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Birth: 10 Oct 1947, Siraha

Death: 20 Aug 2022, Lalitpur

I met Pradip Giri in person in early 2020, at a protest against the government decision to slap 10 percent customs duty on imported books. We were holding a petition-signing event and had invited students, readers and scholars who considered books an important part of their lives. He was among the handful of prominent figures to show up at the program organized by a loose group of students. Very few youth political leaders were in attendance. But Giri, a Nepali Congress veteran widely hailed as a socialist thinker, was there.

To say we were honored by his presence would be an understatement. The intellectual leader was forthright and funny. Finding himself in the midst of smartphone-wielding, selfie-taking youths, he asked, with a smile on face, if we were organizing the event just as a social media stunt. He also wanted to know about our favorite books and authors.  

Giri peppered us with questions about books and literature that day, and we tried, as best we could, to satisfy his curiosity. After listening to us, he suggested what books and authors we should read.  He seemed pleased that the reading culture had not died in Nepal, and that the youths—not the scholars, writers, or civil society members—were leading the protest against the book tax.

When we informed Giri that the police had detained us twice for protesting. He advised us to keep protesting, no matter what. “To safeguard democracy, you have to keep up pressure on those in power,” he told us. “Your bottom line should be the fulfillment of your demand—don’t settle for anything less.” We were a fairly small group standing up against the powers that be. His vote of confidence gave us courage to persevere.  

“Democracy is not just about the majority. Each voice must be heard,” Giri used to say on the parliament floor and at public gatherings. He championed the cause of minorities—and why he had decided to show up at our protest that day.   He wanted competent young people to lead the country, and so he would visit youth-led campaigns to motivate them.  

Within his own party, he was in favor of young leaders taking leadership. This made him an outlier among his party peers. Yes, Giri was a Congress leader but he always stood for the right cause, even if it meant going against his own party.  A strong advocate of socialism, Giri was a strong supporter of non-violence, yet in his view, the decade-long Maosit movement was the base of ensuring the rights of Madhesis, Dalits and women. 

When Nepal promulgated the new constitution in 2015, he defied the party whip and refused to endorse the charter, arguing that it did not address the concerns of Madhesi people. Nepali Congress did not punish him for the disobedience. 

Born into a political family in Siraha district, Giri was introduced to politics in his late teens. He went to Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, where he made many friends who went on to become top politicians. He himself eschewed executive roles throughout his political career, for which he was applauded by one and all in Nepal, a country that has had more than enough power-hungry politicians.  

During his student years in India, he was highly influenced by the socialist movement of Jayprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia.  Giri was a highly learned man, whose interests ranged from politics to theology to philosophy. He was a politician, a public intellect, a thinker and a champion of the downtrodden. We are all poorer for his death. 

Birth: 29 May 1924, Kavre
Death: 3 August 2022, Kavre 

Gopaldas Bade, a Nepali Congress leader who championed the Gandhian philosophy of truth, non-violence and service to humanity all his life, passed away on August 3. He was 98.

The last of the surviving first-generation Congress leaders from Kavre district, Bade was born into a well-to-do family and had a relatively comfortable childhood. His priority was never money. He instead believed in living a simple life and serving people. 

At a young age of 17, Bade traveled to India to become a resident of Gandhi’s ashram in Gujarat, where he stayed for six months. Tulsi Mehar Shrestha, a close aide to Gandhi, was a friend of Bade’s elder brother Rajdas. It was through this connection that Bade became one of the few Nepalis to learn about politics, philosophy and ways of living under the Mahatma himself. 

Bade regarded his time at Gandhi’s ashram as “a divine grace” and would champion Gandhi’s ideology all his life. At the ashram, he also met prominent Indian scholars, politicians and reformers including Madan Mohan Malaviya, Vinoba Bhave and Kaka Kalelkar. The influence of these individuals also shaped Bade’s political and social thoughts. 

After returning to Nepal, Bade became active in politics alongside his brother. It was the time of absolute Rana rule when party politics and democratic movements were being squelched. 

Bade began attending the clandestine meetings of Nepali Congress both in Nepal and India. In this period, he also built close relations with the party’s top leaders including BP Koirala and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. Once, he even hosted the leaders, both wanted by the authorities at the time, in his Kavre home before escorting them safely to Kathmandu in a secret political mission. 

“Bade’s home in Kavre used to be a safe house and the party’s office,” says Ramhari Khatiwada, a Congress leader. 

After Rajdas died young in a plane crash, Bade took it upon himself to realize his elder brother’s dream of becoming a freedom fighter, for which the Ganeshman Singh Foundation honored him with the title of ‘Prajatantra Senani’ in 2020.

