“Phenkta Hai...” said Gullu in Hindi, the language that he often used when excited, especially to emphasize a point. “Phenkta Hai” literally means “he’s throwing” in Hindi, and is most commonly used as a phrase that would be synonymous with the English phrase “throwing or spinning a story” or words to that effect.

Gullu said this in his usual flippant way when I told him the explanation that Raja Bhai gave me why he had “broken-up” with Rani and all he said that befell him in September 1964.

To add emphasis to what he thought about Raja Bhai’s story, he again said . . . “Phenkta Hai...” and added, “...Sala...” at the end of this favorite phrase. Technically, Sala is Hindi for “wife’s brother”, but as usual; Gullu was using it as a colloquial “soft-cuss-word”. Sala is, perhaps, the most commonly used “soft-cuss-word” in the Hindi language. It is usually said about a “third party” to show disdain for the third party that the friends are discussing!

Now, the story that Raja Bhai had told me and that I had retold Gullu when he was visiting me from Santa Barbara in September 1966, did sound rather “far-fetched” at that time. But I am way ahead of the story, and I had better start from the beginning.

Raja Bhai is perhaps the person of Indian descent that I have known the longest in the United States. His real name is Shobh Raj Ajmera and he was the first non-relative Indian that I met in the USA! He came to receive me at the Downtown Los Angeles Greyhound terminal building on March 3, 1962, when I landed after my cross-country ride from New York.

“See the world...”, Mrs. Daruwalla, the travel agent, had said to me at Bombay, “... you are young, and you still have 2 more months till the Spring Quarter begins at your University”. 

She was correct, but with the new jet services available since the early 1960’s, I could be in Los Angeles within 24 hours, so why the heck would I want to take a month long journey from Bombay, India to Los Angeles, USA? Why would I want to travel by ship, first to Europe and then by train across Europe to take another ship to New York from Southampton, UK? And to top it off, from NY be put on a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles! Boy, that sure was a dumb idea! But not to Mrs. Daruwalla! And that was what had transpired. This Parsi travel agent from the famous Thomas Cook Travel Agency, who had, perhaps, herself wanted to see the world for the many years that she had been a travel agent, had put me through this horrifying journey. So, despite the fact that I was a naive 21-year old young man, who had never been away from home for more than a few days, I was coaxed by Mrs. Daruwalla to take that journey when I first came to the USA! 

And after that “wonderful” journey it was a relief to see Raja Bhai (as practically everybody called him) at the downtown Greyhound bus terminal at Los Angles. He was there because he was the boy friend of one of my sister’s roommate, Rani, and one of the few young college people that owned a car (light blue 1957 Ford Fairlane) and knew how to drive amongst my sister’s friends in 1962! And since I had come to LA on the assurance (and financial support) of my sister’s doctoral fellowship at UCLA, he (and she) had come to “pick me up” to give me a “ride” to West Los Angeles where my sister lived with her roommates.

Raja Bhai’s girl friend, Rani, was not Rani’s real name. It was Sharda Rani M. B. B. Shah; some rumored “relative” of the Royal family of Nepal and sent to UCLA on a “Kingdom of Nepal” scholarship! But nobody called Rani anything else but Rani. Now Rani means “Queen” in Hindi (and Nepalese too!) and in fact, it was because Raja means “King” and Rani means “Queen” that Raja and Rani had met at the annual Visiting International Student Association (VISA) picnic at the San Diego Zoo in October 1960. Actually, Raja Bhai was an Engineering student at the University of Southern California (USC) and Rani was an undergraduate student at the cross-town rival University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Because of their names, it was natural that first they were “teased” by the students of the “rival” schools and by the end of the day they had become friends because of all the “ribbing“ that they got from their fellow students. In the days and months that passed from that time onwards, it did not take too long for that friendship to turn into “love” and by the time I met Raja and Rani they were a “team” and apparently very much in love with each other!

