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As Nepal bid farewell to one of its few remaining links with
history Friday night, it was an especially emotional moment for
Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala, who lost her grandmother from
whom she is thought to have inherited her theatrical talent.
Sushila Koirala, who could have been one of the most powerful
women in Nepal but chose to devote her life to quietly supporting
her husband Bishweshwor Prasad Koirala, Nepal's first elected
prime minister, died Friday.
The 84-year-old, whose husband was one of the most charismatic
leaders of Nepal, married into a family that gave Nepal four
premiers.
She was the grandmother of Manisha Koirala and probably gave the
actress the genes that made Manisha choose a career in show
business while the rest of the family, known as the Kennedys of
Nepal, are involved in politics.
Manisha also bears a strong resemblance to the petite Sushila, as
she looked in her younger days. However, though the stricken diva
flew to Kathmandu from Mumbai Friday to say a last farewell to her
grandmother, she could not take part in the funeral procession due
to the flight being delayed.
Sushila Koirala's own life resembled a Bollywood plot.
She was married to B. P. Koirala at the age of 13, when, according
to reports, she was illiterate, came from a poor family and had no
beauty.
Her parents-in-law are said to have rued the match but her husband
turned her into a swan with diligent grooming.
He would read out to her to educate her and made her take "oil
massages to improve her skin tone so that she became one of the
most beautiful women", as he told his friends during his
imprisonment.
The Koiralas had gone into exile in Benaras city in India due to
the autocratic Rana regime in Nepal and it became Sushila's duty
to care, amid poverty, for an extended family of dozens that
included workers of the Nepali Congress party and other supporters
of the first pro-democracy movement in Nepal.
After the Koiralas returned to Nepal, the Nepali Congress won the
election and B. P. Koirala became the first elected prime minister,
only to have the then king Mahendra seize power through a coup and
jail him.
All through the changes in the family fortune, Sushila chose to
remain in the background, never trying to sway her husband but
supporting him unquestioningly. Unlike her younger sister-in-law
Nona Koirala, who also died earlier this year, and who had exerted
a strong influence on Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Sushila
chose to stay aloof from politics.
She didn't like the thought of her sons joining politics. When the
eldest, Prakash Koirala, decided to support King Gyanendra and
became a minister in the unpopular royal government, she did not
like the idea but did not pressurise him.
In a rare interview given two years before her death, she had said
that though the Nepali Congress was traditionally a pro-monarchy
party, yet King Gyanendra's moves since 2005 to curb civil rights
showed that the monarch could not be trusted.
Trained in Bharatnatyam and Kathak, Sushila had dreamt of a
performing arts university in Nepal and had also run two dance
academies.
Sushila Koirala is survived by three sons, none of whom inherited
B. P. Koirala's charisma though two of them are very successful in
their chosen professions.
Indo-Asian News Service
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