By D.M. Thapa
Though I came to know him much later, it was some coincidence that we studied in the same school. Perhaps fate had already decided that we should meet later in life.
Of course, this man was senior to me by several years and several classes as well. But this was one person who influenced me much in my journalistic career and also in my behaviour for many years. This man was the late Shrish Shumsher Rana who died recently due to illness.
I knew about his illness, but still, I thought of him as invincible and a man who would last for a long, long time to come. But alas, I had to hear the sad news from my brother Dr Kulesh, who was a friend of Rana’s brother Sanathan.
Rana used to run two popular weeklies, a vernacular called ‘Manas’ and an English weekly called the National Star, but I got to know him from close when he became the Executive Chairman and General Manager of the Gorkhapatra Corporation when I was a mere sub-editor in The Rising Nepal.
As I remember the man, I want to only remember the good times we had and the cherished moments I shared with him. The first time was when I came back from the United States of America after going through gruelling journalism training there. That was the time when India, to put pressure on the then panchayat government, had imposed a harsh embargo, closing most of the border points from which Nepal imported essential goods needed direly by the common people of this country. I thought this was a very unfair move of India and I wanted to hear something from top-level US officials regarding this unfair move. Though this was not my assignment there, I forced myself into the US State Department and made a senior official say something about this situation in Nepal. The official was very sympathetic and said the things which this young reporter wanted to hear and I promptly went to the Nepali Embassy in Washington DC to tell them to fax this news to Nepal. The lethargic ambassador and other staff were not too happy, though it was their duty to do what I was doing. But in the end, I became successful and I was very proud to see that both the vernacular Gorkhapatra and The Rising Nepal published the news with my byline on their front pages.
After I came back to Nepal, instead of accepting the requests of several people who wanted to give me jobs in respected publications back in the US, I realized how little I was being paid by the Corporation and it is also true that I had spent a lot of US dollars while travelling to the State Department from my hotel and then to the Nepali embassy and so on and so forth for several days. I still can feel why our diplomacy has failed, because even at that time of the panchayat system, a so-called ‘intellectual’ was appointed as the ambassador to such a vital post in Washington. But he had never taken even one step to solve the problem between Nepal and India by lobbying in some way in influencing American politicians and other officials. Nothing has changed in any way even now and only cadres or those offering bribes are being appointed as envoys of Nepal in foreign lands, where they should actually be making efforts to promote Nepal and not be satisfied only with the dollar income they made. The Foreign Ministry officials are no less guilty, though they proudly claim they are ‘professional’ diplomats.
But to end my own story and come back to the magnanimity of late Rana, in those days the daily allowance for a junior guy like me was only about two hundred rupees per day. But I doubt whether I received that facility or not. So when I came back I thought it would not be unfair to at least ask for the taxi fare while writing reports for the publications for the Corporation. It seems there was a huge uproar among the administration department workers and also board members, who flatly refused to release the sum I had demanded, which was quite fair keeping in mind the cost of one US dollar against our own Nepali rupee. It was only through the single efforts of Shrish Dai that I was given money which was honestly spent, that also when doing a duty for the Corporation, which I could have ignored. Only late Rana realized the hardships I had gone through for the cause of the nation.
There is no doubt this man had a vision and he also was very honest, so much so that he virtually turned the Gorkhapatra from a tottering institution to an institution which made more than twenty million rupees profit within less than two years. And he did this almost single-handedly. But after his tenure, this robust institution has gone from bad to worse and even now it has huge loans and the government has to bail it out.
We will talk more about his honesty and moral values, but before that let me say just something about the good vibes we shared, because of our own belief in money matters and national integrity. He has come to my house a few times, but he used to invite me to his house more often. His family was so good, they never spared any effort in serving the best of dishes when we were there. Mostly Pushpa Raj Pradhan, the publisher and editor of this weekly was with me on such occasions.
One more thing, with all my respects to Sjrish Dai’s family members, specially his wife and two dear sons, it would be most miserly of me to not mention his romantic life. The plus point is, he never boasted or said anything about the ‘conquests’ he had made, unlike many other men I know, including one boss of Shrish Dai. He was always demure and he just smiled when Pushpa tried to goad him to tell some secrets. I cannot tell much, because, like all, I don’t know anything about his private life when he was young.
But there is no doubt he was a real gentleman. This I can say from his behavior to everyone in his own home and also on social occasions when we drank with strangers. This is a rare goodness found in any person, specially if they have some power, but Shrish Dai was the same person even when he became a powerful minister and he treated everyone with courtesy.
But before we go about the honesty part and also the honesty of the journalists who surrounded him, I cannot help but mention the seriousness with which he took nationalism. There were many other leaders, who considered themselves closer to the then-kings, but Shrish Dai never did what these other leaders did. He simply was satisfied to call himself a ‘patriot’. Others betrayed the former king, but Shrish Dai stuck to his guns and also never asked for any favours. Instead, he spent millions to unite the country and make it peaceful and harmonious. Apart from others, I admire this quality of his.
Now to come to his honesty, he never took even a paisa in bribe, instead, he gave away money as charity to others. He did this same thing with the so-called mainstream media persons as well. Unfortunately, not many months later after the revolution of 2006, the list of the journalists who took money from the ministry he headed was made public. Many people may have thought persons like me would come at the front of the list, but no, it was the so-called revolutionary journalists who had taken such money. I can say with pride I did not take even a paisa from this benevolent man, despite my closeness to him. I know only another man, veteran journalist Khildhoj Thapa, who refused to take a cheque magnanimously given to him by an accountant in the ministry. I salute him.
Then there was another time when a top businessman in the country approached me to take some people to meet Minister Rana. I willingly did so and Dai was kind enough to call them to his house. I was there myself when these two fellows, both Italians, but who represented two huge companies, offered some funds for Shrish Dai’s party. With a nod of his head, Dai could have earned billions, but he politely refused the offer and sent them on their way. I was a witness to this occasion. Later I came to know these two took the first plane out of Kathmandu and made a deal in Bangladesh. They were in the telecommunication business.
I am also no spring chicken now, I have been in the media sector for more than four decades, so I have met and hobnobbed with many people as well as political leaders, but I can say with seriousness, a few of them might have been sincere to do something, but I cannot say the same about their honesty. Money always makes them blink their eyes and look at the other side even if the nation was being looted to the core.
I thank Pushpa for giving me more space to write this piece than which I am allowed, but I could write many more pages regarding the good sides of this man who has left us earlier than we expected. I understand the sense of loss his family must be feeling right now and I hardly have any words to console them. Furthermore, as I am very weak physically and also ill in health, I really regret that I could not meet him at the last hours. But within myself, I don’t hesitate to say that I would always like to see Shrish Dai in a happy mood with old-time melodies playing in his musical system and thus I would never be able to see a helpless person lying in a hospital bed. But with the loss of Shrish Rana, the nation has truly lost a real ‘patriot’. As a last word of condolence I would like to say, he was a real journalist and a gentleman.
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