Rani was very pretty. She was a “sweet young thing”, tall and slim, with a very fair complexion, dark long black hair, a thin long nose, big round eyes and in retrospect, with an uncanny resemblance to the Bollywood Nepali actress of recent years, Manisha Koirala (Please note that name!) Only, much more attractive! She behaved very “down-to-earth” with one and all and behaved just like one of us! Since she was only a couple of years older to me, she was very friendly with me. I am sure that had she not been Raja Bhai’s “girl friend”, I would have fallen for her pretty badly myself. However, we both liked each other very much and I was really smitten by her beauty and charms!

Both Raja and Rani were very lively people and the life of any of our Indo-American collegiate parties. Due to our gregarious natures we all had a very congenial time whenever we met on any occasion in 1962 and 1963.
After our annual “Holi” party in March 1964, I learnt through my sister that Rani had just “taken off” one fine morning from LA without so much as even a “token” good-bye to any of her friends. We were, of course, all very mad with her behavior. It is said that a big, burley, “cousin” had come to her apartment on a Saturday morning and helped Rani pack and they had got on a plane to Bombay that very day! Boy, was Raja Bhai devastated! 

I did not meet Raja Bhai for many days after that incident. He just did not want to be around any of his old friends in such a miserable state. He graduated from the School of Engineering at USC in summer 1964 and left for India in July 1964.

On or about Gandhiji’s 95th birthday celebration, October 2, 1964, my sister told me that there was a big celebration planned at the Royce Center at UCLA by the India Students Association to honor Raja Bhai and his wife, Veena, who had just come back from India that week and Raja Bhai would be working as an engineer at Boeing Aircraft Company in El Segundo, a suburb of Los Angeles. 

“What do you mean Raja Bhai and his wife, Veena?” I asked my sister. “Whatever happened to the ‘love-affair’ between Raja and Rani?” “I thought they were a team, and Raja Bhai and Rani were madly in love with each other?” I asked, adding, “Where did Rani vanish to?” 

“Who knows?” said my sister; “We never heard anything from Rani since she left the US. Some say that Raja Bhai even went to Katmandu, Nepal, chasing Rani, but then nothing came of it too. He just went on to his folks at Bombay in August 1964 and the next we know he says he got married there to Veena on September 6, 1964. He just refuses to discuss what transpired between him and Rani at Katmandu and just will not talk about it. You were such good friends with him, why don’t you ask him what happened?”

And this “what happened” curiosity did not leave me till I had an answer to it! 
So the next morning, I somehow got hold of Raja Bhai’s phone number in West Los Angeles and called him up. After some small talk, we decided to meet the following Saturday at the tennis courts at UCLA. 

It was a crisp morning and I was at the courts by 7:30 AM. There were not too many people around and after we had played a couple of sets, we sat down on a bench outside one of the courts. Raja Bhai was the same old affable self. He was, however, a bit tense, but we got talking, and it was not too long after that he started to tell me about “what happened” to him and Rani.

If you recall, Raja Bhai was very devastated after Rani just left Los Angeles in March 1964 with not so much as even a “good-bye” to any of us. Raja Bhai said that he tried to send letters and telegrams and even tried to call Katmandu, but there was no way that he could contact Rani. Raja Bhai had to wait for the completion of his final exams in the first week of June 1964 and took off for Bombay as soon as he could. He took a plane to Delhi even without meeting his parents at Bombay and the very next connecting flight to Katmandu. He knew that Rani was at Katmandu, but he had no idea how he was going to find her there. He did have an old address that once Rani had given her, but all it said was, “Nani Ki Haveli, Narayanahity Palace Compound, Katmandu.”

