The Great Himalayan Volkswagen Beetle Rally last weekend raised enough money for 60 hare and cleft lip operations for Nepalis.
A NEPALI TIMES CAREEN
Suddenly, there were bugs everywhere on the Arniko Highway. A large new four-wheel drive was overtaken by a wildly careening powder-blue 1964 Beetle. Minutes later, a yellow 1974 Bug zoomed by the 4WD as haughtily as it is possible for a car that belongs, rightfully, in a Noddy illustration. The occupants of the big car looked on in surprise as the rear-propelled bugs disappeared in a cloud of yellow dust.
Thirty-one of Kathmandu's lovingly maintained Beetles, the oldest 37 years, and the youngest 25, drove in procession from the Yak and Yeti hotel to the Himalayan Shangri-la Resort in Dhulikhel last Saturday to raise money for the Ganesh Foundation that supports corrective surgery for Nepalis with cleft lips. Supporting a good cause was incentive enough, certainly, but there was an equal measure of the fanatical clan pride of Bug owners in evidence. The Cult of the Beetle remains a mystery to the uninitiated, but the love of Beetle owners towards their Bugs is almost filial. It is also cross-generational, and there were many enthusiastic participants at the rally who were surely born after production of the Bug had ceased. A typical conversation between two complete strangers at the parking lot of the Yak and Yeti ran something like this:
"Which one is yours?"
"The blue 1974 over there."
"Ah, nice one. Is it a boy or girl?"
"It's a boy, his name is Harvey."
Sharad and Bernice are in Nepal to get married. Sharad is serving in the British army's Gurkha regiment, and both share a passion for Beetles. They showed up Saturday morning-the day after their wedding-in a 1967 Beetle festooned with balloons, a Nepali flag and a discreet but legible Just Married sign. Said Bernice: "Sharad had talked so much about his beloved Beetle in England. And when we read in Nepali Times there was to be a rally the day after our wedding-also my father's birthday-we thought it would be a really nice celebration." They didn't just participate, the newlyweds also found the time to get together a basket of paper products (including a 2001 Beetle Calendar) to sell to participants to raise more money for the Ganesh Foundation. They had such faith in their Bug that they were confident they'd make it to Dhulikhel even though the car lies unused when Sharad is away, but they took along an old trusted mechanic just in case.
Every car made it, though, and personal mechanics, the tow-truck driven by two bankers, Richard Vokes of the Asian Development Bank and Jeffrey Cox of Grindlays in their "Vokes Wagon", and the first-aid vehicle piloted by Chameli director Ravi Baral, all had a lazy morning. But things did get a little rough on the road. The Volksy bright blue-and-white paint job on a certain bug was seductive enough to make more than a few drivers give chase. The oldest car in the rally, Sambhu Rana's 1962 Beetle with sliding roof, dressed in mature maroon, navy and black, took on the challenge only to have a little trouble with its hydraulics system. But the old Bug reached Dhulikhel all right, and despite the smoke it sputtered on arrival, was fit for its age.
A 1964 Beetle that was brought into Nepal by King Mahendra for his personal use also participated in the rally, although it had changed hands many times and looked its age. Satindra Siddhi Bajracharya clocked the fastest time to Dhulikhel in his aquamarine blue bug with a sporty white stripe running down the middle. Satindra maintains his car with spare parts bought from Bangkok and locally. "I go to Chitwan and Lumbini all the time, and I overtake all the new model cars without problems. The road handling and power of this vehicle are unsurpassed," he says proudly. Another Beetle fan is Ujjwal Satyal, a teacher at the Tourism Training Centre, who has a hand in giving old Beetles a new lease on life. "I used to buy Beetles for Rs 6,000, renovate them and sell them for Rs 25,000 till 1987," says Satyal.
The Beetle rally was organised by Susan Fowlds who came to Nepal in 1996. She soon met Dr Narayan Thapa, former director of Kanti Children's Hospital and a paediatric surgeon. Susan had a white Volkswagen Beetle, and found that Dr Thapa owned a black one. They realised their shared passion for this strange-looking car could lead to interesting things. They decided to gather Kathmandu's Beetle-owners together for a rally. But, they needed a cause for what would certainly be a fund-raiser, to draw on the inexhaustible goodwill of the clan when given a chance to show off their cars. Dr Thapa used to do about 120 cleft-lip operations a year at minimal cost. So they decided to dedicate the rally to raise money for Nepalis who can't raise the Rs 6,000 it costs for an operation. Says Susan: "Dr Thapa was my inspiration, and together we made this rally happen. It is a rally with a purpose." There are an estimated 40,000 Nepalis with cleft lip and palate. The real reason it is more visible in Nepal compared to other countries-there are even 60 year-olds with the condition-is not that there is a higher incidence here, but simply that many families are too poor to afford corrective surgery.
The city's Beetlemaniacs acquitted themselves well. Once they got to Dhulikhel, uncurled their lips-after all, they were with The Family now-and got the dust of the Arniko Highway out of their hair, they rolled up their sleeves to begin another sort of game. There was Bug memorabilia to be bid for, after all: T-shirts proclaiming participation in the Great Himalayan Beetle Cleft Lip Rally, stickers from a Bug-parts shop all the way in Calgary, Canada, and best of all, a shining red and black model Bug, complete with opening doors, a retractable sunroof and functional steering wheel. Many people supported the rally one way or another, and Susan Fowlds is very pleased with the results: "We raised enough money for one operation a week for more than a year," says the New Zealander. The Ganesh Foundation is so named because many boys born with cleft-lips in Nepal are called Ganesh. Which was the name of many of the boy-Beetles at the rally.
