| Nhuchche |
Posted
on 04-Feb-02 09:34 AM
Story of Jay Khadka
Biography Official Sponsors of the Nepalese Olympic Ski Team
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Richard Morley
Known in Nepal as 'Daijhi' after the affectionate name given by his family there, Richard Morley has become a leading journalist and public figure in the Himalayan kingdom. His regular articles about national affairs have brought him much acclaim and in October 2001 he was invited by Prime Minister Deuba to mediate in the long running Maoist insurgency. He established the Nepal Ski Association in 2000 and managed the inaugural Nepali Winter Olympic representation at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.
Despite an Anglo German upbringing and family background, he was educated at Dartmouth College and served six years as an officer in the Royal Navy, seeing active service in two campaigns against Iceland in the 1970's. He later read History and Political Science at Birmingham and Cambridge Universities but chose a career in the Theatre, launching his own Manchester Drama Company in 1984. He wrote, produced and directed the first stage version of Evelyn Waugh's 'Brideshead Revisited' in 1985 to much critical acclaim.
From the early 1980's, with the traditional family in the West under great pressure from social change, he also worked with some University friends to develop a new structure of family unit. They created a 'Molecular' model in which individuals chose to collectivise on a permanent marriage basis adding a new member every few years. Under his leadership, the new family flourished both financially and emotionally. He built a successful computer company, moved into Hotels and property development and became a well-known millionaire with a historic country estate. But he was never far from controversy. A strong critic of Margaret Thatcher's handling of the Falklands War, he published an article accusing the Conservative Government of conspiracy to encourage the conflict and became embroiled in the huge controversy over their decision to sink an Argentine warship with the loss of 350 lives. Outspoken opinions in favour of international freedom of movement and new family structures provoked some tabloid media to describe him as 'King of the Commune Castle'. But his new family unit provided stability and a sense of purpose that has kept it strong and intact to the present day.
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But it was through his long association with Nepal that brought Morley to international attention. He first travelled there as a student backpacker when a cheap direct bus service ran through Europe to Kathmandu. He became enchanted with the mountains and the people but on a return visit in 1984 he suffered a collapsed lung whilst trekking near Anurpurna. A local policeman, Basu Khadka, ran for 3 days to the nearest telephone in Jomson and called for help. It was a gesture that Morley never forgot. He offered a reward but the man refused any money. Worried about his own health, Basu asked Morley instead to care for his youngest son should anything befall him. And so a promise was made that shaped the destiny of everyone concerned.
When Basu died a few years later Morley kept his word. He returned in 1990 to search for the boy and, after a two-month trek, he eventually found Jayaram Khadka working in a Bakhtapur restaurant. The boy recognised him from a photograph his father had once given when explaining how a tall Westerner would rescue him one day. Jayaram knew that Morley was to be his adoptive father and so he promised to be a dutiful son to him. Morley promised in turn to care for him as his own son and the pact was sealed in an exchange of blood from their fingers. Unable to speak each other's language, the gesture could not be mistaken by either.
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| Nhuchche |
Posted
on 04-Feb-02 09:35 AM
Jayaram was taken to England in December 1990 but the British Government stubbornly refused to recognise his adoption. Although only 14 and orphaned, Jay faced deportation under Home Secretary Michael Howard's draconian immigration attitudes. Morley claimed exceptional compassionate circumstances on the grounds that Jay was a de facto member of his family. But Howard refused to recognise Morley's 'molecular family' as a proper domestic unit and the matter was passionately fought through the entire legal system.
The story made headlines around the world. Morley declared that he would take his entire family into exile with Jay if the boy was deported. This was no ordinary immigration dispute where the State could claim a possible cost to public funds. Fortune had smiled on Morley, and although he had been poor as a young man, by 1995 he had built a very successful company. Glossy magazines pictured the once poverty-stricken youth from the Himalayas now the son and heir to a wealthy family with a large historic estate in the heart of England. TV films portrayed the dramatic mountainside rescue and the romantic integration of a simple mountain boy into sophisticated British society. Newspapers and TV broadcasts all over the world covered the twists and turns of a story that held intensive media attention for two years. Youth magazines featured Jayaram as an icon for young girls; the tabloid press looked for sensation and portrayed the whole thing as a cult. Senior politicians from every political party were questioned on their views. The Immigration Tribunal strongly recommended a residence visa to no avail. In a national radio poll, 80% of the listeners voted that 'Jay should stay'. Even the High Court criticised Home Secretary Michael Howard on his decision. It was the just before the 1997 General Election but still the Government refused to give way. Then came the vote.
The Conservative Party had not suffered such humiliation at the polls for 150 years. 18 years of continuous government with a massive majority in Parliament was reduced to a broken party with barely enough members to fulfil its function as the Opposition. Journalists explained the general opinion that the Party had seemed to lose human compassion. The new Government certainly acted swiftly. On his first day in office, Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw reversed Howard's decision and Jayaram was finally granted residence. The whole process had taken seven years.
Returning to Nepal in October 1997 Jay was finally reunited with his relatives who formally gave Morley the name 'Daijhi' (meaning affectionate brother) in a traditional ceremony. It was the only solution to an otherwise complicated family relationship and the simplicity of it allowed everyone to talk with Morley as an equal. The late King Birendra who had taken a firm interest in the case also received them. He expressed gratitude for the international attention that Jay's case had brought to the problems of Nepal.
But there was more to do in Nepal. With a wealthy family company behind him, Morley had the means to help the country further. His public campaign in Britain had already provoked extra media attention to the poorly paid Gurkha soldiers in the British army, the reality of child labour and the desperate plight of orphans in the third world. Now he wanted to offer practical assistance in the development of remote mountain areas.
The King, the Prime Minister and many senior political and business figures received Morley and considered his project to provide homes and work for unemployed city dwellers in a new rural development zone. With a long standing home in the French Alps, Morley thought to introduce modern European mountain agriculture into the far West of the country. Vast areas of government land were lying unused across the mountains for want of any modern agricultural organisation and techniques. But the instability of Nepali politics struck quickly and a succession of changing governments made effective liaison impossible.
A second project was more fruitful. As a younger man, Morley had been a keen skier and he thought that Nepal should have an Olympic ski team to encourage he development of heli-ski facilities in the mountains and an increased income for those areas. He offered to train and fund the team and worked with the Nepal Olympic Committee to create a National Ski Association. After many bureaucratic obstacles, the NSA was eventually ratified in December 2000 and the first three Nepali skiers are currently under training at their base in France.
Also that year Morley was invited to write a weekly column for a leading Nepali language daily newspaper. Since then he has written extensively on social and political problems facing the country.
Prem Thapa.
http://www.chezjayski.com
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