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 Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal ...

, Kalimpong,

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...

. 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

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in March 1922. His ancestors were from Makluwa, a hamlet in

Panchthar district Panchthar district ( ne, पाँचथर जिल्ला) is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern hilly region of Nepal. It is a Hill district of eastern Nepal. The district covers of area. The 2011 census counted 191,817 popu ...

. 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 Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

short-chassis

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. He was the first driver ever to take a vehicle to the summit of Tiger Hill, Darjeeling and Tumling. 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 Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

) 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

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pages. Most of these jokes are in Nepali, lingua franca 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

i movie ''

Kusume Rumal ''Kusume Rumal'' ( ne, कुसुमे रुमाल; ) is a 1985 Nepali romantic film written and directed by Tulsi Ghimire. It was produced by Sumitra Paudel under the banner of Sayapatri Films. The film featured Bhuwan K.C, Tripti Nada ...

'' 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