I suppose it is a little hurtful when I read online comments about ‘gurkhas being mercenaries’. Collins dictionary defines the word mercenary as ‘a soldier who is paid to fight by a country or group that they do not belong to.’ In those terms, it perhaps does make sense but; the synonyms for the words were ‘free lance’, ‘soldiers of fortune’, ‘greedy’, ‘grasping’. I beg to differ on those.
My father recalls his old uncle who was a gurkey saying, ‘‘Lets go. Lets go. They said. So we went along carrying our backpacks to the wars. After it was fought, the remaining of us that were alive; they gathered us, put some money in our hands and said, ‘for transport. Now go back’. So we came back again with our backpacks.’’
‘In 1983’, my dad says, ‘our salaries were 600 to 800 hongkong dollars. 1dollar HK was 2.15 Nepali rupee. We were posted in Hong Kong at the time. Lived there for a few years but we weren’t allowed to make any bank accounts. Everything for gurkhey at those times happened via different systems that none of us ever understood. And being less educated individuals and well from tricky circumstances; we weren’t aware how much rights we had. So we never questioned. But when there were enough of us and when everyone started making a fuss about it; we were finally allowed to have an account. The banking was within the service, inside the platoon. But unfortunately for the British government, they still had to use the chinese banking officials. Whisper to whispers the words leaked out of how much we were being paid. The officials started making comments about gurkheys being paid cash at hand while showing off minimal in their bank accounts to avoid taxes. The investigation quickly lead to a finding that ‘that was all’ we were being paid. They were in disbelief, even the foreign maids from countries were making at least 2 folds more than us. Somewhere along the system and the official line the salary the Hong kong government was paying the british services which was equivalent to those of its native armies to hire us was disappearing. More than 70% cut of it… It must have been when Padam Gurung also found it.’
Padam Gurung is a familiar name to me being a founder of GAESO. Gurkha Army Ex-Serviceman’s organization that has been actively involved in fighting and protecting gurkha’s and their families rights. I have spent plenty of days waiting outside the office door while mom made a quick dash to ask about any news on the progress of our movements. ‘God protect and bless that man’, my mom keeps him on her prayers always. ‘He has fought for justice for all of us’.
1995. My dad walked with his friend to lagankhel, a busy hub in lalitpur Nepal to buy a quintal of rice. A quintal is equal to 100 kilos. In Nepal, rice makes the majority portion of our food. So it is not unusual for us to buy a quintal of it at the time. Dad was very excited that day because after 15 and plus years of service in british army he finally had pension out. He had saved every penny into it, didn’t know how much it was but hoped it would be enough to buy that off. The quintal cost 2100 nepali rupee. His monthly pension was 1900 nepali rupee. ‘I didn’t say anything to my friend, just that I wasn’t interested in buying it anymore’, he confided to me laughing.
‘Your uncle in Indian gurkha army was making more than him and not just by a few hundreds. When they received the pay, they would directly receive salary as Indian money which was also used in Nepal. But coming through British pay, they’d wire it to the Indian government who would take a cut off and convert it into nepali rupee. Then the Nepalese government would take percent off and pay it to us. When your salary is already less and the chunk of it still gets taken, you don’t know what to say to friends or anyone because they don’t know’. My mom comments.
‘Some of the old ones didn’t even receive pension. They were just happy they survived and were back to their families. Some were smarter, I suppose, chose to stay back and some well…’
I think I know that answer. The uncertainty in the word and the hesitation on the word ‘Well…’. Some of them didn’t return because they felt they had nothing to come back to. When the British signed the Segauli treaty 1815 recruiting Gurkhas in their service, both the hands that met at the table benefited on their own affairs, but the Gurkhas became a negotiation. Maybe the term is right ‘mercenary’, whole generations of them but for the term that the world now uses for them, was it ever fair if you knew our side of story? They received the Victoria Cross of gallantry and in return they got a green backpack and were sent home with transport money? Open wounds, blind eyes, war scars… goodbye? Don’t even count the ones that died.
When they returned home, they couldn’t stop the boys being picked from their villages. As young as boys of 10 years old, recruited on ‘boys club’ and being shipped off to be trained. There wasn’t a choice. They accepted it as a rite of passage, they had to. The treaty promised independence of Nepal, the nation demanded their service for a foreign country.
Politics had always been a foul game. The power of the king had long been overtaken. 1846 Ran as reign in the country started that lasted 104 years. Then of so- called democratic leaders with strong connections with India. Rumors were, once the British left the east India empire, Nepal was promised to East India by these leaders. Many of them later ended up being Nepal’s prime ministers, corrupt leaders, regarded as heroes . The videos and talks of their original intentions have scattered all over the internet now but the deeds were done, they died a martyr. Any rise of resistance from the earlier kingdoms and in support of the king were abolished by shipping them to war zones, a long time ago. The king wanted the support of his people. He wanted support from the ethnics…’ Mom is tearful watching an interview from Khagendra jung gurung, a trusted hand of King Mahendra, when he speaks about his last attempts to save the country, before his demise. 1914, 1939 recruits kept getting bigger.
I suppose we have never been fans of our government especially since 1918. There is still an internal cold war among various sub groups of Nepali citizens. Mainly between matwalis with bahuns. Matwalis are majority mongolid origin people who are origins of gurkha recruits. ‘Bahuns’ were mostly aryan groups who were considered learned men, priests in the community. Matwalis argument is, they took all the government positions, took sides with India and sold Nepal’s affairs therefore our sovereignty. And when I say, they believe it strongly, trust me, they do. My mom still says, ‘they went to kashi in India and other places to learn language, sanskrit and knowledge. Put themselves over us as superior casts, appointed themselves as advisors in the court. And what did they do? Sold one third of our lands to India. Darjeeling, Dehradun, Uttarakhand all of those.’ Well Bahuns argument is ‘matwalis were mostly in service of other countries so they shouldn’t have a say in internal affairs.’
It is not uncommon for gurkhali and his family to hear, they left their loyalty with us and left for the british. Sometimes, even from the matwalis ‘the ethnic’ origin people who know the stories of our beginnings well. ‘They left the country into shambles, ‘ they used to say and even for the men who fought the wars and were called the heroes, this was always a hard pill to swallow. So, yes, for some the decision to never come back again was not by choice.
‘They were ashamed. So they dropped their surnames one by one. Magars are so many in numbers. But we have no unity’. Even for me, I go by family name now. Sadly even my family name is different from my origin, because there are certain words in Nepalese that aren’t available in English. All the recruits belonging to this family name are mis-spelled. Hahhaha!
Anyways, ‘they did well, the lads’, like my dad would say. I agree. Whatever the reason was, wherever they belonged or never belonged, the men always kept their heads held high. They had nothing to begin with, nothing to win for their own… but they showed there is so much to what we are to the whole world. Their families were always proud, their sons followed in their footsteps… I was always crossed, a little bitter, being left out, being singled. History books, records after records, remembering dates just for the sake of exams? Why do I care what happened in 1815? It seems to me now, I always did. ‘It’s family. It’s our roots. It’s our history. If we don’t speak out for us, who would?’
Ladyoneyellowcoat 