[Tim I. Gurung joined the British Army at the tender age of seventeen as his grandfathers and uncles did before him. He carried the job on for the next thirteen years and eventually retired in 1993 as an Army Corporal, after which he became a businessman. Before his fiftieth birthday, he made a life-changing decision and became a full-time writer and has since published twelve novels so far, including the much-acclaimed The Gurkhas: A True Story. Presented herewith is an exclusive interview Uday Adhikari of The Gorkha Times had with Mr. Gurung.]
You are from martial or soldiers’ family. Later, you picked the same profession for yourself. Will you share your family background and childhood memories and early motivations?
I come from a village called Dhampus, near Pokhara in Kaski District. It is a typical Gurung village. During my days, there was not a single household that was not related to the British Gurkha Army, as they had one or two members from the family in the Gurkhas. Either their grandfathers, fathers, or brothers had served in the British Army. If not, their sisters or aunts had been married to a Gurkha anyway. Families with sons in the British Gurkha Army also were the well-off ones. Each and every young man from the village grew up with just one dream: to become a British Gurkha. I was no different. I was quite good at school, yet I became a Gurkha eventually for the same reason. Besides, I was the eldest son in the family, and was obliged to pick a profession of high responsibility. I chose the British Army.
By becoming a soldier in the British Army, you made a very natural choice in such circumstances. When did you develop your taste for literature? What ignited you to be in lifelong love affair with literature ?
I used to write songs, poems and short stories when I was quite young. I continued it in my early army days and I even had some songs, poems, and short stories recorded in the Forces radio and internal journal. I even wrote a novel and published it in Nepal. However, due to many reasons, it didn’t go as planned and I stopped writing since then. I was busy raising my new family and establishing a new business in China for the next twenty-five years. I restarted writing again when I was fifty as I wanted to do something different and meaningful other than paying the bills and here I am.
Your novel Old Men Don’t Cry reveals how Hong Kong metamorphosed into a global city and how the old residents of the city are silently sidelined. What struck you to write such a true story about a city far away from your motherland?
Old Men Don’t Cry is probably one of my best works so far and this is the book I wrote for Hong Kong. I was seventeen when I left Nepal and I been living in Hong Kong for my entire life as an adult. The place where the story in the book took place is in New Territories, which is a bit far away from the main business districts in Hong Kong, and life there is a bit different from the one in the main city area. I wanted to achieve three things out of this book: 1. Chronicling the events of Hong Kong from 1980-2014 as I have seen them from my own eyes, 2. Highlighting the Chinese Traditions, and 3. Making it a tearjerker! I have also been writing books about the places I have lived or are connected with me. They include Nepal, Britain, Hong Kong etc. Old Men Don’t Cry is the book I have written for Hong Kong.
Probably you were born in a Gurung-speaking family. You grew up speaking Nepali and when you started writing, it was English that served your purpose. How did such a shift from the Gurung dialect to Nepali to English languages happened ?
Yes, that’s absolutely true. We mostly spoke the Gurung dialect before my army days, and then it was mostly Nepali and some English in the army. Afterward, I worked in China for the next twenty years and I had to speak Cantonese and Mandarin. At the same time, I had to speak and write English as my customers were from around the world. There was a time when I had to use three different languages, Nepali with my wife, English with my customers, and Chinese with my workers in China. The reason I started writing in English was for convenience, I suppose, as my Nepali was not up to standard anyway. That was also a practical choice for me. Of course, it was harder at the beginning; it became easier only after my third book. When you got accustomed to a language, you don’t find it difficult anymore.
Your Facebook timeline is crowded with the word ‘Gurkha’. Your book on Gurkha has recently appeared in the market and another novel is in pipeline. Your sole purpose is understandably to celebrate the word ‘Gurkha’. How did it happened?
When I started working on my book Gurkha, I had a very simple plan and I wanted to continue it as I had been doing in my previous books. However, once I started researching on the subject, I was taken aback by the sheer vastness and importance of the subject itself, the more I researched the more I discovered things. I knew it was a very important subject and I had to do my utmost to make my book a significant one. I was not only a writer but also a Gurung and a Gurkha, and the onus was on me to bring it out to the world. The Gurkhas’ story is undoubtedly one of the most important stories of Nepal having an inseparable bearing with the country’s history. It has so much so to do with the making of modern Nepal. There are things that can be forgotten but not forgiven. It’s so unfortunate that almost nobody from our country knew about the Gurkhas’ true story. Those who could have written their stories did not write for the Gurkhas, and the Gurkhas could not write on their own. That’s why I had to write their story. I spent two years researching, read dozens of books and articles, watched documentaries, visited various countries, and talked with over a hundred war veterans. It took me three and a half year to bring their story out. I neither celebrate nor advocate for the Gurkhas; I am just telling the truth and bringing their story to the world, that’s all. Most importantly, I want our new generations to know about their grandfathers’ history and learn to appreciate them.
I happened to know you through Facebook some time ago. I was amazed to know the number of books you have published. I have read some Nepali writers like Manjushree Thapa, DB Gurung and Samrat Upadhyay writing in English but in spite of so many publication, your name is unheard of in Nepal. Is there any reason to shy away from the mainstream Nepali-English writing ?
I took writing as a hobby as I was tired of working, and needed a break. I am a simple man with respect for myself, and I hate asking for favors. I have spent almost all of my life outside Nepal and don’t know many people there, especially in the media. You also need connections in Nepal whenever you need some works done and I think that’s the reason. Nobody from the Nepali media knows me as I don’t make any noises either. If they don’t come to me, I cannot go asking for them, can I? Having said that, however, I would love my people to know about my works, read my books and appreciate them, if possible. But I am not desperate. I am sure that I will be doing that sometimes in the future, and that will be great.
After the retirement from British Army, you seem to have been devoted yourself to writing. What inspired you to live such purposeful life ?
I retired from the army very early and didn’t pick up writing immediately after I left the army. After retirement, I came back to Hong Kong and worked in an international firm inspecting goods in China for seven years. Then, I started my own business in China and Hong Kong and worked hard for the next fifteen years. I suddenly realized that I had been working very hard for my entire life and wanted to do something for a change. I took up writing for my semi-retired job when I was fifty and the rest is, as they say, history.
If we visit your Facebook posts, we find names of the great novels you enjoyed. I wonder who those great writers are who have inspired you in your long career in writing.
Reading has always been my favorite hobby although I didn’t get to read much when I was working. We also have to read a lot as a writer and I have been reading various books since I caught the taste. I like reading books by some of the big writers, but I am not a diehard fan of anyone. I also don’t believe that we have to be like this or that writer, but I am definitely a fan of big and heavy books. Writers can be heavily influenced by big writers, but I prefer my own way of writing as I strongly believe that we all are different. I emphasize on simple writing. You, as a writer, are not taking a test or showing off your writing skills; you are telling a story. And that’s very important for me as a writer. I don’t want to be compared or related to any other writer.
Probably writing in English during your early days as a writer was a kind of risky choice, but you seem to have been happy with the outcome. How difficult was writing in English then ?
As I said before, it was not a choice but the only option I had in front of me, and it took some time before I could feel comfortable writing in English. There always is also a lot of work going on behind the scene before it can come out as a book. and editors are the most important ones. A book goes through at least three to five cycles of editing before it finally goes to the printers. Needless to say, it’s quite tricky at the beginning. You have these British, American, Canadian, and the Australian ways of writing and my author friends used to point out mistakes in my writing. With more practice, everything improves, of course, and I was no exception. I think I have already crossed that stage and I have no problems writing in English.