An Orchid for Dr. Indra Bahadur Rai By Udai C. Pradhan Nothing can give more pleasure to an Orchid breeder than to have an Orchid named and registered in honour of great personalities who have influenced generations of young people everywhere. Specially so, when he or she is a local and who loves Orchids. Dr. Indra Bahadur Rai is one such personality who gets under your skin the moment you meet this charming, simple man. Having grown up reading some of his delectable stories in Nepali during our school days and more recently an anthology of his works Gorkhas Imagined, a translation of his work in English by a group of eminent local writers. My wife Tej and I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Indra Bahadur Rai during an engagement ceremony of our niece, Shivangi to his grandson, Girish in a well organised ceremony at Siliguri. Dr. Rai as the senior most member in the family, had to dispense with the task of introducing the family members to the guests. Words just flowed from him like an unending stream. He said having been in the teaching profession, one tended to talk incessantly, and the lines came out one after another like a magician who keeps pulling out ribbons of various hues from his mouth, one by one. Sometimes, someone had to snip off the ribbons! Having gotten over the task of introducing the family members present, he was about to take his seat when someone gently reminded him that he had forgotten to introduce Mrs. Rai, a quiet, graceful lady, standing next to him! After the ceremony was over, my father-in-law, Mr. Dil Bahadur Pradhan called me to meet Dr. Rai. He had told him I hybridised Orchids and inquired if I could name and register one in honour of Dr. Rai. He was thrilled with the idea and when I told him to register an Orchid after a living person, the Royal Horticultural Society, London would require written permission from the person for whom the orchid hybrid was being named. He said he would gladly send it. When I asked him what kind of hybrid he would prefer - the ones using local species which would often not be so large or beautiful like the more flashier, larger, modern hybrids or after a large modern hybrid. His inquisitive mind made him ask me in which group would the hybrid belong too. I told him it might be in Cymbidiums, Phalaenopsis, Cattleyas or others available for registration. He answered he would prefer those using the local species. On 11 July 2012, Phalaenopsis Indra Bahadur Rai, a simple miniature hybrid using two of our well cultivated Phalaenopsis species, P. mannii and P. taenialis was accorded formal registration by the Royal Horticultural Society, London, U.K. Dr. Indra Bahadur Rai was born on 3 February1927 at Balasun in Darjeeling to late Sri Ranbir and Mrs.Hasta Rai. He did his Masters in English Literature and went into teaching and retired as a teacher. He later also served as the vice-Chairman of the Darjeeling Muincipality. He has published numerous literary works and in 1976 he became the first recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award for Nepali Language. “ Indra Sampurna “ ( Complete works of Indra Bahadur Rai ) has been published by Nirman Prakashan of Sikkim. He was conferred with Honorary Doctorate in Literature by the North Bengal University and has received several national and international awards. Later, back home, Aleena, our niece, a senior high school student, who had been with us to the engagement ceremony, asked me if I had a book by Dr. Rai for her to read. I gave her ‘Gorkhas Imagined’ and Aleena sat over it the whole evening into late night. The next day, I asked her which of the stories she liked best. She said every one of them! I persisted and she finally mentioned ‘Light’ (Ujyalo). “Today I achieved a small triumph over civilisation. I switched off the light, lit the lamp, and wrote this.” (‘Ujyalo’Translated by Michaael Hutt). I am grateful to Shivangi and Girish Rai for coordinating with Dr. Rai and making this article possible. [Author is a veteran Orchidologist and Himalayan plant specialist from Kalimpong.]
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 09:06:11 +0000
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