By Narayan Prasad Mishra
When I joined the Gorkhapatra Chhapakhana, the head office of this was the Department of Publicity and Broadcasting situated at Shinga Durbar. The director was Surendra Raj Sharma. Gorkhapatra Chhapakhana, the office of the newspaper Gorkhapatra and the Government Printing Press, as well as Radio Nepal, were under this Department. Later, it was divided into two departments – the Department of Publicity and the Department of Broadcasting. Narayan Prasad Banskota became the Director of Publicity, and Prakash Man Singh became the Director of Broadcasting. Our Chhapakhana was under the Department of Publicity. The existing Rashtriya Samachar Samity had not been established. That work was under the jurisdiction of the Department of Publicity. For this purpose, this Department had eight information centers in different districts for collecting news. These centers used to send the report to the Department by post. We opened the envelope. The drafting and making of the news was the responsibility of a section officer. But we, too, sometimes drafted the news based on the reports by the news centers. We were always taught to think to publish the news, whether it would not harm the nation and the people. I remember an incident when I drafted the news about the scarcity of salt in some districts. I was directed not to bring out that news because it would harm the people rather than good. The stockholders of salt would have more chances to play for raising the price. The Department brought out its news bulletin every day and distributed to the Royal Palace and the Prince’s offices, including the prime minister, all ministers, secretaries, and all the registered newspapers. The registering work of a new newspaper and giving government advertisements to the newspapers also was under this Department. Gorkhspatra Corporation also had not been established. The Rising Nepal, the English daily, had not been published. There were two Deputy Directors in the Publicity Department – Tirtha Raj Tuladhar and Ram Raj Poudel. Poudel looked after the administrative work. He was regarded as a clever and tactful person, whereas Tuladhar was an easy-going gentleman. He was regarded as the super best English translator. He used to translate mostly the Royal speeches, messages, and other booklets about the country needed for the publicity work. Sitting in front of his table, his assistant read the Nepali version. As soon as his assistant read it, he started telling the translated text as if he was a machine translator. He dictated to him, and his assistant wrote. I knew this because I watched him often. I had the impression that he had nothing to do more than that. I did not see him staying full time (10 am to 5 pm) in the office. He came the time as he wished and left the office when he wanted. It seemed his duty was to finish and get done the translation works. There was no time-bound for him working.
Director Banskota was considered a good, honest, competent, and benevolent administrator. He was very dedicated to his work and was strict in his administration. He was always good and kind to me. He loved me as if I was a member of his family – son, brother. I had an unforgettable memory of an incident related to him. After my job in the dispatch section of the Gorkhapatra, I was transferred to the general administration section there. The level of the manager was the section officer, gazetted third class. There was a Shubba under him responsible for account work – calculating and estimating the cost of printing, billing, account keeping, distributing the salary, etc. Though my position was not high in this hierarchy, I had a big responsibility and much work to do. Receiving the order of all the printing work from all the government offices – Royal Palace, ministries, departments, and other offices, getting them in print by mobilizing and supervising the compositors, pressman, bookbinder, and supplying, corresponding was one of it. Though I was not much of age and experience, I was doing my work to satisfy all the parties – clients, dozens of office staff, and my boss, supervisor, and colleges. I had excellent relations with the editorial staff too. Bhairav Aryal, the well-known satire and humor writer, was in the editorial section as the chief of Nepali articles and poem selection section. He was my good friend who inspired me to publish my poems in the Gorkhapatra. When I showed my notebook of poetry to him, he selected a few and published them in Gotkhapatra. The first poem titled Difficult Mystery (Garo Rahashya) was published in this paper on 19/01/ 1963 (2019/10/06/07). I think I got Rs 5 as remuneration for it. At that time, I was studying for a Bachelor of Arts in the Nepal National College. I had a new manager, my boss, named Ram Gopal Rajbhandari. He came to that position after Bhawani Raj Maskey. He, too, equally loved me as my former boss Maskey did. He was young and active. He trusted me like anything. He wanted me in the office even after office hours with an overtime allowance. But I was not ready for that as I had to go to the night time college just after five. He was pressuring me for it, not understanding my study, my problem. He needed a trustworthy person for accounting work also after office hours. The press was in run day and night. (24 hours ) Kulanath Acharya, the senior person who was there for the work, was transferred to the Department. The manager said to me,” Misharaji, I trust you so much. I love you. I need you. This is my order as your boss. You must stay after five for a few hours.”
Humbly, I requested him to understand my problem that I would not be able to stay in the office after five as I had to go for my education, which was more important than my job. He did not want to listen to me. I was in dismay. To my surprise, the next day when I went to the office, the manager was so mad with me and said,” I loved you. I trusted you. But you betrayed me. Despite my love and trust, you complained against me to the director. He said many more, which he should not have.”
I did not know anything about it. I never complained against him. After a few hours, I came to know that there was a letter from the director for my transfer from that office to the Department. So, he assumed I complained. The next day I went to the Department and saw the director. As soon as I greeted him, he said,” Babu! It seems you made Ram Gopal very happy with your work. He came to request me to cancel your transfer letter. He wants you very much. He said he would be in trouble without you. I came to know about pressurizing you to be in the office after office hours and about your night study. That is why I am bringing you here to my office. I know how active and sincere you are. Do the work as you have been doing and continue your study as usual.”
I was thrilled to hear from him about this. I was so happy with him. I never thought someone would be so thoughtful about the cause of a person who was not so close to him. What a kind-hearted, considerate person he was. After working with him, I came to know more about him. Though I did not have a chance to be with him after leaving the government job and went to the university, I always admired his love and kindness to me and his very active, honest, sincere, and competent unparalleled service to the Department of Publicity. To my record, I had a double promotion during my four and a half years period of my working in that office. I became a good friend of Ramesh Bikal, the well-known story writer, novelist, and the winner of Madan Puraskar though he was much senior to me by age. He was there as an editor, one level higher post than me but a temporary position. His job was to bring out the Bikash Patrika (Development Magazine ), a monthly magazine published by the Department. The Department had a Documentary as well as Photo Section. It is a joy to remember the past days of my life, which is related to the history of the country’s publicity and broadcasting.
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