen eminent singers like Pattheman, Prem Dhoj Pradhan, Yogesh Baidhaya, Prakash Shrestha, Bhupendra Singh, Udit Narayan, Kuamar Sanu and Anuradha Paudwal are only too eager to lend their music and voice to her words.

Sheela adds artistes need to come out of their closets and do something for society and nation. Besides being a popular woman lyricist, she has written a plethora of children’s poems, short stories with many novels in the pipeline. She particularly likes to talk about Shikka Ka Dui Pata, which is about a woman’s search for identity.

Bohara acquired the craft of writing in a family, where poetry wafted through coffee tables and living rooms. But she would rather believe an artist is born with an innate talent, and given favourable circumstances can flourish into perfection. She also believes in forces beyond our control — she found her mouldy manuscripts in a dusty closet that rekindled her writing skill embers. “Had I not retrieved that diary when we shifted, I would never have excavated that lay buried within me.”

Of course, her journey hasn’t been that simple. “But life is the most precious gift of God. Hitting rough patches helps you learn tough lessons and celebrate it the best way.”