Karna Shakya : heroism of a hotelier

By Anand Gurung

He is a ‘walking inspiration’ to people privileged to be around him. He is a visionary who would go to any extent to translate his visions into happening realities. He is a hardcore pragmatist with the sanctity of a saint. And work for him is what prayer is to a holy man.

Life dealt him the greatest blow when he lost his daughter in the prime of her youth. Three months later he lost his dear wife to cancer. An ordinary man would have given in to the fateful blow of the disaster, but not him. Instead, he turned the pain into potent energy, making history as he fought on against all odds of life.

No one but only Karna Shakya can do what he did.

Having graduated from Forestry College Dehradun in 1967, Shakya spent a brief period of time in Australia and the United States before he returned back to Nepal. Once back home, he ended up joining His Majesty’s Government in the capacity of a forest officer. During his forestry days he was very much involved in establishing the Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal. After his four year long association with the Department of Forestry came to an abrupt end in 1970, he journeyed into the four corners of the country. His domestic travel was so extensive that there hardly remained a district that he did not happen to set his feet in. He reached out to almost all districts in the country. It was then that he had the opportunity to closely know the bio-diversity of the country. And here started the love affair between Shakya and nature that had to be the underlying motif of whatever he did in his life.

Karna Shakya belonged to a family tree the roots of which were steeped deep in business and business was the world he was destined to be pulled in. Under the mounting pressure of his senior family members, he finally gave in and resigned from his position of a forest officer in 1970.

Then, in 1971 the family established Kathmandu Guest House – a sprawling hotel Thamel is identified with even today. Originally, the Rana mansion was a personal property that belonged to the Shakya family. His father late Siddhi Bahadur Sakya, Ason’s renowned jeweler in those days, had bought the huge mansion back in 1952. The house was so big that finding use to the house was a challenge to the family and it is for this reason that the house was lying ‘like a white elephant’, to describe in Shakya’s own good words. There is a bit of history attached to the building. The house originally belonged to Kumar Nar Singh Rana, the first civil engineer of the country. Three decades on, the hotel continues to attract more and more guests visiting the country.

The Kathmandu Guest House was established at a juncture when there were no hotels in Thamel or when there were only a few big hotels in the whole country. It was the harbinger of today’s throbbing tourism business in Thamel – the country’s hot tourist hub. The country’s hospitality industry was still squatting within the four walls of a few four star and five star hotels.

Till 1960, tourism industry was not developed in Nepal. The few visitors to the kingdom used to stay either in the Soaltee or were wandering hippies. It was not until 1970 when adventure tourism began in Nepal. So, it were the trekkers and adventure tourists who thronged to the newly-opened Kathmandu Guest House in the early 1970s. In time, the environment of the guesthouse developed in such a way that it became the home of all trekkers and adventure tourists, says Shakya. Keen naturalist as he was, the guesthouse had sprawling gardens and other natural surroundings that was enough to lure in many writers and authors. He even remembers hosting many universally acclaimed singers like Bob Lenin, Ricky Martin and so on. ‘Kathmandu Guest House ultimately turned out to be an intellectual center in the valley,’ claims the devout tourism entrepreneur.

‘In the meanwhile I was very much into conservation. It is my passion’, Shakya reflects back on the difficulties he faced in discharging the call of duties from his family business as well as his passion for reaching out to mother nature. When the hotel was launched, he was attached to Nepal Heritage Society and Nepal Conservation Society. He was chairman with both the organizations. Furthermore, he was also involved with IUCN and World Wildlife Fund. Ever since, however, he has held many coveted posts in a foray of organizations.

Passionate conservationist as he was, he never could devote his full time to his newly launched business. According to this superman of Nepal’s hotel industry, if he gave 70 percent of his time to his tourism enterprise then the rest 30 percent of his precious time must go towards fulfilling his heart’s desires – that is, his penchant for social activities and conservation.

‘Bread and butter might have come from tourism but my heart is close to conservation,’ says Shakya. Three decades on, new ideas continue to flicker through his mind and conservation still is as passionate a preoccupation as it used to in his salad days.

Knowing Shakya’s life is not all about dashing, youthful vigor and his passion towards tourism industry. The gentleman has been through time of pain indescribable. His dear daughter passed away in 1987. Three months later followed the death of his wife. Both died of cancer – a reason why he became a keen campaigner against the disease ever since. After he lost the two bosom souls, Shakya braced up against cancer and set on a nationwide campaign program to the cause.

