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Birth: 1951, Palpa
Death: 2021, Bangkok

These days, Kathmandu valley is brimful with fast-food joints. It was a completely different case three decades ago, when, in 1991, Shyam Sunderlal Kakshapati established the first ‘The Bakery Café’ outlet at Teendhara. In doing so, he laid the first pillar of Nepal’s fast food culture.

The trailblazing businessman and co-founder of the famed Nanglo Restaurant, Kakshapati passed away on August 9 at a hospital in Bangkok. There, Kakshapati, 70, had been undergoing treatment for oral cancer for the past four months.

Kakshapati was born in Palpa district, into a family involved in garment and retail business. After his father’s death, the family moved to Kathmandu. It was here that he ventured into the businesses that would come to define him.

In his mid-teens, he opened Sam’s Grocery Shop at Ratnapark. The shop thrived as its candies and orange juice became sought-after novelties.

By this time, he had recognized that Nepal didn’t have a restaurant-going culture. So in 1973, a determined Kakshapati set up Cafe de Park, right next to Ranipokhari. It soon became a popular hang-out for young college students. In 1976, along with his brother Gopal, he started Nanglo at Durbarmarg.

The restaurant became popular among Kathmandu’s residents as it catered to a diverse clientele, hosting families and businessmen. Five years later, he started the popular Nanglo Chinese Room as well. Nanglo’s success over the years resulted in its expansion in and outside Kathmandu valley. Then came The Bakery Café.

In 1997, Kakshapati broke with tradition to employ 12 people with hearing disabilities at the café’s New Baneshwor outlet—having trained them himself. The chain now has nine outlets and over 40 hearing-impaired employees.

The man behind the Riverside Spring Resort in Kurintar was elected the president of the Hotel Association of Nepal in 2012.

Kakshapati spearheaded other ventures as well, albeit with comparably less success. The Nanglo Bazaar, a supermarket at Putalisadak, was a failed venture, as were his yellow Hyundai taxis that he introduced in Kathmandu in 1994. His Shuvatara School had to be shut this May after being buffeted by Covid-19 lockdowns. 

Kakshapati shall be remembered as an astute restaurateur and a driven businessman who left an indelible mark on Nepal’s restaurant culture. He is survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter.

Birth: 30 April 1937, Kathmandu
Death: 21 July 2021, Kathmandu

King Tribhuvan had for some obscure reason sent his father into exile. This is why Uttam Nepali, accompanying his father, lived and studied in Lucknow, India, along with the rest of the family.

It was in the city of the Nawabs that Nepali developed his taste for all forms of art, including painting and acting. After completing grade ten, he ran from his family home to go to Mumbai for acting classes. Having established a decent network in Mumbai, Nepali was looking forward to starting his career in Bollywood when his family members found him and brought him home.

He also didn’t get his family’s support for his other passion, painting. His businessman father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and let go of his passion for art. Although father was not convinced, Nepali convinced his mother to send him to the College of Arts and Crafts, Lucknow, and later to the prestigious Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (JJ) School of Art, Mumbai.

In 1959, after completing his studies in India, Nepali came to Kathmandu, which would become his new home and workplace, to launch his career as an artist. He debuted with an exhibition at the Tri-Chandra College.

Nepali is widely hailed for promoting solo exhibitions. Before him, only famed artists organized solo exhibits. Nepali taught his juniors the essence of art at various workshops and encouraged them to organize solo shows.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Nepali made a name for himself by employing modernist forms like expressionism, abstractionism, expressionism, and surrealism, and incorporating traditional Nepali themes, paper, and color. This would define his whole body of art for years to come. He organized 13 solo exhibitions in his lifetime, including in India, Bangladesh, Japan, South Korea, the Soviet Union, and Australia.

King Mahendra was his patron and well-wisher. For the king’s ‘Gau farka’ (Return to the village) campaign, Nepali prepared paintings to encourage people to develop their villages.