Though Bade remained active in politics most of his life, he always considered social service his priority. (He was a Gandhian after all.)   

He was involved in many charity and social works in his district, mainly his hometown Banepa and is credited with laying the town’s modern foundation.

He is survived by two sons and daughters each. 

Ram Kumar Bhaukaji, a painter who chose to remain away from the public eye all his life, passed away on July 21. He was 71. 

Born in Ramechhap district, Bhaukaji was drawn to art from an early age. He had an innate instinct for art, says his brother Bimal. “He liked to draw and paint anything and everything around him.” 

Bhaukaji was an introvert and expressed himself largely through his paintings. “He was different from everyone else in the family. Art was his escape and his only companion,” adds Bimal.     

It became apparent that Bhaukaji was destined to become an artist when he held his first exhibition in his hometown of Sanghutar, Ramechhap, on March 7 and 8 in 1973. Six years later, he went on to exhibit his painting collection titled ‘My Nepal’ at Nepal-Bharat Pustakalaya (then known as Nepal-Bharat Sanskrit Kendra) in Kathmandu—an event which was inaugurated by BP Koirala. 

In the 1980s, he went to Moscow, Russia, to study fine arts and returned with a doctoral degree in 1987. He continued to paint and exhibit his works after coming back to Nepal.

Despite gaining considerable renown as an artist, Bhaukaji was never comfortable with fame. He never sold his paintings and left behind nearly 3,000 of his works to his family.

“He used to give away his paintings as gifts but he simply refused to sell them,” says Bimal. “Art for him was the purest form of passion and expression. It was never about making money.”

Bhaukaji lived his life doing what he loved the most and never expected anything in return. He even rejected awards and positions. He had famously turned down Araniko Puraskar and the position of chief of the Nepal Academy of Fine Arts.

Bimal calls his artist brother “the most authentic person” he has known.

During his lifetime, Bhaukaji also wrote numerous articles on art, culture and history. In 2021, he published three books, ‘Juddhakala Pathsala’, ‘Shrasta Kulmansingh Bhandari’ and ‘Nepali Kalakar Ko Samasya’.

Bhaukaji led a carefree life and remained a lifelong bachelor. Painting was all he cared about. “He survived on just tea and biscuits for days, all the while transfixed in his work,” says Bimal.  

Bhaukaji’s health had started deteriorating in recent years following a diagnosis of prostate cancer. He passed away at his New Baneshwor residence after a long illness. He is survived by his family—and his priceless paintings.

Shambhu Tamang, a noted mountaineer who held the record of the world’s youngest Everest climber for 28 years, died on July 7 after a long battle with cancer. He was 69.

Born in Sindhupalchowk district, Tamang developed a fascination for climbing mountains as a young boy. He used to see Sherpas pass through his village on climbing expeditions and wonder what it would be like to be on top of a mountain summit. This fascination became a passion when Tamang visited Italy to learn Italian at the age of 14.

“Mountains never left him even in Italy. There, too, he got to see mountains as well as mountain conservation works, which fuelled his dream of becoming a professional climber. He learned to climb while in Italy,” says Tamang’s wife Karuna Lama.

On 5 May 1973, Tamang summited Everest to become the youngest person—at 17 years, six months and 15 days—to set foot on the world’s highest peak. The Guinness World Records duly recognized his feat, which remained unbroken for 28 years until Temba Tsheri Sherpa, another Nepali climber, made a successful ascent of Everest at the age of 16 in 2001.   

Lama says her husband did not set out to climb Everest with the intention of making a record.

“He was simply pursuing his passion. He had the courage and the will to turn his passion into reality,” she says.

Tamang’s love for mountaineering and mountains only grew after the Everest expedition. He was aware of the problems faced by Nepali mountaineers and Sherpas and wanted to help them.

“He wanted to impart better training skills on mountaineers and carry out mountain preservation works in Nepal,” says Nima Nuru Sherpa, the president of Nepal Mountaineering Association. Tamang was one of the founding members of the association and its lifelong advisor.

Besides his contribution to promoting mountaineering and supporting mountaineers in Nepal, Tamang was also generous in other areas of life. He was a helpful and humble person by nature, says his wife Lama. “He always put others first, a quality that was admired by his friends and family alike,” she adds.

Tamang had for long been suffering from cancer and his condition had been steadily deteriorating. He passed away while undergoing treatment at the Nepal Cancer Hospital and Research Center in Harisiddhi, Lalitpur. Tamang is survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter.