Dal Bahadur Gurung, popularly known as Hum Jayega (हम जाएगा) (1922–1992) is a person often cited as a funny character in folklore and jokes in Nepal, Darjeeling,

Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...

, Sikkim, Assam and Manipur. Because of several unrealistic jokes and tales about him, many people considered him to be imaginary.

Birth

He was born in Marebong Tea Estate of Darjeeling, India in March 1922. His ancestors were from Makluwa, a hamlet in Panchthar district of Nepal. Hum Jayega's great grandfather Dhaujbeer Gurung migrated along with his family in 1814 AD.Humjayega.com » About Hum Jayega
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Early life

In 1936, he ran away to Calcutta to become a pilot, but it was not possible due to his poor academic background. With hurdles and economic hardships, he hanged around an engineering college and learned driving with a professor who was fond of his jokes. In 1948, he returned to Darjeeling. With his driving skills, he became cab driver with a post second world war short-chassis Land Rover. He was the first driver ever to take a vehicle to the summit of

Tiger Hill, Darjeeling Tiger Hill () is a mountain located in Darjeeling, in the Indian State of West Bengal. It has a panoramic view of Mount Everest and Mount Kanchenjunga together. Geography Location It is from the town of Darjeeling and can be reached either b ...

and

Tumling Tumling is a small hamlet in Jogmai VDC, Ilam District of Nepal. A tourist attraction in Eastern Himalayas at an altitude of 2970m(10,000 ft), its population is composed mostly of Gurung families, with the total population being a mere 15 i ...

. In this new circle of friends he was popular by his nickname Hum Jayega. Whenever the tourists asked who will go on the muddy underdeveloped roads to the hills, he used to answer "hum jayega" (meaning "I'll go" in Hindi) and this is how he got his nickname.

Career

His famous jokes were available as three booklets but some pirated versions were also published. Currently, his jokes are popular over the Internet and several facebook pages. Most of these jokes are in Nepali,

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

of Darjeeling, Nepal and surrounding areas but many of them have been translated to English. In 1985 he was screened for about two minutes in a popular Nepali movie '' Kusume Rumal'' and it cleared that he is not just an imaginary character. He continued working as a driver until he was 53 and engaged in publishing booklets of his jokes. His daughter remembers him as a responsible father who looked after the children even after his wife's death. He was concerned about the good education and future of the children and grandchildren. He was a father of four daughters and one son. However it is also said that Hum Jayega lost all his wealth due to his drinking habit, leaving his family to live in poverty. But the misery was never able to estrange Hum Jayega from laughing and making others laugh. He died in April 1992.

In popular culture

The first collection of jokes based on the escapades of Hum Jayega was published by Bijoy Kumar Rai as 'Humjayegako Diary' in 1982, which consisted of two volumes. It was published under the banner of Sajha Pustak Prakashan (publishers) in Darjeeling.

References

Hum Jayega Original Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurung, Dal Bahadur Indian male comedians 1922 births 1992 deaths Humour and wit characters of India Indian Gorkhas People from Darjeeling 20th-century comedians