What does a Yeti look like and have you climbed the lofty mountains too?” were the first questions heard by Satya Mohan Joshi when asked by the New Zealanders, when he set foot in their country. Not understanding why, he unknowingly became the first Nepali to set foot in New Zealand, a day after Tenzing and Hillary climbed Mt. Everest for the first time in Nepal.
“Addressing Satya Mohan Joshi as the gardener of Nepal’s rich cultural bubble would do justice to some extent, but it goes far beyond that. In the midst of his cultural knowledge, simple and literate people would bow like the white clouds almost at the acme of Mt. Nagarjuna,” explained a fortnightly magazine recently. Expertly writing in all spheres of literature and culture, Satya Mohan Joshi is not only regarded as a successful administrator, but is also considered the foremost preserver of folk culture and its diversity in Nepal. Known as “Jack of all trades and master of all,” he is also a successful dramatist and playwright, poet and research analyst and has made considerable contributions to the literary world of Nepal. Due to his perseverance and dedication to Nepal’s folk culture, he was awarded the Madan Puraskar three times for his work “Hamro Lok Sanskriti – Our Folk Culture (1956), Nepali Rastriya Mudra – The Coinage of Nepal (1957) and Karnali Lok Sanskriti – Folk culture of the Far-Western Zone Karnali (1971). He is also the award holder of “Shrestha Sirpa” for his outstanding book Jayaprakash; which is an epic in Nepal Bhasa (Newari) and is a life member of the Royal Nepal Academy. He is also the Chancellor of The Nepal Bhasha Academy.