Meanwhile, Nepali found time to fulfill his desire to act in a movie. In fact, he made it to the silver screen twice: ‘Aama’ (1964) and ‘Hijo Aaaj Bholi’ (1964). Apart from that, Nepali also published his poem collection—Uttam Nepalika Kavitaharu.

In 2000, he was granted lifetime membership of the Nepal Academy.

A long-time heart patient Nepali died of cardiovascular complications on July 21 at a hospital in Kathmandu. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and two daughters.

Birth: 15 June 1947, Gulmi
Death: 15 July 2021, Kathmandu

There are perhaps only a handful of Nepali politicians who think well of their political foes. Ashok Kumar Thapa, chairperson of Gulmidarbar Rural Municipality, was one of them.

After the 2017 local government elections, the municipalities of the Gulmi district were dominated by representatives from CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center). Gulmidarbar was the only municipality in the district that elected chairperson as well as four of seven ward chairs from the Nepali Congress.

Following the elections, everyone thought that a political tussle would ensue between Thapa, the lone Congress chairperson, and other representatives. But nothing of the sort happened.

Thapa allocated more budget (almost double) to the communist-led wards compared to those led by his party. His fellow party members criticized him for this, but he argued that the budget was being allocated considering the wards’ needs.

Thapa was also known for treating officials, bureaucrats, and the whole citizenry like his own children. Even when he was out of power, Thapa made his presence felt by participating in social work—people considered him as more of a social worker than a politician.

Before his time in government, Thapa worked as a secondary-level teacher at a community school. He gave up teaching after being elected the district coordination committee member.

Despite his old age, Thapa was full of energy. His iconic initiatives included a drive to make the municipality thatched roof-free, providing free beds and ambulance facilities to pregnant women and planning to have drinking water taps in every household. Under his leadership, the rural municipality provided free sanitary pads for female students, conducted menstruation health awareness programs as well as regular free health camps. He also started a campaign to promote Ruru-Resunga as a tourist destination.

Thapa rolled out scholarship programs for students in community schools. He also proposed collaboration between private and public schools in order to recruit teachers to teach English in public schools.

Thapa recently passed away at a hospital in Kathmandu. The 74-year-old asthma patient had been bedridden for three months. He is survived by his wife and four sons.

Birth: 12 March 1948, Dailekh

Death: 4 July 2021, Dailekh

For those who only knew Jagat Jung Thapa casually, he came across as an intimidating figure. But those who knew him up close remember him as a kind-hearted and soft-spoken man who dedicated his life to the country’s betterment

There are, in fact, few in Dailekh district of Karnali Province who have not heard of Thapa.

Born on 12 March 1948 in Narayan Municipality-2, Dailekh, Thapa got his early education at Kathmandu’s Anandakuti Vidyapeeth. He then enrolled into Amrit Science and Tri Chandra campuses for higher education. 

After completing his Masters in Political Science, he stepped into politics in 1966 through a democratic student union protest at Tri Chandra Campus. Following this, in 1970, he also contested a position in a student union group from Far-Western districts.

From 1972 to 1976, Thapa worked as a teacher at Tribhuvan Secondary School located at the heart of Dailekh Bazaar, where he helped various youth organizations around the Bheri region organize during the Panchayat regime. Then, in 1991, he was elected a member of the Congress Mahasamiti and a district party representative.  

In 2017, he contested the general election from Dailekh-1 but ended up losing. Thapa was magnanimous in his defeat. In fact, he was admired for his equanimity in both victory and loss.

Thapa had his ups and downs in politics but this never stopped him from working for the country. Throughout his career, he worked with organizations like Nepal Family Planning Organization and Nepal Red Cross Society. He was also the chairperson of the Nepal Children’s Organization.

Thapa, 71, had recently contracted coronavirus and was admitted to Dailekh District Hospital, where he was kept in isolation. He succumbed to the virus at around three in the morning on July 4. Thapa is survived by his wife and six daughters.