He said that he arrived at Katmandu at about 7 PM (local time) and took a taxi to a small hotel. He was so tired that he fell asleep as soon as he had settled into his room. He says that he was awakened by what he thought was a sound and found that it was pretty dark and his luminous wrist watch pointed to 2:00 AM as the time. He extended his hand towards the table-lamp next to his bed and was about to switch the light on, when a rather gruff whisper said in Hindi, “Babu, batti nahi” (Sir, no lights). He tried to focus his eyes towards where the sound had come from and he faintly made out a male figure of a burly man in some sort of a uniform in a far corner of the room, next to the slightly ajar main door. He had a naked sword in one hand and the tail of his turban was wrapped around the lower half of his face. To emphasize what he had just said, he again hoarsely said, “Batti nahi”. Raja Bhai was a tall athletic man, and not easily scared, but he says at that moment that sight gave him the chills right down to the base of his feet! He stifled a shriek that nearly escaped from his lips and in a shaken voice said, “Kaun ho tum?” (Who are you?) and added, “Kya chaiheye?” (What do you want?).

The man took a step towards Raja Bhai and again in his hoarse whisper said, “Aap Shobh Raj Babu Hain, Na?” (You are Mister Shobh Raj, no?). “Main Zoravar Singh Hun”. (I am Zoravar Singh). “Mujhe Shardo Beti Ne Bheja hai” (I have been sent by daughter Shardo). For a moment, Raja did not recognize that he was talking about his beloved Rani. Then he remembered, Shardo was Rani’s real name! 

And that assured him to a certain extent. Any messenger of his beloved Rani would do him no harm! But why the naked sword? 

As though Zoravar guessed Raja Bhai’s thoughts, he put his sword into the scabbard and came closer. He spoke softly in his hoarse whisper in Hindi and told Raja Bhai that he was Rani’s most trusted “bodyguard” and that “dushman ke aadmi” (men of the enemy) were following him. Rani had sent him to escort Raja to Rani’s “Mahal” (palace) before anybody was able to “nab“ him! Raja was perplexed why anybody would want to “nab” him, but Zoravar gave him no chance to ask any questions of him. He asked Raja Bhai to put on a dark cape with a hood that he had on top of all his clothes and just follow him. Raja said he had no choice and though he was worried that this may all be some ploy to get him out of the hotel in downtown Katmandu to harm him, he readily did what Zoravar told him as the man looked like he would not hesitate to use his naked sword if his command was not followed! 
Zoravar took Raja Bhai towards a back staircase of the hotel and led him to an alley. They both traversed the deserted ally and came to a side street where there was an old Packard car with shades on the rear windows just puttering along with a uniformed driver sitting in the driver’s seat. Zoravar quietly pointed for Raja Bhai to sit in one corner of the back seat and Zoravar adjusted the curtains so that neither Raja Bhai could see out nor anybody could see in. 

And they were off.

They drove at a steady pace for about 10 minutes and when the car stopped, Zoravar opened the door and Raja Bhai was nearly blinded by the glare of the lights that were illuminating the building that they were standing besides. Zoravar quickly hurried Raja Bhai into a passage way and after many twists and turns he was ushered into a great chamber with a massive bed on which, in a semi-reclining position, lay his Rani. Boy, was she looking like a royal princess in the Arabian Nights movies he had seen so many times at the Aurora Talkies at King’s Circle on many Saturday mornings when he “bunked” his Saturday morning labs when he was at Khalsa College in Matunga! And she looked indubitably beautiful. He just wanted to rush into her arms and just squeeze her, but Zoravar Singh was right there (as was his long sword)!
Rani had a sweet smile on her face and looked at him as though they were just meeting at some pizza place in West Los Angeles!

Raja Bhai did not elaborate on what transpired between the two at that point (and I discretely did not “pry” any further there), but he did say that after they had exchanged their greetings, she asked him to sit on a large stuffed sofa across from the bed that she was lying on. The coffee table in front of the sofa was filled with snacks and there was a glass of cold juice ready for him. She asked him to have the juice and as his throat was dry (more from the harrowing experience of the past half-hour or so than anything else), he readily started to sip the drink. 

