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OBITUARY |
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OBITUARY |
Country And Commitment As a leading scholar,
diplomat and civil servant, Devendra Raj Upadhya made enormous contributions to the nation By A CORRESSPONDENT Devendra Raj Upadhya, who passed away at
the age of 76 last month after a long ailment, spent his entire his life serving Nepal in
different parts of the world. He served 25 years in the civil service and foreign service
and met many well-known personalities. Few Nepalese had such a vast experience.
Representing Nepal at the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as UNESCO,
UNCTAD and ECAFE, Upadhya traveled far and wide to negotiate on various issues. He visited
four land-locked countries like Nepal to see how they acquired vital transit rights.
Born in Sakhada in Saptari district,
Upadhya went to different parts of the world for higher education. He studied at
Tri-Chandra College and Indian universities and was trained in the United States as well. Upadhya taught at Nepal Law College and the
Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands. He played an important role during Nepal's
first election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 1968.
For the next four years, he served as the first chief of the Nepalese mission in Thailand.
During the course of his diplomatic and other official assignments, Upadhya traveled to
more than two dozen countries. Upadhya, who played very important roles
under King Mahendra and during the early part of King Birendra's reign, largely remained
out of public view since retirement in 1976. Besides serving as a visiting professor at
Tribhuvan University's Center For Nepal and Asian Studies and as a senior research fellow
at Center for Economic and Development Administration, he spent time writing on such
diverse topics as religion, philosophy, national and international affairs. In 1988, King
Birendra appointed Upadhya a member of the Royal Nepal Academy. He joined most other
members in resigning from the RNA after the political change of 1990. A prominent expert on Nepal's relations
with India and China, Upadhya was completely ignored by the new dispensation. Few people
knew of his abilities and knowledge about Nepal and its neighbors. Upadhya wrote several
books and articles on his wide experience, some of which are still highly relevant to the
national context. From the media to administration and from
diplomacy to academia, Upadhya had a wide range of knowledge and experience. Although he
spent his final years in poor health, he retained a remarkable mental storehouse of
information about the country and the contemporary world. Upadhya wrote books on the evolution of
democratic thought, the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Buddha's teachings and trade relations of
landlocked countries, among other subjects. Among his important literary contributions are
translations into Nepali of King Oedipus and the works of Urdu poets Mir, Ghalib, Iqbal
and Faiz. His last book "Sabhyata Ko Dosandh Ma" (At The Crossroads of
Civilization), published in 1995, provides a synopsis of his life and times. DAULAT BIKRAM
BISTA The death of Daulat Bikram Bista, a
colossus of Nepalese literature, has created a acuum that transcends the genre he towered
over. Known for his powerful novels, Bista hovered over the literary scene in a way few of
his contemporaries did. Even after retirement from the civil
service, Bista quietly continued enriching Nepalese literature. His novels and short
stories picked up seemingly insignificant matters and elaborated them into gripping
narratives. In a social setting where every other
person sought something from the state, Bista had few desires or regrets. For him, life
was fulfilling as it came. Father of renowned pop singer Om Bikram Bista, he was a paragon
of simple living and high thinking. A sad feature of contemporary Nepal is that
the contributions of geniuses tend to be forgotten once they pass away. Bista, however,
was not distracted by such concerns. In a recent interview with Channel Nepal, Bista used
an emphatic 'no' to answer the reporter's question on whether he expected a reciprocal
award from the state for his contributions. "I don't have any complaints against the
state. I never wrote in search of awards." Nepalese literature has lost a luminary
whose mastery over writing and narrating remained unchallenged. "We have lost a great
man. I don't think we can find the person of his stature, ideas and style of
writing," said Govinda Bahadur Malla Gothale, a literary contemporary. "He
continued to follow his own way in enriching Nepalese literature." Literature is the lifeblood of the nation
which masters like Bista have nurtured through decades of creativity and patience, leaving
a legacy a pride for posterity. |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
