Ram Narayan Kandangwa
The British government established the British Gurkhas Headquarter (BGH), Nepal, in 1953, in Dharan. At the time, the Brigade of Gurkhas was based in Malaya and its strength was nearly 25,000. The BGH naturally surged financial and other activities in and around Dharan as a large number of British-Gurkha soldiers used to go abroad and come in on furlough via this BGH. But as time passed, the city life began to attract retired British Gurkha soldiers and they began to settle in Dharan, rather than going back to their ancestral villages. This settlement trend reached its climax during the early 1990s, when Britain made hundreds of serving Gurkhas redundant. As the population of retired British and Indian Gurkha soldiers in Dharan grew extremely large, it began to be popularly known as “Lahureko Sahar” (city of Gurkhas) both inside Nepal and out. But Dharan took a different shape than other cities in Nepal.
The Gurkhas built beautiful modern houses and took pleasure in things like flowers and gardens. They also showed great interest and enthusiasm for constructing roads in their respective areas. The peaceful new residential areas of Dharan—with beautiful houses, wonderfully maintained gardens and clean tarmac roads—bear striking resemblance to cities like Paris or London, not a city in Nepal. In fact, if one looks at Dharan from a hill top, s/he undoubtedly feels that it’s a city of gardens.
All of this was made possible by the enthusiasm of the Gurkhas. They have shown that if the government doesn’t deliver, the people can. So far, about 90 kilometers road in the city is black-topped and only very few are non-tarmac. With their proactive role in community building and with generous financial assistance, many ward offices, schools, police posts, temples, statues, basketball pitches, and stadiums have been built and refurbished by the retired soldiers and their communities. Even the clock tower in the heart of Dharan, which has stood as an august object of the city, was put up by the community itself. And three community forests are maintained with much recreational facilities.
The list goes on, and on. The situation is now such that the officials and common folk from other municipalities actually come to see Dharan, as an example of how a city can be built through community work ethics.But these elderly, but enthusiastic Gurkhas were not satisfied by engaging only in the sectors mentioned above. They have purchased an eight-hectare land on Machhamara hill, which lies just nine kilometers west from Dharan, to construct a British-Gurkha Memorial Park. The major reasons for building the park are to commemorate and honour the Gurkhas who died, have been wounded, maimed or disappeared while fighting for Britain in the last two centuries, and simply to develop the lovely hill as a tourist destination and, among others, to enhance awareness in people about the environment and ecology. It is a quite ambitious project; the brainchild of a retired British Gurkha soldier, Ramesh Kaji Rai.
It is to be noted that this land, was barren, bumpy and unattractive. Today, there is a tree plantation, supply of drinking water and a a superb garden named Maichungchha. A nice looking main gate, eight resting platforms, seven picnic spots have already been constructed and four modern holiday homes have also been built for overnight stays. The money has come from the pockets of the Gurkha citizens of the area. This is just an example of the spirit that these men and women have towards community-building and nation-building. So far they have been alone in their quest, but just imagine the possibilities if other communities and the government were to support such endeavours.
The retired elderly Gurkhas have shown superb, selfless, inspiring and worth-emulating values in Dharan. They are not all millionaires, as people in Kathmandu often assume. In fact, they themselves are the victims of age-old British discriminations. They too, have their own tales of woes, and their movement for equality and justice is still on-going. But when it comes to community building, it is a matter of culture and thinking tendencies. If others follow the footsteps of this community, development and prosperity may not be as distant as many think in Nepal. Perhaps our leaders should learn a few lessons from these old men and women of this little city called Dharan.
Published on: 25 April 2012 | The Kathmandu Post
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