-Sumal Kumar Gururng
1. Tribute and Homage to Gurkhas, the First Non Resident Nepalese. He loves his country best who strives to make it best as a true patriot. We have a series of historical facts about those personalities, the Non Resident Nepalese, who always dreamt of Nepal’s betterment and displayed their utmost dedication for the cause of motherland. They are the one who really loved Nepal and always thought for the development of Nepal. In order to refresh the memories, what our forefathers had done for us, for the motherland, without any compromise being a great Gurkha, I extend salute to those true sons and daughters of Nepal as a tribute and homage for their noble work for the motherland through the contents outlined in the succeeding paragraphs.

2. Victoria Cross Winners, Pride of Nepal. “Kafar hunubhanda marnu niko” – “It is better to die than to be a coward”. The above sentence reflects the image of Gurkhas which can be simply described as “ the dedicated warriors”, “happy and cheerful men” and remarkably known as “Johny Gurkha”, are proud and content to be the most fearsome reputed soldiers, and capable of finding humor in the adverse situations. Stories of our ancestors are epithet of courage, valor, supreme sacrifice and awe inspiring which glorified our nation. They had built our true nationhood. A saga of valor and sacrifice is a contemporary endeavor to connect our new generation with the glorious Gurkhas history. Goodwill is the mightiest practical force in the universe and these qualities have always been strengthening the motives of Gurkhas ever since. The Gurkhas always have been at the forefront to serve nation and will remain until eternity.

Victoria Cross is the most honored and prestigious award for valor and heroism in the line of duty awarded by the British Government. Victoria Cross winners, with total disregard for their own safety, in the face of enemy with a conspicuous display of bravery, showed zenith of laurels by becoming icon in the history of great wars and represented Nepal as a land of brave soldiers. They have won 13 Victoria Crosses, along with other important military awards, which authenticates their heroism and we accept them as shining stars in the Gurkha history for ever. No country has produced soldiers of such renown as the Gurkhas. Song of their courage will sing until eternity. I earnestly bow with respect them for their valor and raise my hand to salute these heroes, pride of Nepal.

2. The Gurkhas and Origin in Brief. The treaty of Sugauli (1816) developed mutual respect and admiration between the Britain and Nepal. The Gurkhas, originally named after the small principality Gorkha of west Nepal (now a district) from where emerged a warrior king, Prithvi Narayan Shahadev (1769-1775) who had taken over the area of modern Nepal and united in one nation. The warriors from this tiny kingdom were called Gorkhali or Gurkhas. The impression given by these hilly warriors during the two consecutive years war with East India Company (1814-1816), British had designated them as a martial race, brave and well built for fighting that were thought to be the fittest in all terrain whole over the world. The British recruited from these Martial Races for centuries and still the trend is on. The successful mission of controlling the colonized areas by the British was fulfilled through these brave Gurkhas. The Gurkhas have loyally fought in nearly all of the world’s major wars for nearly two centuries and have earned Britain’s highest service honors.

3. First recorded NRN in the history. There should be a positive effect on the people’s perception for the deeds of First NRNs, the Gurkhas. With the epic conflict in his mind, self dignity, who had engraved the history with golden letters as a brave of bravest, Bir (Brave) Bal Bhadra Kuwar had left Nepal to join the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab (India) immediately after the treaty of Sugauli in the year 1816. Presumably, this is the first recorded in the history as NRN.

4. Contribution of Gurkhas (NRNs) in nation building through remittance. We have to live to honor everything those people fought for, and to preserve what they fought for, and gave their lives for our motherland. They were not hungry for name and fame nor expected the limelight which has now been recognized as a brave Gurkha. The Gurkhas who surprised the whole world as a fierce warrior, undaunted supreme human icons meant for Nepal are not yet fully honored and acknowledged by the state (both Nepal and Britain). They were the first Non Resident Nepalis (NRNs), the Gurkhas who contributed the development of motherland in many ways. The whole socio economic impact of Nepal would not have substantiated without the contribution of these heroes. Words cannot describe the feeling and soul of those first NRNs who paved the way for the betterment of motherland with financial contribution since last two centuries.

5. Importance of NRNs and recognition. Nepalese need more of the attitude of dedication for the country. Service to others is the highest possible thing that we can do and get appreciated. We have to work together to make life better for other people and lessons must be learnt from these selfless NRNs. In true sense, these NRNs left the country to make life better for the people of Nepal. There are certainly great expectations, and one of those expectations is that services for our veterans and programs to commemorate their achievements earned by them as an icon to identify the Gurkhas in the world. Thanks to Capt Ek Narayan Gurung (Founder Chairman of the Gurkha Memorial Museum) whose vision and efforts worked out and finally erected an historic Gurkha Memorial Museum in Pokhara, Nepal.

6. Conclusion. Beginning with few thousands of Gurkhas, at present, it has been anticipated more than 2 million NRNs are living outside Nepal in more than 57 different countries of the world. At third quarter of twentieth century a good number of brain drain and blue collar NRNs started their journey to other parts of the world to seek job and strengthen their poor financial status. The country has been facing in a financial turmoil since few years, it was the NRNs who supported Nepal with huge remittance of money and how long the trend will remain no one can predict.

–(The article was published in Souvenier of 3rd NRN Global Conference, however, the writer felt it to be published again to understand the cause of NRN and its objective. Global NRN should not involve in Party Politics of Nepal)