His fight against the killer disease made him propose to the His Majesty’s Government to levy one paisa tax on every single stick of cigarette produced in the country. He proposed to spend the revenue generated through this tobacco tax on building a cancer hospital in the country. And indeed his vision in time led to the establishment of the Bharatpur Cancer Hospital. This undoubtedly is one feat for which the country’s cancer patients would forever remain indebted to this dutiful hotelier.

The greatest idea to take root in Shakya’s mind was ‘Visit Nepal Year 1998’. Shakya was the national coordinator for the gala tourism program the country hosted. The campaign sprang from a proposal to the government which the later promptly agreed to. ‘I am very proud of that project because that was a landmark phenomenon in the history of Nepal,’ says the beaming Shakya. He firmly believes that there have been no such programs in the history of Nepal’s forty-year-old tourism industry. One tends to readily believe in Shakya’s belief given the fact that more than 150 festivals were organized throughout the country during the year. His able leadership and efficient national coordination made it possible to bring in almost 500 thousand tourists to the country. And that was what the whole show was all about.

‘Tourism is a dream industry,’ he sums his opinion about the trade his life has been devoted to. These were the exact words caught in a newspaper headline sometime in the past. He further adds that you got to be a dreamer to operate in a dream industry. But there is a catch here. ‘You should see only those dreams that can be translated into action,’ cautions Shakya. Mere castles in the air won’t help. It has to be a practical dream that can be implemented. And all his life he has lived up to this philosophy. He is a dreamer but unlike the ordinary dreamers he is a tough practical individual, always wanting to try out new things.

Though in his early sixties, Shakya’s zeal will put to shame even the toughest young man. His passion towards his monumental projects is simply amazing. He never goes to bed before 2 O’clock in the morning. It has always been a custom with him to work in the calmness of the serene nights. ‘The phone and other disturbing factors doesn’t not bother you and you can have all the concentration you need,’ his reasons for working into the late nights. Though he is of the opinion that working in the night is productive, he at the same time repents for being a late riser. ‘This is both my strength and weakness,’ he says.

‘When I start working and when my mind is active, ants are there all over my paint,’ Shakya tells about his modus operandi. One thing he never does is sitting idle. Being a born dreamer, ideas never stop occurring to him. Once he is done with a pet project, he will set on the next. Shakya is a tenacious pursuer of his goals for which once a decision is made there is no turning point for him. ‘I put in everything once I set on a project,’ he says. His body and mind work in a violent coordination till he achieves what he wants.

So what is the underlying guideline for selecting new working areas? How does he proceed on his new projects? Before he makes his final decision, Shakya makes it a point to weigh his new projects through every possible angle. First and foremost they have to be financially viable. After he makes a thorough examination of the different aspects of the projects, Shakya then does the necessary tailoring so as to make them practically feasible. And finally, he arrives at the most important part of the decision making. ‘Will working on the project make me happy?’–the question ends the dilemma of whether or not to embark on a particular project. For it to click, the job must be to his heart’s content. To put it in plain terms, his projects have aesthetic values for him. His works are means through which he attains transcendental pleasure. Once his soul gives him a green signal on a particular project, once his soul tell him that the project will make his life cheerful, the whole world cannot stop him from proceeding on.

Asked if he faced stumbling blocks in his life’s journey that has made him a walking history of the country’s tourism industry, Shakya says challenges are but the very guarantor of success. No hurdles means no sign of success. ‘Facing challenge needs resolution. And resolution in turn is the beginning of development. And on the way to development you face problems,’ Shakya reasons out his philosophy. For him, this is more like climbing up the ladder of academia. The higher you go, the tougher it gets. Therefore, whoever tries to escape hurdles is a coward, he adds. Only the person who accepts the challenge is the one who is going to usher in development.

According to him, there is no end to development. Resolution to tackle challenges will bring in development. Once development is achieved, it would present another set of fresh challenges. And another round of the same process would begin. So, this is sort of triangular problem, he explains.

Despite the unparalleled contribution he made to developing tourism industry of the country as well as creating awareness towards nature conservation, Karna Shakya is not ready to acknowledge that he was the one and only reason behind the success. ‘No no no. One man can achieve nothing. I was one of the instruments, but not necessarily the sole factor responsible for the progress made in the hospitality industry. Without the people’s contribution, I would not have been able to accomplish anything,’ comes out these staccato sentences when praised his contribution towards the nation.

‘You don’t have to burn a thousand candles. Burn one and the rest will go aglow,’ philosophizes Shakya…..
nepalnews.com ag Oct 16 05

(The author can be reached at andygurung@yahoo.com)