He says that he was not too surprised when she told him that she was the daughter of the present King of Nepal, King Mahendra. She explained that the “M. B. B. Shah” in her name was Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah, the official and family name of the King. She continued that when King Tribhuvan, her grandfather, had fled from Nepal in 1950, she also had been whisked away to India as a 12 year old girl and had been admitted at a local school in Nanital. When King Tribhuvan had returned to Nepal after the ouster of the Rana domination of the Kingdom of Nepal in 1951 with the help of the Government of India, she had not returned to Nepal and had remained in India. She had last visited Nepal when King Tribhuvan had died in 1955 and King Mahendra (her father) had been crowned King. After her schooling in India she had gone on to join UCLA as an undergraduate in fall 1960. She said that NOBODY knew that she was so closely related to the Royal family of Nepal, as that would have only meant trouble for her! 

She had come to UCLA in 1960 and was very happy there and would have had no problems had King Mahendra not had a fall-out with the present Prime Minister, Mr. B. P. Koirala. 

B. P. Koirala wanted Rani to marry his son, Chandulal Koirala who was a student at Columbia and that way use Rani as a “pawn” in maneuvering to regain his control of the prime-minister-ship. He planned to somehow, “kidnap” Rani and forcibly marry his son, Chandulal to Rani. As soon as King Mahendra had heard about Mr. B. P. Koirala’s plans, he had dispatched his trusted Zoravar Singh to Los Angeles to bring Rani back to Katmandu post-haste and with the greatest of secrecy so that Mr. B. P. Koirala would not know about Rani’s moves and thus be unable to “kidnap” Rani. Mr. B. P. Koirala’s spies were all over Nepal, and Rani had to be very careful in protecting Raja, as Mr. Koirala was very capable of harming Raja just to get “even” with King Mahendra! Moreover, as now she was back in Nepal, she could not marry a commoner like Raja, and had to remain unmarried or married to some “royal” personality!

Boy, was Raja devastated! Why had Rani really have to be a “Queen”? Could she not just be a commoner like everybody else so that they could, “marry and live happily ever after?” Why had she to be the King of Nepal’s daughter and now they could not marry?

Rani told Raja that he had to very secretly leave Katmandu and not come back for his own safety. Mr. Koirala was capable of anything. She said that she would see to it that he was safely transported back to India and that he must “forget” her! 

Raja said that he was starting to feel sleepy and he soon realized that the “soft” drink he had been sipping was “laced” with some intoxicating substance, but it was too late to do anything about it! Soon, and before he even knew it, he was dead asleep on Rani’s plush sofa!

He says that he does not remember how he was moved from there to his hotel and/or Katmandu airport, but that when he next regained consciousness, he was on the flight to Delhi from Katmandu! 

Raja said that he went on to Bombay and did not even tell his parents about his trip to Nepal. Like all Indian parents, Raja’s family had arranged for Raja to meet and see “eligible” girls for marriage and knowing that he could no longer marry Rani, Raja chose Veena Ben and returned to Los Angeles in October 1964 after his marriage in September 1964. And that was the whole story that Raja told me about his “break-up” with Rani....

I had told this “story” to Gullu, my Sardarjee friend from my college days at USC. Gullu had become my “best” friend at college when we shared two or three classes (and a horde of other habits) together as undergraduates. After graduation, Gullu had got a job with the City of Santa Barbara and he often visited LA for some work or other with the City of Los Angeles. Whenever he came to LA, he stayed with me at my apartment in West Los Angeles. Over the years we had become fast friends and would discuss “everything under the Sun”. 

I too was a bit skeptical about Raja Bhai’s story, not having heard from anybody else about Rani being the real daughter of the ruling King of Nepal or anything like that. But Raja Bhai was a straightforward, honest man and never known to exaggerate the truth. So we really did not know the truth about the story...

Anyway, as you all know, on June 2, 2001, we all heard about the general “massacre“ of the royal family of Nepal.

