This is what persuaded me to write this article. For the development of anything - be it a society, club, trust - many individuals make notable contributions and I feel they should be remembered time and again so that many aspirants get inspired to follow suit. And yes of course, all of us come to this world with a certainty to vanish one day. However, some of those who go still remain in the hearts and minds of many through their vision, dedication, compassion and hard work.
Manindra Raj Shrestha (Manindra Uncle) was one of those extraordinary persons that I was fortunate to have met in my lifetime, who left for heavenly abode but is very much alive in my memory, and I am sure in the memory of many golfers in Nepal. He was a journalist by profession, in early years he was publisher of a national daily called 'Motherland' and later turned into a businessman.
He was a close friend and mentor of my father, they exchanged telephone calls every week. My very first encounter with him was at the old RNGC, I was a little boy, he was my father's regular golf buddy. One afternoon my granny had taken me for the introduction at the fourth green which was just about 50 metres away from my house. Over the years, I had the privilege of playing with him and meeting him frequently which gave me an opportunity to know him very closely.
He was a man of high standards with qualities like self-discipline, moral values, perseverance and dedication. He was very compassionate too, as he always offered a helping hand to those in need, be it fellow club member, staff, caddie or even a ballboy. I vividly remember him as a super visionary; the lush green view of RNGC when we drive down from the airport towards the right side is primarily his contribution.
His selfless support helped create the RNGC of today. Many members of RNGC may not know that the greens they play on came from his courtyard. Despite his wife's misgivings, he brought grass from his lawn and introduced the first Bermuda grass in Nepal. One morning when I was playing with him, he saw a big chunk of weed and started pulling it out immediately. It was this passion and dedication that laid the foundations for the development of golf and the RNGC.
Not only was he focusing on the golf course, he knew that without the youth golfers, there would be no future of the game, thus he pioneered the Himal Cup Junior Tournament, which used to be an annual feature for a long time. He supported many in different areas, for example, he sponsored and gave a top-class golf set (which cost fortunes those days) to the most promising and number one golfer at that time who came from a humble background.
Not only he supported golf, I have witnessed him insisting the club manager to immediately take a young ballboy to the eye hospital for treatment, who was suffering from eye infection and took care of the expenses. There are uncountable such cases that he supported.
Having started the game in his mid-age, he enjoyed playing the game for over 30 years and was fond tying new gadgets (latest golf sets) as I still remember, in the late 80s and early 90s, every time he stepped out of Nepal, he brought a new golf set that was latest in market and tried. I personally have learned so much from this extraordinary human being and try to practice the same in my daily life. His physical body left us on 16th March 2019 but he remains in our heart forever!
A version of this article appears in the print on March 16, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
