“REMINISCING OUR HUM JAYEGA”
by - Dweep Mustang.
Myriad streets, the coal churning toy train, clandestine lights, and a posthumous humorous man. We are talking about a man, who was/is widely known amongst the Nepalis' diaspora, for his much revered stomach aching jokes. We are talking about the posthumous HumJayega, “The King of Nepali jokes and humor”. He is at a meagre amount imagined much as a fictional character by most of the Nepali speaking people. Let me evase this distortive notion pervasive. Humjayega's original name was Dal Bahadhur Gurung, born in the early years (1921) in a very hardworking peasantry family in the outskirts of Darjeeling in a place called Chungthung Tea Garden. His father’s name was Lt. Man Bahadhur Gurung and his mother’s name, Lt Amrita Gurung. His wife’s name was Lt. Dhan Maya Gurung. Furthermore Humjayega in English means “I Will Go” as per his working audacity even in harsh situation.
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Lt.Humjayega's Scottish Cap.
A brief account about/on HumJayega. |
Dal Bahadhur Gurung, also known as Hum Jayega, had five children out of which four were girls and one, a boy: Jina Gurung, being the eldest of his daughters, followed by Jasudha Gurung “Late Geeta Gurung”, Indra Gurung and his only son Dukraj Gurung.
The king of Nepali humor had a unique way of life. Apart from being a jeep driver, he was a responsible family man, who took extra care of everyone. There lived a moribund society of the natives and the saheb's(Gorey babu). Darjeeling that we see today was built step by step by both the babu's and the natives. The weekly market in the past was named as "Gundri Bazaar". It maybe rendered that Darjeeling had progressed much more than the less developed other hilly regions and it was an almost surreal place to the bucolics. As a result, the centre (Darjeeling) had all its hold on the modus operandi of the periphery.
The wildfire that has now spread all over the forest, the first flick has to be the healing heights that the hill queen had already attained during a deficiet time.
Darjeeling soared high and so did Humjayega, he portrayed his life, full of pomp and grandeur. “He hardly let others feel unrest”, and would on most of the time joke with the gathering in Joey’s Pub “If we eat “Gundruk”, we should come out of our house, prickling our teeth, as if we had eaten a huge lump of meat”. Many of the people talk about Hum Jayega and regard him to have died because of extreme drinking. Far from the rumors, he was a moderate drinker, who, after drinking two pegs of alcohol, would face the mirror and joke to him-self. Dukraj Gurung, the youngest boy child of all the children, fondly remembers the yesteryears with his father Hum Jayega. Dukraj states: “There is a lot of misleading information about my father: In this world, more than being a humorous celebrity, he was a humble person, kind, down to earth and loved by the children of the village. First of all, I would consider late Hum Jayega to be the father of not only me, but of every Gurkha. He did not know English language, but still, he had that aura of entertaining all the tourists, and moreover, every tourist would want to get in the cab of Hum Jayega, “cab number WGY 1265”. He was influenced by the everyday riddles. One could find him humming typical Nepali songs like “Saili Maili Darjeeling Kasto Cha”. He happened to act in the Kollywood film, “Kusume Rumal”, and the lyrics he pronounced were written by him-self.
The most surprising event that happened and came to be known is that he was born breech. There is a belief amongst Nepali's, that if a person is born breech, he/she can cure body aches. Dukraj Gurung states: “I use to enjoy people suffering from back-pain or body aches. My father, standing upon the body, would cure the person with his feet. There would be a queue in front of our house just to get the healing kick of my father. Dukraj opines another incident “Once, while coming from Nepal with my father, there was a sudden indefinite strike. We were in Kakarvitta, Nepal, with limited amount of money. I wanted a soft drink, so we went to a hotel where a person identified my father. Thereof, slowly, people started gathering around, and than the laughter continued.... As a result, we stayed in the same hotel for five days without payment. Each and every time I called my father, people gathered around him, would buy my more soft drinks, so that I would not disturb the guff”. Most of the older people in Darjeeling still remember his European outlook. His dress style was proper, with a Scottish hat, tidy ironed clothes, either with a chequered jacket or coat, and well-polished shoes”.
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Humjayega's Youngest son Mr.Dukraj Gurung with
Kapil Thapa, The Runners Up of Indian Idol. |
As we know, he is no more with us. But HumJayega’s legacy remains, as his quotations, such as
(i) “Royera Bidha na deu malai, ma ta hasi hasi jana chahanchu”.
(ii) “Today I drank a peg of Rum and my heart is warm, my hair is white, cheeks wrinkled with a red nose, this dirty coat and a torn note of mine, no one does accepts. Now, everyone knows me so nobody gives me anything in credit. For, Oneday Humjayega “and many more.
Before his death in "Bara kakjhora", a very harsh and coincidental plague struck during winter season. It had already led to the death of twenty-one neighbours; all the villagers were frightened and brought in shaman to look in the matter. But the plague was too enigmatic to be ceased. Hum Jayega started feeling ill. Even the hospital staff and the medicine could not save him, only to have caught his last words: (Aab kohi nahi jayega, Aab HumJayega) “Now no one is going, but I will go”. Along with his death, the avenged plague came to a halt.
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| His Chequered Coat and Ironed Attire. |
Darjeeling is famous for its tea, toy train and landscape. But let us not forget Hum Jayega, for his unique identity may perish someday. Hum Jayega dedicated all his life to the happiness of the people. He would hide his sadness and teach people the joy of laughter. A music album on the Late. Humjayega entitled as “30 point Humjayega” with artist like Indian Idol Runner’s up Kapil Thapa, Thupden Bhutia and many more and a biography on Hum Jayega will soon be available on the market.
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