Karuna Ratna Tuladhar

File:Chevrolet bus of Nepal Transport Service.jpg

Karuna Ratna Tuladhar ({{langx|ne|करुणारत्न तुलाधर}}) (23 October 1920 – 19 July 2008) was a pioneer of Nepalese public transport.{{cite web |url=http://thenewah.blogsome.com/2008/07/20/first-motorcycle-importer-lhasa-newah-passes-away/ |title=First motorcycle importer to Tibet, Lhasa Newah passes away! |date=20 July 2008 |publisher=The Newah (नेपाल भासँ थःगु बिचाः प्वन्केगु हलिमे छगुहे जक नेवाः ब्लग्) |accessdate=28 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708020520/http://thenewah.blogsome.com/2008/07/20/first-motorcycle-importer-lhasa-newah-passes-away/ |archive-date=8 July 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} He was proprietor of Nepal Transport Service which he and his brother Lupau Ratna Tuladhar founded in 1959.{{cite news|last=Tuladhar|first=Kamal Ratna|title=Nepal took the bus half a century ago|url=http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2008/09/28/expression/nepal-took-the-bus-a-half-century-ago/162128/|accessdate=23 January 2011|newspaper=The Kathmandu Post|date=26 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024080800/http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2008/09/28/expression/nepal-took-the-bus-a-half-century-ago/162128/|archive-date=24 October 2013|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |title=Time For Comprehensive Urban Transport Policy |first=Krishna |last=Shrestha |url=http://www.gorkhapatraonline.com/trn/op-ed/1477-time-for-comprehensive-urban-transport-policy-krishna-shrestha.html |newspaper=Gorkhapatra Online |accessdate=June 24, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130624233934/http://www.gorkhapatraonline.com/trn/op-ed/1477-time-for-comprehensive-urban-transport-policy-krishna-shrestha.html |archivedate=June 24, 2013 }} This was Nepal's first public bus service which linked the capital Kathmandu with the railhead of Amlekhganj, 190 kilometers to the south near the Indian border.Shrestha, Bijaya Lal (11 August 1989). "All Those Years Ago: A trip through the early days of bus transport", The Rising Nepal.

The same year, Nepal Transport Service also started the first local shuttle between Kathmandu and Patan (Lalitpur), one of the three cities in the Kathmandu Valley.{{cite news|last=Poudel|first=Keshab|title=Big Wheels Keep on Turnin'|url=http://www.ecs.com.np/feature_detail.php?f_id=332|accessdate=20 February 2011|newspaper=ECS NEPAL|date=November 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724190106/http://www.ecs.com.np/feature_detail.php?f_id=332|archive-date=24 July 2011|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}

Early life

Tuladhar was born at Dhalasikwa in Asan, Kathmandu, the second of three sons of trader Pushpa Sundar Tuladhar and his wife Dhan Maya. Pushpa Sundar owned a business house in Lhasa, Tibet which conducted trade between Nepal, Tibet and India, transporting merchandise over the Himalaya by mule caravan.Tuladhar, Prem Hira (2009) The Past Lives of the Buddha. Kathmandu: Hira Shobha Tuladhar. {{ISBN|978-9937-2-1497-1}}. Pages 9–11.

Business in Lhasa

After a brief period of schooling under Jagat Lal Master, Karuna Ratna Tuladhar went to Lhasa and joined the family business.{{cite news|last=Bajracharya|first=Himesh|title=Lhasa legacy|url=http://www.ekantipur.com/kantipur/news/news-detail.php?news_id=272818|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130122100400/http://www.ekantipur.com/kantipur/news/news-detail.php?news_id=272818|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 January 2013|accessdate=16 June 2012|newspaper=Kantipur|date=16 June 2012}} He travelled to Tibet for the first time in 1934.{{cite news|last=Tuladhar|first=Kamal Ratna|title=Merchants of yore|url=http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2010/01/08/Expression/Merchants-of-yore/203864/|accessdate=23 January 2011|newspaper=The Kathmandu Post|date=9 January 2010}} The journey at that time involved walking for two days, riding a vintage lorry and then a steam locomotive to the Indian border at Raxaul, followed by taking the Indian railway and a motorcar to Sikkim. From Sikkim, the merchants traveled by mule carvan to Lhasa which took 20 days. This trade route is an offshoot of the ancient Silk Road.{{fact|date=April 2025}}