While surfing the internet a few days later, I came across the news that stated that amongst those killed was a aunt of King Birendra (King Mahendra‘s daughter), Sharda Rani along with her husband, Kumar Khadga, who were also present at the family gathering. 

I was particularly sad that our friend, Rani, had such a tragic ending and that may be, just may be, Rani was not being too dramatic in her fears about the politics of Nepal over 40 years back! I purposely hid this bit of news from my sister and her friends, as I knew that they would feel bad about what tragedy had befallen our dear Rani!

And that would have been the end of this story, but for what happened just about a fortnight back! 

I got a call from my sister that she was having a “get-together” of some of our very “old friends” from our UCLA and USC days and that I should attend as, “..you will meet some very old and dear friend that you have not met for ages....”

So last weekend, the wife and me went to my sister’s estate in Yorba Linda, a suburb of Los Angeles, where she was having her “get-together” party for all her “college friends”. She had already told me that Raja Bhai and his wife, Veena, would not be there as they were on their annual trip to India. We had been in touch with Raja Bhai and his family all these years and met him, his wife and his 2 sons (both graduates from my old alma mater, USC) often. He now lived a retired life in his palatial estate in Palos Verde, a seaside resort suburb of Los Angeles. 

And the first person who greeted me at my sister’s party was Rani! 

I just could not believe it! There was my sister’s roommate from the 1960’s dressed in an elegant black sari with a fantastic white diamond necklace and looking as charming as ever! Yes, she had obviously aged like all of us and was now a charming “sweet-old-lady” in her late 60’s or early 70‘s. But she was the same, sweet self that I had nearly fallen for over 45 years back!

She just looked fabulous! Everybody was greeting her cordially and she was as friendly as ever with everybody as could be.

AND SHE WAS VERY MUCH ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So whatever happened? Where had she vanished all these years? Was she not “killed” in 2001 with the rest of the Royal family of Nepal? 

She told all our friends (and me) that she was now married to Dr. Bir Prakash Thapa, a medical doctor, who was a “big-shot” with the World Health Organization (WHO). She had been married to some “politician” fellow briefly in 1965 and had divorced him and married Bir Prakash when he came as a visiting WHO doctor to Nepal. He was of Nepalese origin and his family was “well connected” in Nepal and Rani had married him in 1969. They had lived “all over Europe” with his appointment with WHO and he had retired only this year and they now lived in Zurich, Switzerland and that she had 2 children. She said that though she visited Nepal once in a while, she had not been back to Nepal since about 1990. She said that she was nowhere near Nepal on the night of June 1, 2001 when there had been the “massacre” at the Narayanahity Palace in Nepal. She said that she had come many times to the NY area in the USA with Dr. Bir Prakash but this was the first time she had occasion to travel alone to the West Coast of the USA since she had left LA in 1964! 

I was so eager to verify Raja Bhai’s account of the “break-up” and what Raja Bhai had said to me after his marriage in 1964, and was it the truth? 

So I “cornered” Rani late into the night when many of the guests had left the party and the party was just “thinning” out. She was sitting alone nursing a drink in her hand at the bar and it was obvious that she already had a few drinks into her “system” by then. She was scheduled to stay the night (as were we) at my sister’s place, as we were both her “houseguests” for the night. She had plans to leave for Zurich the next day. I went and sat next to her and she looked at me with her sleepy (and drunk) eyes. I recounted all that Raja Bhai had told me about his “break-up” with her and asked her, point-blank, if what Raja Bhai had told me so many years ago was the truth.

She looked at me with her sweet loving eyes, and I could see that there were some soft tears nearly swelling to burst out of them at any moment. She took a deep sigh and said, “Aare yar, jaane bhi do us beete zamane ko!” (Oh friend, let go of that bygone era!), and as if, as an after thought, she too said exactly the same thing about Raja Bhai that Gullu had said to me nearly 40 years back, “Phenkta Hai, Sala”!

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