Himalayan Times (1962)

July 15, 1962

Himalayan Times

'1 hree

" PAPA ''~AN APPRECIATION
Kazini EHsa-Maria of Chakhung

I always called the late Mr.
David Macdonald " Papa"
right from the time when I
first met him now more than
twelve years ago, and, of course,
took him to my heart as every-
one who met him did. His
was an utterly loveable nature,
guileless, kindly, tolerant, and
smilingly compassionate towards
all the frailties of erring and
often senseless mankind He
was full of wisdom and im-
mense and varied experience,
and replete with the most en
chanting humour.

Short of ^stature, he had
the spirit of a giant, yet w ithal,
he was the most tender-hearted
and sympathetic of men. An
expert on Tibet, where his
experiences deserve volumes to
bo recorded about them, yet
he was quietly modest and
unassuming, and he e/msorted
with the great and poor equally
happily, for he was that rara
avis in this present-day world
of tensions and Btrife—a great
geijtleman He was one of the
true cognoscenti on Tibetan
affairs. H« had an engaging
habit that never failed to make
me feel that life was, after
all. not so grim. He would
talk quietly about any of the
subjects in which he had ex-
pert knowledpe, "then. quickly
changing the topic, he would
roar with laughter—a deep-
bellied, infectious,laugh of such
spontaneity and charm that
one joined in automaticall} !

"Papa" was loved and res-
pected by all who knew him,
lor his was a generous heart
with friendliness and under-
standing^towards all sentient
l>eings, and w ith hostility to-
wards none. He discovered

the best in everyone, and if
perchance, he found the worst,
he never mentioned it. Like
the great Winston Churchill,
Papa had a penchant for hats
of various shapes and hues.
He was a ' potterer1', and pot-
tered about hapnily engaged in
hi? little ploys, supremely con-
tent and profoundly religion's;

And now he has "retired
to the heavenly fields"', full
of yenrs and honours, and,
although wc mourn his loss,
yet it impossible to conjure
up a picture of that cherubic
face and twinkling eyes under
the Scottish woollen "tammy''
he liked eoj much to wear, and
the vivid Bhutan jacket, with-
out a smile involuntarily co-
ming to one's lips and a deep
sense of inner happiness. ,

He died,, as he : had lived,
peacefully, surrounded by his
devotod family; but "to live
in the hearts of those we love
is not to die,'* so Papa can
never die, A beacon of light
in the'ever encroaching gloom
of this once happy, alive, and
prosperous town, I shall always
remember him wagging a mis-
chievous forefinger at me, eyes
brimful of playfulness, and
haying amidst loud chuckles
"Now Kazini Saheha, what
have you been up to now ?**
And as the great playwright,
Sir J M. Barrie, has written,
"God gave us memory so that
we might have roses in De-
cember.*'

Just Unpacked

HINDI BOOKS

HIMALAYAN STORES,
KALIMPONG.

THE MYSTERIOUS TIBET

( Continued from pnge G )
it Wisdom", and Sonam
Gyatae, was first given
this1 'title after he 'had
converted a Mongol chief,
Altan Khan. Like rvubiai
Kban before him Altau
"rewarded his preceptor by
investing him in 1517
with this title. The tem-
poral overlordship of all
Tibet was however con-
ferred in , 16-40 on Lob-
sang Gyatse the ' Great
Fifth" who., helped the
Mongols in subduing th*»
rising near Lhasa « *.

Second only in status
to the Dalai Lama is the
Pauchen Lama who was
created by the fifth Dalai
Lama.. The first Panchen
Lama, was made the Grand
Lama of the Tashi Lhunpo
monastery at Shigatse.

In the end, it may
be said that Laniaibra is
a living faith in Tibet,
arid not merely the pri-
viledg* of avaricious mo-
nastic brotherhood. It is
a truly popular religion
saturating the life and
soul of the Tibetan peo-
ple. First in the Lamaist
pantheon is the Lord
Buddha, second Amitabba
whose incarnation is the
P«nchen Lama and third
Avalokileshwara whose spi-
rit is Dalai Lama. Thus
the Jt-wrl is the Buddha,
And the Lotu^ is the
Lama, but God resides
in every heart, and is
above all.