Tuladhar would subsequently make two more trips, spending a total of 17 years in the Tibetan capital. In 1948, in between his second and third tours, he married Hira Shobha Tamrakar. He served as president of the Nepalese Chamber of Commerce, Lhasa in 1952.Tuladhar, Kamal Ratna (2011) Caravan to Lhasa: A Merchant of Kathmandu in Traditional Tibet. Kathmandu: Lijala & Tisa. {{ISBN|99946-58-91-3}}. Page 107. He returned from Tibet for the last time in 1954 and managed the business from Kathmandu and Kalimpong in West Bengal, India, the start of the caravan route to Lhasa.Kalimpong. New Delhi: Nest & Wings. {{ISBN|81-87592-01-X}}. Page 20.

Nepal Transport Service

Tuladhar decided to downsize his Tibet business and concentrate on home after Nepal's first highway Tribhuvan Highway opened to jeep traffic in 1956. After the road was improved to handle larger vehicles, Nepal Transport Service went into operation hauling freight with two Tata Mercedes-Benz trucks in March 1959.{{cite web |url = http://tibetanhistory-20thcentury.wikischolars.columbia.edu/Newar+Merchants+of+Kathmandu+in+Traditional+Tibet |title = Newar Merchants of Kathmandu in Traditional Tibet |last = Yoon |first = Sungoh |website = Tibetan Biographies |accessdate = 13 June 2014 |archive-date = 24 December 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151224131400/http://tibetanhistory-20thcentury.wikischolars.columbia.edu/Newar+Merchants+of+Kathmandu+in+Traditional+Tibet |url-status = dead }}

The company started passenger service in July the same year with a lone bus. Subsequently, its fleet grew to 11 Tata Mercedes-Benz, Chevrolet and Bedford buses.{{cite web |url=http://www.classicbusdepot.com/bus-photos/99_0_1_0_C/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708163030/http://www.classicbusdepot.com/bus-photos/99_0_1_0_C/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |title=1959 Chevrolet Viking Bus – Nepal Transport |publisher=Classic Bus Depot.com |accessdate=28 January 2011}} Its head office was situated at the family home at 122 Asan Tyouda Tol, Kathmandu.{{cite news |last=Bajracharya |first=Himesh |date=23 January 2010 |title=Bas Yatayatko 50 Barsha |trans-title=Fifty Years of Bus Transport |url=http://www.ekantipur.com/kantipur/news/news-detail.php?news_id=209437 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140117130835/http://www.ekantipur.com/kantipur/news/news-detail.php?news_id=209437 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 January 2014 |language=Nepali |newspaper=Kantipur |location=Kathmandu |accessdate=17 January 2014 }}

The initial years were profitable, but the company began racking up losses due to the long periods of downtime as major repairs needed to be done in India. Nepal Transport Service folded in 1966. Tuladhar died in Kathmandu in 2008.{{cite news|title=Post staffer bereaved|url=http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2008/07/22/top-story/newsline/154334/|accessdate=23 January 2011|newspaper=The Kathmandu Post|date=22 July 2008}}Sandhya Times (19 July 2008). Page 1.

Postage stamp issued

On 31 December 2012, the Postal Services Department of the government of Nepal issued a commemorative postage stamp bearing portraits of Karuna Ratna and Lupau Ratna Tuladhar to honor their service to the nation. The stamp also shows a Chevrolet bus of Nepal Transport Service.{{cite news|title=Commemorative stamps issued|url=http://epaper.ekantipur.com/ktpost/showtext.aspx?boxid=4059500&parentid=21107&issuedate=112013|accessdate=1 January 2013|newspaper=The Kathmandu Post|date=1 January 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202235553/http://epaper.ekantipur.com/ktpost/showtext.aspx?boxid=4059500&parentid=21107&issuedate=112013|archivedate=2 December 2013}}